Transcript Physics, philosophy and different schools of thought

The Relationship between Physics and Philosophy
By Kartik Chundru, Laura Byrne, Mark Allen and Tom Ambrose
Supervisor: Prof. Stefan Hutzler
Introduction
Physics and philosophy are two subjects that are often thought as two very disparate subjects,
yet they share much common ground, and often they share many thinkers too.
In this project, we looked at the ways in which the study of Physics and Philosophy differ, in the
ways at which they are similar, and some of the common topics both fields study. In particular,
we look at some topics like space and time, determinism and free will, and reality, as well as
topics like experimentation in both fields, how they arrive at ‘truth’, the various schools within
philosophy, and the origin of the phrase Natural Philosophy itself.
Galileo, father of experimental physics.
Einstein, revolutionised Physics with
his thought experiments
Natural Philosophy
•The word Physics only came into use around the 19th century.
Before this, what we know as Science today was called Natural
Philosophy, the attempt to understand and explain the workings of
the natural world in a contemplative way.
•The mathematical and experiment based science of modern
times set in around the 17th and 18th centuries, in what is now
called the scientific revolution. Newton’s main scientific work,
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, is an example of
this revolution in Natural Philosophy.
•Remnants of the term Natural Philosophy still remain in physics
today. For example, one of the oldest scientific journals still
published is called Philosophical Magazine. Also there exists a
chair in the School of Physics in Trinity called, the Erasmus Smith's
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, currently held by
professor Coey.
Common topics of study
Matter, Space, and Time
What the world is made of is a
question that has engaged
philosophers too, from the preSocratics to the early modern.
The philosopher Thales was one
of the first to try describing the
world without resorting to
supernatural arguments.
Atomic theory has its roots in
Greek philosophy, indeed the
word atom comes from the Greek
for ‘indivisible’.
Philosophers talk of what
‘substances’ the world is made
of.
Einstein’s theories of relativity
show us that time and space are
not independent quantities, and
quantum mechanics (QM) tells
us that words like wave, particle,
position and velocity are
meaningless at a certain scale.
Determinism and Free Will
Objective Reality
As physical entities, people are
systems of particles, so how
The idea of an objective reality,
much of our actions are
as is what is knowable, is an
important topic for both physics governed by the laws of physics?
and philosophy.
The concept of free will is central
to much of philosophy. Are we
Descartes set a foundation for
free to make our own decisions,
knowledge with his “I think
or are we simply automata?
therefore I am” and worked from
there.
Many philosophers ascribe
special importance to our
The Many Worlds interpretation
supposed determinism
of QM states that we are in just
behaviour, while others believe in
one world of many,
free will. Others claim the two are
corresponding to all possible
compatible.
outcomes. Is this just a
mathematical formalism, or does The problem is muddied with the
it have deep philosophical
Copenhagen interpretation of
implications?
QM, that states some processes
are inherently random.
While different schools have
different opinions on what we
Some physicists, such as Wigner
can know, QM states qualitatively
and Penrose ascribe special
and quantitatively what we
importance to the role of
cannot know and by how much.
consciousness in QM, and vice
versa.
How do we know what we think we know is true?
Physics, philosophy and different
schools of thought
Philosophy
Share many different schools of thought
such as Realism, Idealism and Rationalism.
The school of thought a philosopher believes
in is entirely up to their own opinion
Some of the different branches are
concerned with topics that have a very large
scope such as the issue of what is
knowledge (Epistemology), and why
something like science is possible.
Tend to give more emphasis to a single
authors viewpoint rather than to a topic as a
whole
To educate philosophers they study the (old)
writings of other philosophers, these might
date back more than 2300 years, as is the
case for Aristotle.
Physics
Share the same school of thought
throughout the subject, for example all
Physicists believe in the existence of a
material world and of things such as matter.
It is only for the new and cutting-edge
theories that different opinions exist in
Physics.
Have a sense of unity flowing through their
subject, for example there is a set of SI units
that are used regardless of what topic of
Physics is being studied. Also they agree on a
on a set of theories and these theories are
used countless times across all areas of
Physics
This unity and universal agreement within
Physics has enabled the subject to use
textbooks to educate physicists
Physicists generally believe in an objective
reality, but at microscopic scales it’s not the
reality we’re used to.
Experimentation
The Schrodingers cat experiment
References: History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
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Aristotle’s method of reasoning
•Aristotle used a deductive logic method to reach
conclusions on natural phenomena.
•Galileo is considered ‘the father of modern
physics’ as he started a long tradition of
experimentation, and yet if an experiment would
prove him wrong he would dis-regard the results
in favour of his own theories.
•Einstein used thought experiments in order to
comprehend time dilation at the speed of light
which he could not truly experiment on. This was
a field that held the interest of Physicist and
Philosopher alike.
•These thought experiments represent a common
link between Physics and Philosophy. They are a
tradition that goes back all the way to Galileo
studying the basic laws of gravity. They allow the
scholars of both fields to explore concepts
beyond their own physical means.
•Social experiments such as product interest
groups show that while the idea of physical
experimentation is not used in philosophy it has
taken hold beyond the Natural Sciences.
© School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin