
- 222 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Philosophy and the New Physics
About this book
First Published in 1982 Philosophy and the New Physics is a compact and yet remarkably rich excursion through the history of physics from Newtonian mechanics to quantum physics. The theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and ideas about the 'fundamental constituents' of matter have attracted a great deal of philosophical comment. Indeed, the originators of some of these theories thought they were solving philosophical problems as well as scientific ones. Classical physics is often portrayed as epitomizing 'mechanistic materialism', and the revolution in modern physics is variously claimed to vindicate 'logical positivism', 'operationalism', 'organicism', 'dialectical materialism' and 'Buddhist metaphysics'. In this book Jonathan Powers criticizes all of these claims and argues that such varied and conflicting interpretations are possible because of ineradicable elements of conventionality in scientific theories. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of science and philosophy in general.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Original Title Page
- Dedication
- Original Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Note to the second printing
- Introduction
- 1 Physics, metaphysics and mathematics
- 2 The classical framework
- 3 The meaning of relativity
- 4 The new world of quantum physics
- 5 Physics, ideology and Absolute Truth
- Notes
- Bibliographical essay
- Appendix: Non-locality and the Aspect experiment
- Name index
- Subject index