The Scientist as Philosopher (eBook)

Philosophical Consequences of Great Scientific Discoveries

Friedel Weinert (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2005 | 2004
XI, 344 Seiten
Springer Berlin (Verlag)
978-3-540-27031-7 (ISBN)

Infos

 

Clearly written and well illustrated, the book first places the scientist-philosophers in the limelight as we learn how their great scientific discoveries forced them to reconsider the time-honored notions with which science had described the natural world.

Then, the book explains that what we understand by nature and science have undergone fundamental conceptual changes as a result of the discoveries of electromagnetism, thermodynamics and atomic structure.

The author concludes that the dance between science and philosophy is an evolutionary process, which will keep them forever entwined.

Inhalt

Preface 7
Contents 8
Introduction 11
Part I The Philosopher Scientist 16
2 The Concept of Nature 17
2.1 Introduction 17
2.2 Fromthe Organismic to theMechanistic Universe 18
2.3 From Natures to Nature 21
2.4 The Emergence of Nature as an Interrelated System 30
2.5 The End of Philosophical Speculations About Nature as a System 37
2.6 Fields, Structure Laws and the Decline of theMechanicalWorldview 55
2.7 The Demise of the Point Particle: TheWave-Particle Duality 64
2.8 Invariance and Reality 70
3 Physical Understanding 83
3.1 Understanding and Fundamental Concepts 83
3.2 Models 92
3.3 Einstein’s Problem, Bohr’s Challenge and the Feedback Thesis 102
Part II The Scientist Philosopher 111
4 The Block Universe 112
4.1 Introduction 112
4.2 The Special Theory of Relativity and the Idea of the Block Universe 127
4.3 Idealist Views of Time 154
4.4 Minkowski Space-Time 167
5 Causation and Determinism 199
5.1 Laplace and the ClassicalWorld 199
5.2 New Discoveries – New Ideas 218
5.3 Scientists Draw Philosophical Consequences 227
6 Conclusion 283
Bibliography 289
List of Figure Sources 325
Name Index 326
Subject Index 329

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.10.2005
• Zusatzinfo: XI, 344 p.
• Verlagsort: Berlin
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Causation • Determinism • Evolution • magnetism • Natur • Nature • Philosophy • Quantum Theory • Science • Special theory of relativity • Theory of relativity • thermodynamics • Time
• ISBN-10: 3-540-27031-0 / 3540270310
• ISBN-13: 978-3-540-27031-7 / 9783540270317