David on Explanations

“The overwhelming majority of theories are rejected because they contain bad explanations, not because they fail experimental tests.”

“A prediction, or any assertion, that cannot be defended might still be true, but an explanation that cannot be defended is not an explanation.”

“... Dreams of a Final Theory: The Scientist’s Search for the Ultimate Laws of Nature (1992) ... belongs alongside G. H. Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology (1940) and James Watson’s The Double Helix (1968) as one of the classic books in which a brilliant scientist has given his motivations full vent. But while Hardy and Watson portrayed science as a quest for personal glory, Weinberg portrayed it as a quest toward some final explanation, one that would undergird all others.”