discrete states, to which apply laws of probability), and then take the limit of

large numbers of very small

quanta. Which of these very different procedures we used would not matter in thi
s particular domain,
because both would lead to essentially the same results. Indeed, as we pointed o
ut in Chapter I, Section 10,
the different possible conceptual abstractions here play the rle of various views
of different aspects of the
same basic reality. To the extent that these different abstractions have a commo
n domain of validity, they
must lead to the same consequences (just as different views must be consistent w
ith each other in their
domain of overlap).
It is clear from the preceding discussion that a necessary part of the definitio
n of the extent to which a
given law is true lies in the delimitation of its domain of validity. To accompl
ish the definition of this
domain, we must find the errors in the law in question. For the more we know abo
ut these errors the better
we will know the conditions, context, and degree of approximation within which t
his law can correctly be
applied and therefore the better we will know its domain of validity.
Now, if there were a final and exhaustively specifiable set of laws which consti
tuted an absolute truth, we
could regard all errors as purely subjective characteristics, resulting from unc
ertainty in our knowledge
concerning this absolute truth. On the other hand, in terms of the notion of the
qualitative infinity of nature,
we see that every law that can possibly be formulated has to have errors, simply
because it represents nature
in terms of some finite set of concepts, that inevitably fail to take into accou
nt an infinity of additional
potentially or actually significant qualities and properties of matter. In other
words, associated with any
given law there must be errors that are essential and objective features of that
law resulting from the
multitudes of diverse factors that the law in question must neglect.* Thus each
law inevitably has its errors,
and these are just as necessary a part of the definition of its true significanc
e as are those of its
consequences that are correct.
It is clear from the above discussion that scientific research does not and can
not lead to a knowledge of
nature that is completely free from error. Rather it leads and is able to lead o
nly to an unending process in which
the degree of truth in our knowledge is continually increasing. The first step i
n any part of this process is
generally accomplished with the aid of new kinds of experiments and observations
or with more accurate
forms of already familiar kinds of experiments and observation, which serve to d
isclose some of the errors
that are inevitably present at any particular stage in the development of our th
eories. The next step, then,
comes after we have discovered some of the new laws that apply in the newer and
broader domains to
which we have in this way been led. For, as we have seen in terms of a number of
examples given in
previous chapters,* these new laws not only approach the older laws as approxima
tions holding in limiting
cases, but they also help to specify the degree of approximation and the conditi

ons within which the older

laws will actually hold. Thus, with the further progress of science into new dom
ains, it becomes possible for
* For example, we could choose to step out of a window and fly upwards into the
sky. If we tried to do this, however, we
would fall downwards. The same thing would happen even if we had been guided in
our actions by a set of concepts which
led us to the conclusion that it was possible to fly upwards merely by flapping
one s arms and saying certain magic
words. Actually, if we wish to fly, what we must do is to have a deeper and more
accurate conception of the laws of
dynamics; and on the basis of this to construct suitable devices such as aeropla
nes, dirigibles, rockets, etc. Thus, in the
last analysis, the laws of nature do not depend on how we think about it or on w
hat we choose to do, but our actions
must be guided by correct conceptions of these laws if they are to lead to the r
esults that we aim for.