Symbol and Physical Knowledge

On the Conceptual Structure of Physics

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

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Hardcover | 28 August 2001

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248 Pages

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23.5 x 15.88 x 1.91

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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.

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"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)

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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

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