Symbol and Physical Knowledge: On the Conceptual Structure of Physics

by M. Ferrari (Editor), I.-O. Stamatescu (Editor)

Overview

Introduces the problem of the symbolic structure of physics, surveys the modern history of symbols, proceeds to an epistemological discussion of the role of symbols in our knowledge of nature, and addresses key issues related to the methodology of physics and the character of its symbolic structures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783642074745
Publisher:	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date:	11/30/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2002
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.24(d)

Table of Contents

1. Sources for the History of the Concept of Symbol from Leibniz to Cassirer.- 2. On the Use and Character of Symbols in Modern Physical Theories.- 3. The Symbol in the Theory of Science: Duhem’s Alleged Instrumentalism or Conventionalism and the Continuity of Scientific Development.- 4. Beyond Realism. Symbolism in the Philosophy of Science by Charles S. Peirce and Ernst Cassirer.- 5. Heinrich Hertz and the Concept of a Symbol.- 6. Shifting Symbolic Structures and Changing Theories: On the Non-Translatability and Empirical Comparability of Incommensurable Theories.- 7. Symbol and Intuition in Modern Physics.- 8. Idealizations in Physics.- 9. Symbolizing States and Events in Quantum Mechanics.- 10. The Semiotics of “Postmodern” Physics.

Editorial 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)

From the Publisher