Scientists Agree on Natural Laws for Society at Forum

Four scientists agreed last night that laboratory research can help man discover "natural" social laws, in the third session of the Law School Forum's symposium on "Values for Modern Man" in Langdell Courtroom.

Moderator Kirtley F. Mather rephrased the scheduled question to: "Does research in the physical sciences encourage honesty, discerning love, and cooperation with fellow workers," but Phillip G. Frank, Phillippe E. Le Corbeiller, and Cecilia P. Gaposchkin stuck to the original query.

"Values Are Facts"

Frank, lecturer on physics and mathematics, refused to distinguish between the realms of facts and values. "For the scientist, there is only one realm: facts," he said. "Values are facts like all other qualities."

"A scientist cannot accept the 'Will of God' unless he knows who is capable of interpreting it accurately," Frank commented.

Mrs. Gaposchkin described science as "merely a shorthand description of the behavior of the universe," and denied that natural science can divulge any direct laws for social behavior.

"Natural law is not sacred law," she said, "for each newly discovered law later proves to be a special case of a more comprehensive law. These laws are not handed down from above," she said; "they rather are formulas describing universal patterns of physical behavior."

Le Corbeiller, lecturer on applied physics, agreed with the previous speaker that natural laws "cannot give us guidance in the affairs of the day. But I believe," he said, "that scientific contemplation does suggest a new view of man's relation to the universe.

"Isolation Doesn't Exist"

"There is a dynamic law that when two dynamic systems act upon each other in any way, they are no longer two systems, but one.

"Carrying this principle through other sciences than physics," Le Corbeiller continued, 'we can see that there is no such thing as an isolated system, no such thing as an isolated organ in an animal, and finally that there is no such thing as an isolated animal."

"Therefore we see that the universe is one, just as the economist is now discovering that there is a high degree of interdependence between nations; that one nation cannot continue in prosperity unless the other nations are also prosperous. The Marshall Plan is not a matter of Christian charity at all," he concluded.

Tonight's session of the five-day symposium, dealing with religion and philosophy, will begin at 8 p.m. in Sanders Theater.