Philosophical Concepts in Physics
The Historical Relation between Philosophy and Scientific Theories

History and philosophy of science textbook on the relation between philosophy and physics.

James T. Cushing (Author)

9780521578233, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 January 1998

448 pages, 133 b/w illus. 9 tables
24.1 x 17 x 2.8 cm, 0.73 kg

'Altogether, the book provides a good overview of the basis underlying 3000 years of physical knowledge …'. H Rechenberg, Institute of Physics Publishing

This book examines a selection of philosophical issues in the context of specific episodes in the development of physical theories. Advances in science are presented against the historical and philosophical backgrounds in which they occurred. A major aim is to impress upon the reader the essential role that philosophical considerations have played in the actual practice of science. The book begins with some necessary introduction to the history of ancient and early modern science, with major emphasis being given to the two great watersheds of twentieth-century physics: relativity and, especially, quantum mechanics. At times the term 'construction' may seem more appropriate than 'discovery' for the way theories have developed and, especially in the later chapters, the question of the influence of historical, philosophical and even social factors on the very form and content of scientific theories is discussed.

Preface
Part I. The Scientific Enterprise: 1. Ways of knowing
2. Aristotle and Francis Bacon
3. Science and metaphysics
Part II. Ancient and Modern Models of the Universe: 4. Observational astronomy and the Ptolemaic model
5. The Copernican model and Kepler's laws
6. Galileo on motion
Part III. The Newtonian Universe: 7. Newton's Principia
8. Newton's law of universal gravitation
9. Some old questions revisited
Part IV. A Perspective: 10. Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess
11. An overarching Newtonian framework
12. A view of the world based on science: determinism
Part V. Mechanical Versus Electrodynamical World Views: 13. Models of the aether
14. Maxwell's theory
15. The Kaufmann experiments
Part VI. The Theory of Relativity: 16. The background to and essentials of special relativity
17. Further logical consequences of Einstein's postulates
18. General relativity and the expanding universe
Part VII. The Quantum World and the Completeness of Quantum Mechanics: 19. The road to quantum mechanics
20. 'Copenhage' quantum mechanics
21. Is quantum mechanics complete?
Part VIII. Some Philosophical Lessons from Quantum Mechanics: 22. The EPR paper and Bell's theorem
23. An alternative version of quantum mechanics
24. An essential role for historical contingency?
Part IX. A Retrospective: 25. The goals of science and the status of its knowledge
Notes
General references
Bibliography
Author index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH]