[PDF] Observability And Observation In Physical Science eBook

Author : Peter Kosso
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 43,78 MB
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9400924348

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The concept of observability of entities in physical science is typically analyzed in terms of the nature and significance of a dichotomy between observables and unobservables. In this book, however, this categorization is resisted and observability is analyzed in a descriptive way in terms of the information which one can receive through interaction with objects in the world. The account of interaction and the transfer of information is done using applicable scientific theories. In this way the question of observability of scientific entities is put to science itself. Several examples are presented which show how this interaction-information account of observability is done. It is demonstrated that observability has many dimensions which are in general orthogonal. The epistemic significance of these dimensions is explained. This study is intended primarily as a method for understanding problems of observability rather than as a solution to those problems. The important issue of scientific realism and its relation to observability, however, demands attention. Hence, the implication of the interaction-information account for realism is drawn in terms of the epistemic significance of the dimensions of observability. This amounts to specifying what it is about good observations that make them objective evidence for scientific theories.

Author : E. Agazzi
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 15,17 MB
Release : 2013-04-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9401593914

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Observability and Scientific Realism It is commonly thought that the birth of modern natural science was made possible by an intellectual shift from a mainly abstract and specuJative conception of the world to a carefully elaborated image based on observations. There is some grain of truth in this claim, but this grain depends very much on what one takes observation to be. In the philosophy of science of our century, observation has been practically equated with sense perception. This is understandable if we think of the attitude of radical empiricism that inspired Ernst Mach and the philosophers of the Vienna Circle, who powerfully influenced our century's philosophy of science. However, this was not the atti tude of the f ounders of modern science: Galileo, f or example, expressed in a f amous passage of the Assayer the conviction that perceptual features of the world are merely subjective, and are produced in the 'anima!' by the motion and impacts of unobservable particles that are endowed uniquely with mathematically expressible properties, and which are therefore the real features of the world. Moreover, on other occasions, when defending the Copernican theory, he explicitly remarked that in admitting that the Sun is static and the Earth turns on its own axis, 'reason must do violence to the sense' , and that it is thanks to this violence that one can know the tme constitution of the universe.

Author : Ernest H. Hutten
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 15,68 MB
Release : 2022-12-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1000788563

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First published in 1956 The Language of Modern Physics gives a complete account of the concepts both of classical and quantum physics. The first part of the book deals with modern logic and semantics and discussion is based on the semantic conception of truth and leads up to the criterion of meaning. The second and main part of the book is about basic ideas of physics. Here the model which underlies a scientific theory is of greatest import; in most instances the model is tacitly assumed, but we must bring it into the open if we want to understand the theory. The third and last part deals with the methods scientists use for confirming their hypotheses. This book is a must read for students and scholars of philosophy of science and philosophy in general.

Author : Mario Bunge
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 20,12 MB
Release : 2017-09-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 1351499750

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Originally published as Scientific Research, this pair of volumes constitutes a fundamental treatise on the strategy of science. Mario Bunge, one of the major figures of the century in the development of a scientific epistemology, describes and analyzes scientific philosophy, as well as discloses its philosophical presuppositions. This work may be used as a map to identify the various stages in the road to scientific knowledge.Philosophy of Science is divided into two volumes, each with two parts. Part 1 offers a preview of the scheme of science and the logical and semantical took that will be used throughout the work. The account of scientific research begins with part 2, where Bunge discusses formulating the problem to be solved, hypothesis, scientific law, and theory.The second volume opens with part 3, which deals with the application of theories to explanation, prediction, and action. This section is graced by an outstanding discussion of the philosophy of technology. Part 4 begins with measurement and experiment. It then examines risks in jumping to conclusions from data to hypotheses as well as the converse procedure.Bunge begins this mammoth work with a section entitled ""How to Use This Book."" He writes that it is intended for both independent reading and reference as well as for use in courses on scientific method and the philosophy of science. It suits a variety of purposes from introductory to advanced levels. Philosophy of Science is a versatile, informative, and useful text that will benefit professors, researchers, and students in a variety of disciplines, ranging from the behavioral and biological sciences to the physical sciences.

Author : C. Wade Savage
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 512 pages
File Size : 38,68 MB
Release : 1990
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780816618019

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A whole new crop of worms from the philosophy of science can. Based on a two-year study, 15 essays look over the shoulder of scientists in biomedicine, economics, neuropsychology, physics, and other disciplines, and comment on how and why they devise, use, and legitimize their theories. Annotation c

Author : Peter Kosso
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 11,28 MB
Release : 1998
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780195115154

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Appearance and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics addresses quantum mechanics and relativity and their philosophical implications, focusing on whether these theories of modern physics can help us know nature as it really is, or only as it appears to us. The author clearly explains the foundational concepts and principles of both quantum mechanics and relativity and then uses them to argue that we can know more than mere appearances, and that we can know to some extent the way things really are. He argues that modern physics gives us reason to believe that we can know some things about the objective, real world, but he also acknowledges that we cannot know everything, which results in a position he calls "realistic realism." This book is not a survey of possible philosophical interpretations of modern physics, nor does it leap from a caricature of the physics to some wildly alarming metaphysics. Instead, it is careful with the physics and true to the evidence in arriving at its own realistic conclusions. It presents the physics without mathematics, and makes extensive use of diagrams and analogies to explain important ideas. Engaging and accessible, Appearance and Reality serves as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in the intersection of philosophy and physics, including students in philosophy of physics and philosophy of science courses.

Author : Jet Nestruev
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 39,66 MB
Release : 2006-04-06
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 0387227393

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This book gives an introduction to fiber spaces and differential operators on smooth manifolds. Over the last 20 years, the authors developed an algebraic approach to the subject and they explain in this book why differential calculus on manifolds can be considered as an aspect of commutative algebra. This new approach is based on the fundamental notion of observable which is used by physicists and will further the understanding of the mathematics underlying quantum field theory.

Author : Hans Radder
Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 20,88 MB
Release : 2014-06-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0822971062

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Observation and conceptual interpretation constitute the two major ways through which human beings engage the world. The World Observed/The World Conceived presents an innovative analysis of the nature and role of observation and conceptualization. While these two actions are often treated as separate, Hans Radder shows that they are inherently interconnected-that materially realized observational processes are always conceptually interpreted and that the meaning of concepts depends on the way they structure observational processes and abstract from them. He examines the role of human action and conceptualization in realizing observational processes and develops a detailed theory of the relationship between observation, abstraction, and the meaning of concepts. The World Observed/The World Conceived will prove useful to many areas of scholarly study including ontology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, science studies, and cognitive science.