Forming Concepts in Physics
By Georg Unger
Parker Courtney Press, 1995
ISBN 1-888182-50-4
203 pages; paperback; $25.00
Description
This advanced book is an account of the astonishing revolutions in physics during the first half of the twentieth century. The author gives careful attention to the process of thought and imagination that gives rise to physical concepts. The new role of probability theory and its various interpretations are treated with unusual care. This book is for those readers, trained in physics, who are interested in the philosophical foundations of phenomenological science.
Comment:
“In his seminal study of contemporary science, Georg Unger explores the conceptual foundations of twentieth-century physics, including quantum theory, probability, relativity and mathematics. He does so in a way that relates them to both phenomenology and Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy. This book can act as a model for understanding modern science from a spiritual perspective.” —Arthur Zajonc, Professor of Physics, Amherst College, author of Catching the Light: the Entwined History of Light and Mind
Contents
Preface
I. Introduction
On the Aims of this Book
The Role of Thinking in Physical Research
“Relations and Laws”
The Worldview: Does it Belong in a Discussion on Thinking in Physics?
II. A New View of Nature?
Phenomenon and Natural Law
What, then, is Natural Law?
Natural Law
Concepts and Laws having Content through Thinking
Cognitive Character in Concept Extension
The Manner in which an Axiom is Experienced (really Thought) Using the Parallel Postulate as an Example
The Creation of a Concept (Transfinite Numbers)
Does a Picture of the World exist which arises out of Thinking that grasps Reality?
Matter
Quantum Physics Requires a New Concept
New Physics Requires Mathematically Ideal Elements
III. The Method of Gaining Knowledge
The Role of Thinking Revisited
Cognition and Thinking
Natural Scientific Method
The Experience of Thinking
IV. The Transition to Twentieth-Century Physics
What Actually Happened
Present Shape of the Atomistic World View
V. The New Phenomena
The Limits of Classical Physics
Phenomenal Atomism
More about the New Phenomena
A Concept of Matter and the Boundaries of Sense Reality
VI. The Concepts of the Foundations of Quantum Theory According to D.I. Blochinzew
Quantized Light
Atomism
Bohr’s Theory
DeBroglie’s Waves
Phenomenological Results
Statistical Interpretation
The Waves of the New Mechanics – Structures of Information as Physical Reality
The Laws of Motion of Particles
VII. The Concept of Probability
Historical Notes
Comparison with Geometry
Intuitive Basic Assumptions
The Subjective Perspective
Chance and Necessity
The Elementary Concept of Probability
Elementary Calculus of Probability
Connection between the Logical Concept of the Accidental and the Mathematical Concept of Probability
Overcoming Determinism
Mixing Characteristics
The Law of Large Numbers
Summary and Review
VIII. Theory of Relativity and its Conceptual Constructions
Observations Regarding the Speed of Light
Kinematics as a free Creation of the Human Spirit
The “Theory of Relativity” as a Non-Galilean Metric
Critique of Simultaneity
Length-Contraction and Time-Dilation
About Metrics in General
The Metrics of Velocities
Relativistic Mechanics
Mass-Energy Equivalence
Speed of Light as a Limiting Speed
Synopsis of the Special Theory of Relativity
So-called General Relativity Theory
The Observer in the Box
The Tensor Calculus
Geometrization of Mechanics
Concluding remarks
IX. Some Concrete Concept Formations
Classical Laws of Conservation and Matter
Matter as State
Energy
The Concept of the Quantum Mechanical State
Bohr’s Model
The Novelty of the World of Particles and Quantum Events
Theses
The Fundamental Probability Propositions of Quantum Physics
X. The Phenomenology and Mathematics of the New Physics
Phenomenology in the New Physics
Excursion into those Concepts which are Grasped, …yet not Grasped
The Significance of Mathematical Concept Formations in Classical and Modern Physics
Equations and Differential Equations
The Differential at the Border of the Non-Perceptible
The Path from Differential Equations to Operators
Mathematical Structure as a Substitute for Naïve Reality
The Superposition of Quantum Mechanical States
Resolution of a State into Component States
XI.Physical World and Spiritual Science
The Relationship of Supersensible Entities to Sense Perception
The Supersensible World in the sense of Anthroposophy
Spiritual Entities have Relationships which cannot be derived solely from Sense Experience
About the Distance between the Subsensible World of Elementary Particles and the Supersensible World of Elemental Beings
Is the Current Path of Theoretical Physics the Only Possible One?
Total Gestalts in Physics
Energy-Free Transmission of Information and the Future of Physical Formulas
Rudolf Steiner’s Counterspace, a Thought Form Still to be made more concrete
The Duality Principle
Counter Space
Possible Physical Applications
Non-Relativistic Simultaneities
Total Gestalts
Homeopathic Dilutions (Potencies) and Cosmic Influences as Examples
Summary
Bibliography
Index