Foundations of Probability Theory and Statistical Mechanics

Scientific theories are invented and cared for by people ; and so have the properties of any other human institution — vigorous growth when all the factors are right; stagnation, decadence, and even retrograde progress when they are not. And the factors that determine which it will be are seldom the ones (such as the state of experimental or mathematical techniques) that one might at first expect. Among factors that have seemed, historically, to be more important are practical considerations, accidents of birth or personality of individual people; and above all, the general philosophical climate in which the scientist lives, which determines whether efforts in a certain direction will be approved or deprecated by the scientific community as a whole.