Jan 13, 2018 09:51 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 13, 2018 09:54 PM by C C.)
Robert P Crease explains what philosophers of physics get up to
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...sophers-do
EXCERPT: There are some questions in physics that no amount of physics research can answer. Why, for example, is doing string theory scientific despite its lack of empirical predictions? How should we interpret quantum mechanics? And what, while we’re at it, is so fundamental about physics? We can answer such questions dogmatically by appealing to textbooks or by making rough and ready pronouncements, but the underlying issues are best clarified with the help of the systematic, critical reflection that philosophy practises.
You’d expect me to say that; I am a philosopher after all. So I’ll ignore all the stupid and half-arsed remarks about philosophy that I’ve heard from physicists who should know better and come straight to the point: philosophers seek to understand, not what physicists know, but how they know it. And because physicists are constantly discovering new ways to know things, philosophy of physics is as alive, valuable and active as physics itself.
Philosophy comes in several traditions, of which three – “analytic”, “pragmatic”, and “continental” – have paid particular attention to physics. [...]
Analytic philosophers [...] are mainly interested in the logic of science and the meaning of its basic concepts. [...]
Pragmatic philosophers [...] are interested in how scientists solve puzzles and what the consequences are. [...]
Continental philosophers [...] approach scientific activity as one way of life, among others, in which humans engage with the world. [...]
[...] What philosophers can do, in short, is to encourage reflection on the practice of physics, especially on urgent and obstinate questions such as “Is string theory scientific?” [...] Analytic philosophers can stimulate the question of how much the answer has to do with methodology. Pragmatists can argue that answering such a question is less methodological and more a matter of evaluating the consequences of accepting or rejecting string theory. Continentals can point to the relevance of scientists consulting their own experience, so that they are not just reflecting on questions of method, confirmation, inquiry and community consensus, but also considering how the relationship between science and the wider world can become part of the regular practice of science itself...
MORE: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...sophers-do
Robert P Crease identifies a physics experiment that philosophers would dub “sublime”
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...ic-sublime
EXCERPT: Fascinating, the contrast between the colloquial and technical meanings of terms. In everyday language, we apply the word “sublime” to things like clothes, music and food that are particularly awesome, deep or yummy. In physics and philosophy, however, the word has technical and precise meanings that stick closer to its etymology, which combines the Latin sub (close to or under) and limen (a threshold).
Physicists use sublime to indicate a phase transition from solid to gas that bypasses the liquid state and is triggered by an endothermic process just below the critical-point threshold. Philosophers, meanwhile, use the word to describe the agitation and disorientation you feel when confronted with something incomprehensible and overwhelming. Here, the threshold is between the limited human mind and the limitless, natural world.
For philosophers, then, the sublime is not synonymous with beautiful, and the two terms are in some ways opposites. While the beautiful is calming, integrates mind and nature, and is generated by the formal properties of the beautiful object, the sublime is arousing and formless.
So are there any instances in physics that can give rise to the philosophical experience of “sublime”? Last summer I attended a series of lectures given in Italy by Edward Casey – a colleague of mine at Stony Brook University – that convinced me that at least one experiment perfectly fits the bill....
MORE: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...ic-sublime
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...sophers-do
EXCERPT: There are some questions in physics that no amount of physics research can answer. Why, for example, is doing string theory scientific despite its lack of empirical predictions? How should we interpret quantum mechanics? And what, while we’re at it, is so fundamental about physics? We can answer such questions dogmatically by appealing to textbooks or by making rough and ready pronouncements, but the underlying issues are best clarified with the help of the systematic, critical reflection that philosophy practises.
You’d expect me to say that; I am a philosopher after all. So I’ll ignore all the stupid and half-arsed remarks about philosophy that I’ve heard from physicists who should know better and come straight to the point: philosophers seek to understand, not what physicists know, but how they know it. And because physicists are constantly discovering new ways to know things, philosophy of physics is as alive, valuable and active as physics itself.
Philosophy comes in several traditions, of which three – “analytic”, “pragmatic”, and “continental” – have paid particular attention to physics. [...]
Analytic philosophers [...] are mainly interested in the logic of science and the meaning of its basic concepts. [...]
Pragmatic philosophers [...] are interested in how scientists solve puzzles and what the consequences are. [...]
Continental philosophers [...] approach scientific activity as one way of life, among others, in which humans engage with the world. [...]
[...] What philosophers can do, in short, is to encourage reflection on the practice of physics, especially on urgent and obstinate questions such as “Is string theory scientific?” [...] Analytic philosophers can stimulate the question of how much the answer has to do with methodology. Pragmatists can argue that answering such a question is less methodological and more a matter of evaluating the consequences of accepting or rejecting string theory. Continentals can point to the relevance of scientists consulting their own experience, so that they are not just reflecting on questions of method, confirmation, inquiry and community consensus, but also considering how the relationship between science and the wider world can become part of the regular practice of science itself...
MORE: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...sophers-do
Robert P Crease identifies a physics experiment that philosophers would dub “sublime”
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...ic-sublime
EXCERPT: Fascinating, the contrast between the colloquial and technical meanings of terms. In everyday language, we apply the word “sublime” to things like clothes, music and food that are particularly awesome, deep or yummy. In physics and philosophy, however, the word has technical and precise meanings that stick closer to its etymology, which combines the Latin sub (close to or under) and limen (a threshold).
Physicists use sublime to indicate a phase transition from solid to gas that bypasses the liquid state and is triggered by an endothermic process just below the critical-point threshold. Philosophers, meanwhile, use the word to describe the agitation and disorientation you feel when confronted with something incomprehensible and overwhelming. Here, the threshold is between the limited human mind and the limitless, natural world.
For philosophers, then, the sublime is not synonymous with beautiful, and the two terms are in some ways opposites. While the beautiful is calming, integrates mind and nature, and is generated by the formal properties of the beautiful object, the sublime is arousing and formless.
So are there any instances in physics that can give rise to the philosophical experience of “sublime”? Last summer I attended a series of lectures given in Italy by Edward Casey – a colleague of mine at Stony Brook University – that convinced me that at least one experiment perfectly fits the bill....
MORE: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/inde...ic-sublime