Abstract

The project of inquiry into the nature's modus operandi faces extensive and deeprooted difficulties. In particular there are four major problems: (1) data undetermine theories, (2) theories undetermine facts, (3) reality transcendes the descriptive resources of language, and (4) reality transcendens the explanatory resources of language. The lesson of these delierations is not a sceptical despair but a healthy dose of cognitive humility. In pursuing the aims of science we can expect improvement but not completion: however deeply we push our inquiries into nature, we cannot get to the bottom of things.