Transitions of Physics: Rationalism and Empiricism
Dennis V. Perepelitsa
March 8, 2006
The moral and social conceits of Victorian England well reflected the mood of the scientific community at the time: descriptions of physical phenomena, like rules of ettiquette and human interaction, were vast systems mired in legacy, weight, contradiction and deference, the constant justification and reassertion of which was a monumental task. The picture of the classical physicist at the time was of a man who not only placed stock in the empirical verification of theoretical ventures, but who substituted those same methods of verification for the ventures themselves. Natural philosophy was to him a system of rules and laws that existed insofar as they could be seen, heard, felt, or otherwised observed. That is, they had a firm footing in human experience, and even the classical physicist’s choice of mechanical modeling as a pedagogical tool reflected this, as did his psychological desire for explanations of the natural world that were entirely mechanical. The Industrial Revolution was in full force, and just as the value of an economy was measured by its production capacity, labor power and capital investment, discussions of physics were validated by the meter stick,weight scale, and watch. But just as this era in England’s history would give way to the crisis of Modernism after a few short decades, this physicist was slowly being replaced with another breed. This new physicist placed his faith in rational explanations, championed pure mathematics as his tool, and quickly left behind that desperate reliance on familiar, Newtonian systems. The differences were significant and fundamental.
To download the article click on the link below:
http://web.mit.edu/dvp/www/Work/8.225/dvp-8.225-paper-1.pdf
March 8, 2006
The moral and social conceits of Victorian England well reflected the mood of the scientific community at the time: descriptions of physical phenomena, like rules of ettiquette and human interaction, were vast systems mired in legacy, weight, contradiction and deference, the constant justification and reassertion of which was a monumental task. The picture of the classical physicist at the time was of a man who not only placed stock in the empirical verification of theoretical ventures, but who substituted those same methods of verification for the ventures themselves. Natural philosophy was to him a system of rules and laws that existed insofar as they could be seen, heard, felt, or otherwised observed. That is, they had a firm footing in human experience, and even the classical physicist’s choice of mechanical modeling as a pedagogical tool reflected this, as did his psychological desire for explanations of the natural world that were entirely mechanical. The Industrial Revolution was in full force, and just as the value of an economy was measured by its production capacity, labor power and capital investment, discussions of physics were validated by the meter stick,weight scale, and watch. But just as this era in England’s history would give way to the crisis of Modernism after a few short decades, this physicist was slowly being replaced with another breed. This new physicist placed his faith in rational explanations, championed pure mathematics as his tool, and quickly left behind that desperate reliance on familiar, Newtonian systems. The differences were significant and fundamental.
To download the article click on the link below:
http://web.mit.edu/dvp/www/Work/8.225/dvp-8.225-paper-1.pdf
About Abderrahmane Al jazairi
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