My Wish Lists Login / Join

Symbol and Physical Knowledge

On the Conceptual Structure of Physics

By: M. Ferrari (Editor), Ion-Olimpiu Stamatescu (Editor)

Write A Review

Hardcover | 28 August 2001

At a Glance

Hardcover
248 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.88 x 1.91

Hardcover

$84.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $21.25 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

The question of the symbolic structure of physics is implicitly involved in any discussion about the character of physical knowledge and the development of physical theories. Actually many discussions would greatly profit from an explicit reference to and an investigation of this question, and much confusion may be avoided in this way. A book directly addressing the use and character of symbols in physics may help provide a point of view which is in the back- ground of any consideration in the theory of knowledge and which is, to be sure, very relevant today, but - strangely enough - often seems to be missing as an explicit and central perspective in the present epistemological debates. The concept of symbol has different meanings. Its wide diffusion in various cultural fields such as religion, mythology, art, and psychoanalysis, constitutes the best proof of its semantic variety, but also of the danger of using it in too vague a way. We start here from the concept of symbol conceived in the general sense of a sign or a material medium which is able, on the one hand, to communicate mental or conceptual contents and, on the other hand, to des- ignate things or situations in the world. In this way symbols make it possible for human knowledge to "translate" the mental activity grasping the real- ity in conceptual frames, formal or natural languages, scientific propositions, theories and so on.

Industry Reviews

"The book has the important merit of calling our attention to the fundamental problem of sorting out what in physical theories comes from ourselves (the a priori, symbolic, conventional part) and what comes from nature, a question that we are far from having definitely solved." (International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 17/1, 2003)

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Science Physics Science in General Philosophy of Science Philosophy Epistemology & The Theory of Knowledge History of Science

Introduction
Sources for the History of the Concept of Symbol from Leibniz to Cassirer	p. 3
Leibniz's "Cognitio Symbolica" and the Theory of Expression	p. 4
Kant: Schema and Symbol	p. 8
The Rediscovering of the Sign	p. 12
Hermann von Helmholtz and Heinrich Hertz	p. 16
Intermezzo: Hertz and Wittgenstein	p. 20
From Moritz Schlick to Ernst Cassirer	p. 22
Knowledge as Symbolic Form	p. 25
On the Use and Character of Symbols in Modern Physical Theories	p. 33
Some Remarks About Physics	p. 33
On the Physicist's Part in Epistemological Discussions	p. 33
On the Requirements upon Physics	p. 34
On the Dynamics of Physics Development	p. 36
Questions of the Dynamics of the Symbolic Structures	p. 38
Some Remarks Concerning Physical Symbols	p. 39
Symbols and Things	p. 39
The Valences of the Physical Symbols	p. 41
On the Status of the Symbols	p. 41
On the Association of Symbols to "Things"	p. 43
The Constructive Aspect of the Necessity in the Association Symbols-to-Things	p. 45
On the Establishment of Physical Concepts	p. 45
Modern Fundamental Physical Theories and Their Relations	p. 47
The Structure of Physics Research	p. 47
Established Physical Theories	p. 50
Relations Between Theories	p. 52
Evolution of Symbols	p. 58
On the Symbols of Modern Physical Theories	p. 61
On Physical Knowledge and Scientific Progress	p. 63
The "Pragmatic" Attitude of Physicists	p. 63
On Justification and Truth	p. 65
On Intuition and A Priori	p. 67
On Scientific Progress	p. 68
Views on Symbol in the Philosophy of Science
The Symbol in the Theory of Science: Duhem's Alleged Instrumentalism or Conventionalism and the Continuity of Scientific Development	p. 75
Changes in the Theory Concept During the 19th Century	p. 75
The Symbolic Nature of Scientific Theories	p. 77
Duhem: An Instrumentalist or a Conventionalist?	p. 80
Natural Classification and the Systems Concept	p. 85
Natural Classification and the Continuity of Scientific Development	p. 91
Beyond Realism. Symbolism in the Philosophy of Science	p. 97
Sign and Science: Peirce and His Predecessors	p. 98
Symbolism or Realism: Is There an Alternative?	p. 104
Heinrich Hertz and the Concept of a Symbol	p. 109
Hertz on Helmholtz's Theory of Signs	p. 109
The Comparison of Electrodynamic Theories	p. 110
The Objective of Principles of Mechanics	p. 113
The Concept of a Symbol or Image in Principles of Mechanics	p. 114
Images and Models	p. 116
Criteria for the Evaluation of Images	p. 117
Problems	p. 119
Conclusion	p. 120
On the Symbolic Structure of Physics
Shifting Symbolic Structures and Changing Theories: On the Non-Translatability and Empirical Comparability of Incommensurable Theories	p. 125
Symbolic Descriptions and the Choice of Conceptual Structures	p. 125
Meaning, Theoretical Context, and Adequate Translation	p. 126
Shifting Theoretical Ground: the Example of the Einsteinian Revolution	p. 130
Incommensurable Quantities in Classical Electrodynamics and Special Relativity	p. 133
Incommensurability, Split-up of Natural Kinds and Shifts in Reference	p. 138
Empirical Comparison of Theories with Incommensurable Concepts	p. 140
Conclusion	p. 146
Symbol and Intuition in Modern Physics	p. 149
Language and Reality	p. 150
Functions of Intuition	p. 158
The Graspability of Cognition	p. 166
Idealizations in Physics	p. 177
An Example of an Idealization	p. 177
The Concept of an Idealization	p. 177
Different Kinds of Idealization	p. 178
Production of Physical Systems	p. 178
Isolation	p. 179
Data Interpolation	p. 179
Data Fitting	p. 180
Abstraction	p. 181
Idealization in the Narrow Sense	p. 181
Neglect	p. 182
Simplification	p. 182
Mathematical Simplicity	p. 183
Idealization and Reality	p. 184
Essentialism	p. 184
Idealizations and Empirical Adequacy I	p. 186
Idealizations and Empirical Adequacy II	p. 188
A Rationale for Abstractions	p. 189
Conclusion: Idealization and Symbol	p. 191
Symbolizing States and Events in Quantum Mechanics	p. 193
Preliminaries: The Born Rule	p. 194
Is the State Vector a Probabilistic System Description? The Main Argument	p. 195
Two Objections	p. 200
Quantum States and Quantum Events	p. 203
Quantum Mechanics and the Classical World Picture	p. 207
The Semiotics of "Postmodern" Physics	p. 211
Introduction	p. 211
Postmodern Fields of Physics	p. 212
The Semiotics	p. 217
The Semiotics of Postmodern Physics	p. 221
Conclusions	p. 227
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Symbol and Physical Knowledge

On the Conceptual Structure of Physics

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Epistemology & The Theory of Knowledge

Psychoanalytic Sociology

A New Theory of the Social Bond

Lunacy

Ten False Promises of the New Space Age

The Art of Knowing Everything

Ramon Llull's Medieval Learning Machines

Translation as Concept

Universality, Negativity, Time

The Language Animal

The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity

The Black Swan

The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Collins Classics - A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Collins Classics

The Denial of Death

Cosmos and Psyche : Intimations of a New World View

Intimations of a New World View

The Poetry of Being and the Prose of the World in Early Greek Philosophy

Sather Classical Lectures

Knowing What We Know

How we acquire, retain and communicate knowledge from ancient times to the era of big data

The Spontaneous Healing of Belief

Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits

Mindset

The New Psychology of Success

The Infinite Alphabet

And the Laws of Knowledge

The Book of Memory

Or, How to Live Forever

On Pedantry

A Cultural History of the Know-it-All

Herald of a Restless World

How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People

Archaeology of Knowledge

Routledge Classics

How to get Philosophy Students Talking

An Instructor's Toolkit

Ways of Being

Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for a Planetary Intelligence

Ocellus Lucanus on the nature of the universe

Taurus, the Platonic philosopher, on the eternity of the world. Julius Firmicus Maternus of the thema mundi. Select theorems on the perpetuity of time, by Proclus.

Constructing China

Clashing Views of the People's Republic

Imagination and Truth

Creative Discovery in the Platonic Tradition

Stupidity and Self-Absorption

Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy

This product is categorised by