The contribution of history and philosophy to the conceptual approach of Physics. Old and new puzzles

EVANGELOS VITORATOS, SOTIRIOS SAKKOPOULOS

Abstract

Physics in textbooks is presented dogmatically, as if the physical magnitudes and laws are imposed by Nature. This sort of Physics refers to an idealized, not the real Nature. Moreover, the acceptance of a physical theory is determined from the preoccupations imposed by the culture of the time proper. Physics is the result of an endless effort to understand the World, so it cannot be dogmatic, as it is expected to change continuously. The current of different ideas, depicted in History and Philosophy, gives the opportunity to think about Nature making Physics a pleasant intellectual exercise.

Keywords

Physics education, world image, theories and preoccupations, change of ideas

Full Text:

PDF

References

Bernauer, J. C., & Pohl, R. (2014). The proton radius problem, Scientific American, 310, 18-25.

Bitbol, M. (1996). Schrödinger’s philosophy of quantum mechanics. Dordrecht and Boston: Kluwer.

Bohm, D. (1952). A suggested interpretation of the Quantum Theory in terms of “Hidden” Variables I & II. Physical Review, 85, 166 – 193.

Broglie, de L. (1963). Recherches sur la théorie de Quanta (Re-edition of his PhD thesis 1924). Paris: Masson & Cie.

Broglie, de L. (1973). Sur les véritables idées de base de la mécanique ondulatoire. Comptes Rendus du Académie des Sciences, 277(série B), 71-73.

Cartwright, J. (2013). The life of psi. Seeking the meaning of the wavefunction. Physics World, 26, 26 – 31.

Cartwright, N. (1983). How the laws of Physics lie. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Cornford, F. M. (1938a). Greek natural philosophy and modern science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cornford, F. M. (1938b). Plato’s cosmology. Indianapolis, IN: The Library of Liberal Arts, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.

Cushing, J. T. (1982). Models and methodologies in current theoretical high-energy Physics. Synthese, 50, 5-101.

Guthrie, W. K. C. (1980). A History of Greek Philosophy. II The Presocratic tradition from Parmenides to Democritus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hesse, M. B. (1953). Models in Physics. The British Journal of the Philosophy of Science, 4, 198-214.

Kapner, D. J. (2005). A short-range test of Newton’s Gravitational Inverse-Square Law. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, USA, University of Washington.

Karimäki, J. M. (2012). arXiv.1206.1237v2 [physics.gen-ph], 7 June 2012.

Kuhn, T. (1978). Black – body Theory and the Quantum discontinuity 1894–1912. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lincoln, D. (2012). The inner life of quarks. Scientific American, 307, 22-29.

Moore, W. (1990). Schrödinger life and thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Planck, M. (1936). The philosophy of Physics. London: George Allen &Unwin Ltd.

Sakkopoulos, S. (1988). Newton’s Theory of Fits of Easy Reflection and Transmission. European Journal of Physics, 9, 123-126.

Speace, C., & Quinn, T. (2014). The search for Newton’s constant. Physics Today, 67, 27-33.

Taylor, J. R. (1982). An Introduction to Error Analysis. Mill Valley, California: University Science Books.

Tong, D. (2012). The unquantum quantum. Scientific American, 307, 32-35.

Wheaton, B. R. (1983). The tiger and the shark. Empirical roots of wave-particle dualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.26220/rev.2241

View Counter: Abstract | 297 | times, and PDF | 155 | times



Re S M ICT E | ISSN: 1792-3999 (electronic), 1791-261X (print) | Laboratory of Didactics of Sciences, Mathematics and ICT, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education - University of Patras.

Pasithee | Library & Information Center | University of Patras