In the opening chapter of my SOMA I said that there always hovered in my mind's eye the admonitory finger of Tristram Shandy's warning against the occupational hazard of those who advance hypotheses: 'It is in the nature of a hypothesis when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates everything to itself, as proper nourishment, and from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows stronger by everything you see, hear, or understand.' I was reasonably sure of by ground but also I knew how fallible I was, and I added Laurence Sterne's danger sign, in case I had committed a blunder. Nevertheless now it turns out that I was right the first time, and I present this book with the proofs from various angles corroborating each other. We are well beyond the stage of hypotheses.
Description:
In the opening chapter of my SOMA I said that there always hovered in my mind's eye the admonitory finger of Tristram Shandy's warning against the occupational hazard of those who advance hypotheses: 'It is in the nature of a hypothesis when once a man has conceived it, that it assimilates everything to itself, as proper nourishment, and from the first moment of your begetting it, it generally grows stronger by everything you see, hear, or understand.' I was reasonably sure of by ground but also I knew how fallible I was, and I added Laurence Sterne's danger sign, in case I had committed a blunder. Nevertheless now it turns out that I was right the first time, and I present this book with the proofs from various angles corroborating each other. We are well beyond the stage of hypotheses.