On Theories: Logical Empiricism and the Methodology of Modern Physics

William Demopoulos

Book

On Theories

Logical Empiricism and the Methodology of Modern Physics

William Demopoulos
Edited by: Michael Friedman

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2022

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About this book

The final work of the esteemed philosopher William Demopoulos supplants logical empiricism’s accounts of physical theories, which fail to satisfactorily engage modern physics. Arguing for a new appreciation of the tightly woven character of theory and evidence, Demopoulos offers novel insights into the distinctive nature of quantum reality.

Reviews

Demopoulos has crafted a thoughtful and interesting interpretation of quantum mechanics that completes his earlier work of the mid-’70s…A wonderful tribute to a very significant philosopher.
-- Adrian Heathcote Metascience

Demopoulos wrote ‘for the eye of God and the good of my soul,’ as he used to say. On Theories is a stunning achievement, a profound argument for a novel thesis about the nature of truth in scientific theories, ranging from case studies about our understanding of molecular reality to Bohr’s dispute with Einstein about quantum reality.
-- Jeffrey Bub, University of Maryland

On Theories, a painstaking analysis of the seemingly straightforward concept of theory, takes us on an exciting journey through twentieth-century science and philosophy of science. It critiques naïve dogmas such as the theory/observation dichotomy, replacing them with a nuanced account centered on the notion of ‘theory-mediated measurement.’ On the basis of this account, Demopoulos offers a novel interpretation of major breakthroughs in classical as well as quantum mechanics. Meticulous in its historical analysis and compelling in its philosophical argument, On Theories is a must for anyone interested in science and its method.
-- Yemima Ben-Menahem, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

William Demopoulos was one of the leading philosophers of science of his generation. An accomplished logician whose mastery of the logicist tradition was unequaled, he was just as productive in contemporary philosophy of physics, especially philosophy of quantum physics. On Theories brings to a stunning close a line of research he actively pursued for the last two decades: the epistemology and ontology of physical theories. This is not only an important book but a rare landmark in the development of the discipline.
-- Thomas Uebel, University of Manchester

Topics

Physics Quantum Physics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Editor’s Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
1 Logical Empiricist and Related Reconstructions of Theoretical Knowledge
1.1 The Partial Interpretation Account of Theories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	18
1.2 Carnap on Ramsey Sentences and the Explicit Definition of Theoretical Terms Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	20
1.3 A Proposal of David Lewis and Two Theorems of John Winnie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	24
1.4 Putnam’s Model-Theoretic Argument Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	32
1.5 Ramsey on Russell’s Analysis of Matter and the Partial Interpretation of Theories Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	39
1.6 Constructive Empiricism and Partial Interpretation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	53
2 Molecular Reality
2.1 The Molecular Hypothesis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	64
2.2 Molecular Reality and Brownian Motion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	65
2.3 The Nature and Status of Perrin’s “Connecting Link” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	78
2.4 Perrin’s Argument for Molecular Reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	83
2.5 Thomson and the Constitution of Cathode Rays Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	93
3 Poincaré on the Theories of Modern Physics
3.1 Poincaré on “True Relations” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	100
3.2 Robustness versus Consilience Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	110
3.3 Poincaré and Scientific Realism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	113
3.4 Russell and Poincaré Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	116
4 Quantum Reality
4.1 Bohr on the Primacy of Classical Concepts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
4.2 Complementarity, Completeness, and Einstein’s Local Realism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	139
4.3 Bell’s Theorem and Einstein’s Local Realism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	154
4.4 Quantum Mechanics and Reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	172
Editor’s Afterword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	187
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	205
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	225
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	239

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

February 15, 2022

eBook ISBN:

9780674269712

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

256

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674269712

eBook ISBN: 9780674269712

Keywords for this book

Ramsey sentences; Hilbertian axiomatics; Putnam; constructive empiricism; Avogadro’s constant; Brownian motion; Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics; second law of thermodynamics; Gödel; Poincaré; Bohr; quantum logic; Bell’s theorem; Gleason’s theorem

On Theories

Overview

About this book

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

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