To Think Freely Is Great

“To think freely is great, but to think rightly is greater”

I was told this 18th century quotation sounds very authoritarian in the original Swedish^*. Nevertheless, it still lies at the entrance of the Grand Auditorium of Uppsala University.

I was glad to deliver a seminar last week in this beautiful university, which is the oldest in the Nordic countries, being founded in 1477. Interestingly, both mine and another speaker's talks had the title beginning with the word “New”^**. This is actually a very common word in scientific titles, but seems also to represent a kind of popular trend in modern societies and politics. However, while human history often goes on destructively, science progresses constructively. In fact, the scientific theories of the past are still taught as useful approximations and simplifications. The new theories improve them, without eliminating them.

Even if Swedish and Western cultures today are very different from a few centuries ago, “cancel culture” or any other contemporary moral “dogma” are not the way of true progress.

^*“Tänka fritt är stort men tänka rätt är större”. It is sometimes thought as the motto of Uppsala University, but officially is just a quote from the controversial 18th century jurist Thomas Torild. See Uppsala University traditions.

^**See the full titles and details of the seminars at: indico.fysik.su.se/event/8400.