Vassar is pointing out ideas that we now know to be correct, and suggesting that we study how they were created in order to be better at creating new good ideas.
I believe Vassar’s point is that some of the ideas we now believe could actually be wrong (and in fact a lot of them probably are), and some older ideas might be closer to the truth.
Keep in mind that societies frequently reject ideas for reasons unrelated to their truth values.
I believe Vassar’s point is that some of the ideas we now believe could actually be wrong (and in fact a lot of them probably are), and some older ideas might be closer to the truth.
Keep in mind that societies frequently reject ideas for reasons unrelated to their truth values.
I was making both points, the former for physics, the latter for almost all other fields.