The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment... not authority.

From the dawn of exact knowledge to the present day, observation, experiment, and speculation have gone hand in hand; and, whenever science has halted or strayed from the right path, it has been, either because its votaries have been content with mere unverified or unverifiable speculation (and this is the commonest case, because observation and experiment are hard work, while speculation is amusing); or it has been, because the accumulation of details of observation has for a time excluded speculation.

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.

Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.