Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science

Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science PDF Author: Hermann Weyl
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400833337
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
When mathematician Hermann Weyl decided to write a book on philosophy, he faced what he referred to as "conflicts of conscience"--the objective nature of science, he felt, did not mesh easily with the incredulous, uncertain nature of philosophy. Yet the two disciplines were already intertwined. In Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, Weyl examines how advances in philosophy were led by scientific discoveries--the more humankind understood about the physical world, the more curious we became. The book is divided into two parts, one on mathematics and the other on the physical sciences. Drawing on work by Descartes, Galileo, Hume, Kant, Leibniz, and Newton, Weyl provides readers with a guide to understanding science through the lens of philosophy. This is a book that no one but Weyl could have written--and, indeed, no one has written anything quite like it since.

The Mathematical Laws of Natural Science

The Mathematical Laws of Natural Science PDF Author: Keith Dixon-Roche
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Colour Images: A complete and consistent mathematical description of all the scientific laws of the natural universe from atomic particles to the 'Big-Bang', including a detailed explanation of all the scientific constants. Science is a lot simpler than you might think, for example everything in the universe is energy; mass is magnetic charge and gravity is magnetism. All of its theories are common to all disciplines (e.g. mechanics, electricity, chemistry, optics, biology, etc.). There is no longer any need for unification or sub theories, to explain how the universe works - everything in this publication is already unified. At no time has it been necessary to use phrases such as; "we assume", "we think" or "the normal laws of physics do not apply". At last "we know". Also included are the reasons why Relativity and Quantum Theory can be disregarded as legitimate mathematical descriptions of the universe; Isaac Newton was correct.

Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science

Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science PDF Author: Hermann Weyl
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400833337
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
When mathematician Hermann Weyl decided to write a book on philosophy, he faced what he referred to as "conflicts of conscience"--the objective nature of science, he felt, did not mesh easily with the incredulous, uncertain nature of philosophy. Yet the two disciplines were already intertwined. In Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, Weyl examines how advances in philosophy were led by scientific discoveries--the more humankind understood about the physical world, the more curious we became. The book is divided into two parts, one on mathematics and the other on the physical sciences. Drawing on work by Descartes, Galileo, Hume, Kant, Leibniz, and Newton, Weyl provides readers with a guide to understanding science through the lens of philosophy. This is a book that no one but Weyl could have written--and, indeed, no one has written anything quite like it since.

The Language of Nature

The Language of Nature PDF Author: Geoffrey Gorham
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452951853
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Galileo’s dictum that the book of nature “is written in the language of mathematics” is emblematic of the accepted view that the scientific revolution hinged on the conceptual and methodological integration of mathematics and natural philosophy. Although the mathematization of nature is a distinctive and crucial feature of the emergence of modern science in the seventeenth century, this volume shows that it was a far more complex, contested, and context-dependent phenomenon than the received historiography has indicated, and that philosophical controversies about the implications of mathematization cannot be understood in isolation from broader social developments related to the status and practice of mathematics in various commercial, political, and academic institutions. Contributors: Roger Ariew, U of South Florida; Richard T. W. Arthur, McMaster U; Lesley B. Cormack, U of Alberta; Daniel Garber, Princeton U; Ursula Goldenbaum, Emory U; Dana Jalobeanu, U of Bucharest; Douglas Jesseph, U of South Florida; Carla Rita Palmerino, Radboud U, Nijmegen and Open U of the Netherlands; Eileen Reeves, Princeton U; Christopher Smeenk, Western U; Justin E. H. Smith, U of Paris 7; Kurt Smith, Bloomsburg U of Pennsylvania.

Mathematics and the Laws of Nature

Mathematics and the Laws of Nature PDF Author: John Tabak
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780816079438
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This volume of the History of Mathematics series delves into the topic of how mathematical concepts are very much ingrained in the laws of nature.

Laws of Nature

Laws of Nature PDF Author: Peter Mittelstaedt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 354028303X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Thisbook isnotatextbook tobecomeacquainted with thelaws ofnature. An elementaryknowledgeaboutlawsofnature,inparticularthelawsofphysics,is presupposed. Thebookisratherintendedtoprovideaclari?cationofconcepts and properties of the laws of nature. The authors would like to emphasise that this book has been developed – created – as a real teamwork. Although the chapters (and in some cases parts of the chapters) were originally written by one of the two authors, all of them were discussed thoroughly and in detail and have been revised and complemented afterwards. Even if both authors were in agreement on most of the foundational issues discussed in the book, they did not feel it necessary to balance every viewpoint. Thus some individual and personal di?erence or emphasis will still be recognisable from the chapters written by the di?erent authors. In this sense the authors feel speci?cally responsible for the chapters as follows: Mittelstaedt for Chaps. 4, 9. 3, 10, 11. 2, 12, 13 and Weingartner for Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8. 2, 9. 2, 9. 4. The remaining parts are joint sections. Most of the chapters are formulated as questions and they begin with arguments pro and contra. Then a detailed answer is proposed which contains a systematic discussion of the question. This is the respective main part of the chapter. It sometimes begins with a survey of the problem by giving some important answers to it from history (cf. Chaps. 6 and 9).

Mathematics and the Natural Sciences

Mathematics and the Natural Sciences PDF Author: Francis Bailly
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1908977795
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
This book identifies the organizing concepts of physical and biological phenomena by an analysis of the foundations of mathematics and physics. Our aim is to propose a dialog between different conceptual universes and thus to provide a unification of phenomena. The role of “order” and symmetries in the foundations of mathematics is linked to the main invariants and principles, among them the geodesic principle (a consequence of symmetries), which govern and confer unity to various physical theories. Moreover, an attempt is made to understand causal structures, a central element of physical intelligibility, in terms of both symmetries and symmetry breakings. A distinction between the principles of (conceptual) construction and of proofs, both in physics and in mathematics, guides most of the work. The importance of mathematical tools is also highlighted to clarify differences in the models for physics and biology that are proposed by continuous and discrete mathematics, such as computational simulations. Since biology is particularly complex and not as well understood at a theoretical level, we propose a “unification by concepts” which in any case should precede mathematization. This constitutes an outline for unification also based on highlighting conceptual differences, complex points of passage and technical irreducibilities of one field to another. Indeed, we suppose here a very common monist point of view, namely the view that living objects are “big bags of molecules”. The main question though is to understand which “theory” can help better understand these bags of molecules. They are, indeed, rather “singular”, from the physical point of view. Technically, we express this singularity through the concept of “extended criticality”, which provides a logical extension of the critical transitions that are known in physics. The presentation is mostly kept at an informal and conceptual level. Contents:Mathematical Concepts and Physical ObjectsIncompleteness and Indetermination in Mathematics and PhysicsSpace and Time from Physics to BiologyInvariances, Symmetries, and Symmetry BreakingsCauses and Symmetries: The Continuum and the Discrete in Mathematical ModelingExtended Criticality: The Physical Singularity of Life PhenomenaRandomness and Determination in the Interplay between the Continuum and the DiscreteConclusion: Unification and Separation of Theories, or the Importance of Negative Results Readership: Graduate students and professionals in the fields of natural sciences, biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Keywords:Foundations of Mathematics and of Physics;Epistemology;Theoretical BiologyKey Features:This book is an epistemological reflection carried out by two working scientists, a physicist and a mathematician, who focus on biology. They first address a comparative analysis of the founding principles of their own disciplines. On the grounds of a three-fold blend, they then introduce a unique proposal, which does not passively transfer the paradigms of the first two theoretically well-established disciplines, to suggest a novel theoretical framework for the third discipline

Our Mathematical Universe

Our Mathematical Universe PDF Author: Max Tegmark
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307744256
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians.

Mathematics as a Tool

Mathematics as a Tool PDF Author: Johannes Lenhard
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319544691
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book puts forward a new role for mathematics in the natural sciences. In the traditional understanding, a strong viewpoint is advocated, on the one hand, according to which mathematics is used for truthfully expressing laws of nature and thus for rendering the rational structure of the world. In a weaker understanding, many deny that these fundamental laws are of an essentially mathematical character, and suggest that mathematics is merely a convenient tool for systematizing observational knowledge. The position developed in this volume combines features of both the strong and the weak viewpoint. In accordance with the former, mathematics is assigned an active and even shaping role in the sciences, but at the same time, employing mathematics as a tool is taken to be independent from the possible mathematical structure of the objects under consideration. Hence the tool perspective is contextual rather than ontological. Furthermore, tool-use has to respect conditions like suitability, efficacy, optimality, and others. There is a spectrum of means that will normally differ in how well they serve particular purposes. The tool perspective underlines the inevitably provisional validity of mathematics: any tool can be adjusted, improved, or lose its adequacy upon changing practical conditions.

Principia

Principia PDF Author: Isaac Newton
Publisher: E-Kitap Projesi & Cheapest Books
ISBN: 6257959578
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), often referred to as simply the Principia, is a work in three books by Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published 5 July 1687. After annotating and correcting his personal copy of the first edition, Newton published two further editions, in 1713 and 1726. The Principia states Newton's laws of motion, forming the foundation of classical mechanics; Newton's law of universal gravitation; and a derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion (which Kepler first obtained empirically). The Principia is considered one of the most important works in the history of science. The French mathematical physicist Alexis Clairaut assessed it in 1747: "The famous book of Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy marked the epoch of a great revolution in physics. The method followed by its illustrious author Sir Newton ... spread the light of mathematics on a science which up to then had remained in the darkness of conjectures and hypotheses." A more recent assessment has been that while acceptance of Newton's theories was not immediate, by the end of the century after publication in 1687, "no one could deny that" (out of the Principia) "a science had emerged that, at least in certain respects, so far exceeded anything that had ever gone before that it stood alone as the ultimate exemplar of science generally". In formulating his physical theories, Newton developed and used mathematical methods now included in the field of Calculus. But the language of calculus as we know it was largely absent from the Principia; Newton gave many of his proofs in a geometric form of infinitesimal calculus, based on limits of ratios of vanishing small geometric quantities. In a revised conclusion to the Principia (see General Scholium), Newton used his expression that became famous. The Principia deals primarily with massive bodies in motion, initially under a variety of conditions and hypothetical laws of force in both non-resisting and resisting media, thus offering criteria to decide, by observations, which laws of force are operating in phenomena that may be observed. It attempts to cover hypothetical or possible motions both of celestial bodies and of terrestrial projectiles. It explores difficult problems of motions perturbed by multiple attractive forces. Its third and final book deals with the interpretation of observations about the movements of planets and their satellites. It shows: • How astronomical observations prove the inverse square law of gravitation (to an accuracy that was high by the standards of Newton's time); • Offers estimates of relative masses for the known giant planets and for the Earth and the Sun; • Defines the very slow motion of the Sun relative to the solar-system barycenter; • Shows how the theory of gravity can account for irregularities in the motion of the Moon; • Identifies the oblateness of the figure of the Earth; • Accounts approximately for marine tides including phenomena of spring and neap tides by the perturbing (and varying) gravitational attractions of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's waters; • Explains the precession of the equinoxes as an effect of the gravitational attraction of the Moon on the Earth's equatorial bulge; and • Gives theoretical basis for numerous phenomena about comets and their elongated, near-parabolic orbits.

Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences

Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences PDF Author: Ari Ben-Menahem
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540688315
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 6070

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Book Description
This 5,800-page encyclopedia surveys 100 generations of great thinkers, offering more than 2,000 detailed biographies of scientists, engineers, explorers and inventors who left their mark on the history of science and technology. This six-volume masterwork also includes 380 articles summarizing the time-line of ideas in the leading fields of science, technology, mathematics and philosophy.