Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants
Standing on the shoulders of giants - this is a common metaphor used in the empirical world to symbolize scientific progress. This concept dates back to the 12th century. Some of you might recognize it as the title of Stephen Hawking’s book ‘On the Shoulders of Giants’ while some others might recall it as a phrase underneath the Google Scholar’s search engine. But what exactly does it mean?
The French philosopher Bernard of Chartres said that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size. It is just the idea that in order to make intellectual progress and developmen...
