Interpreting Physics

Interpreting Physics PDF Author: Edward MacKinnon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400723695
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
This book is the first to offer a systematic account of the role of language in the development and interpretation of physics. An historical-conceptual analysis of the co-evolution of mathematical and physical concepts leads to the classical/quatum interface. Bohrian orthodoxy stresses the indispensability of classical concepts and the functional role of mathematics. This book analyses ways of extending, and then going beyond this orthodoxy orthodoxy. Finally, the book analyzes how a revised interpretation of physics impacts on basic philosophical issues: conceptual revolutions, realism, and reductionism.

Interpreting Physics

Interpreting Physics PDF Author: Edward MacKinnon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400723695
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is the first to offer a systematic account of the role of language in the development and interpretation of physics. An historical-conceptual analysis of the co-evolution of mathematical and physical concepts leads to the classical/quatum interface. Bohrian orthodoxy stresses the indispensability of classical concepts and the functional role of mathematics. This book analyses ways of extending, and then going beyond this orthodoxy orthodoxy. Finally, the book analyzes how a revised interpretation of physics impacts on basic philosophical issues: conceptual revolutions, realism, and reductionism.

Interpreting Bodies

Interpreting Bodies PDF Author: Elena Castellani
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691222045
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Bewildering features of modern physics, such as relativistic space-time structure and the peculiarities of so-called quantum statistics, challenge traditional ways of conceiving of objects in space and time. Interpreting Bodies brings together essays by leading philosophers and scientists to provide a unique overview of the implications of such physical theories for questions about the nature of objects. The collection combines classic articles by Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, Hans Reichenbach, and Erwin Schrodinger with recent contributions, including several papers that have never before been published. The book focuses on the microphysical objects that are at the heart of quantum physics and addresses issues central to both the "foundational" and the philosophical debates about objects. Contributors explore three subjects in particular: how to identify a physical object as an individual, the notion of invariance with respect to determining what objects are or could be, and how to relate objective and measurable properties to a physical entity. The papers cover traditional philosophical topics, common-sense questions, and technical matters in a consistently clear and rigorous fashion, illuminating some of the most perplexing problems in modern physics and the philosophy of science. The contributors are Diederik Aerts, Max Born, Elena Castellani, Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara, Bas C. van Fraassen, Steven French, Gian Carlo Ghirardi, Roberto Giuntini, Werner Heisenberg, Decio Krause, David Lewis, Tim Maudlin, Peter Mittelstaedt, Giulio Peruzzi, Hans Reichenbach, Erwin Schrodinger, Paul Teller, and Giuliano Toraldo di Francia.

Interpreting the Quantum World

Interpreting the Quantum World PDF Author: Jeffrey Bub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521653862
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Philosophy of physics title by highly regarded author, fully revised for this paperback edition.

Interpreting Quantum Theories

Interpreting Quantum Theories PDF Author: Laura Ruetsche
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191617377
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Traditionally, philosophers of quantum mechanics have addressed exceedingly simple systems: a pair of electrons in an entangled state, or an atom and a cat in Dr. Schrödinger's diabolical device. But recently, much more complicated systems, such as quantum fields and the infinite systems at the thermodynamic limit of quantum statistical mechanics, have attracted, and repaid, philosophical attention. Interpreting Quantum Theories has three entangled aims. The first is to guide those familiar with the philosophy of ordinary QM into the philosophy of 'QM infinity', by presenting accessible introductions to relevant technical notions and the foundational questions they frame. The second aim is to develop and defend answers to some of those questions. Does quantum field theory demand or deserve a particle ontology? How (if at all) are different states of broken symmetry different? And what is the proper role of idealizations in working physics? The third aim is to highlight ties between the foundational investigation of QM infinity and philosophy more broadly construed, in particular by using the interpretive problems discussed to motivate new ways to think about the nature of physical possibility and the problem of scientific realism.

Interpreting Quantum Theories

Interpreting Quantum Theories PDF Author: Laura Ruetsche
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019953540X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
Philosophers of quantum mechanics have generally addressed exceedingly simple systems. Laura Ruetsche offers a much-needed study of the interpretation of more complicated systems, and an underexplored family of physical theories, such as quantum field theory and quantum statistical mechanics, showing why they repay philosophical attention.

Interpreting Kuhn

Interpreting Kuhn PDF Author: K. Brad Wray
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108498299
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
"One might wonder if there is anything new to say about Thomas Kuhn and his views on science. Scholarship on Kuhn, though, has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. This is so for a number reasons"--

Interpreting Quantum Theory

Interpreting Quantum Theory PDF Author: S. Friederich
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 113744715X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Is it possible to approach quantum theory in a 'therapeutic' vein that sees its foundational problems as arising from mistaken conceptual presuppositions? The book explores the prospects for this project and, in doing so, discusses such fascinating issues as the nature of quantum states, explanation in quantum theory, and 'quantum non-locality'.

Interpreting Buridan

Interpreting Buridan PDF Author: Spencer Johnston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108834248
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
A collection of new essays on the influential medieval philosopher John Buridan, written by leading Buridan scholars. The volume places Buridan in his philosophical context and examines his writings on topics including logic, modal logic, paradoxes, metaphysics, epistemology, theory of knowledge, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy.

Interpreting Maimonides

Interpreting Maimonides PDF Author: Charles H. Manekin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131687754X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 569

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Book Description
Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) was arguably the single most important Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, with an impact on the later Jewish tradition that was unparalleled by any of his contemporaries. In this volume of new essays, world-leading scholars address themes relevant to his philosophical outlook, including his relationship with his Islamicate surroundings and the impact of his work on subsequent Jewish and Christian writings, as well as his reception in twentieth-century scholarship. The essays also address the nature and aim of Maimonides' philosophical writing, including its connection with biblical exegesis, and the philosophical and theological arguments that are central to his work, such as revelation, ritual, divine providence, and teleology. Wide-ranging and fully up-to-date, the volume will be highly valuable for those interested in Jewish history and thought, medieval philosophy, and religious studies.

Interpreting Averroes

Interpreting Averroes PDF Author: Peter Adamson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107114888
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Engages with all aspects of Averroes' philosophy, from his thinking on Aristotle to his influence on Islamic law.