Physics, Logic, and History Based on the First International Colloqu
It is a trite and often lamented fact that every academic discipline suffers from the malady of overspecialization and expertise. Who, in his scholarly experience, has not encountered technical gibberish and the jargon of the pundit? The contributors to t
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Contri bu tors Hermann Bondi J ulian V. Langmead Casserley Robert S. Cohen George Gamow J aakko Hintikka Dmitri D. I vanenko David Kaplan Imre Lakatos Alfred Lande Czesl'aw Lejewski And re Mercier Arne Naess Richard H. Popkin Sir Karl Popper William Van Orman Quine György Ranki Herman Tennessen Hakan Törnebohm Hans-J ürgen Treder J ean-Pierre Vi gier
Physics, Logic, andHistory Based on the First International Colloquium held at the University of Denver, .May 16-20, 1966
Edited by
Wolf gang Yourgrau and
Allen D. Breck U niversity 01 Denver Denver, Golorado
~PLENUM
PRESS • NEW YORK-LONDON • 1970
Library
0/ Congress Calalog Card Number 68-32135
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1751-7 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4684-1749-4
e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1749-4
© 1970 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1970 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011
United Kingdom edition published by Plenum Press, London A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation, Ltd. Donington House, 30 Norfolk Street, London W.c. 2, England All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.
This volume is dedicated with respect and affection to the memory of George Gamow
FOREWORD It is a trite and often lamented fact that every academic discipline suffers from the malady of overspecialization and expertise. Who, in his scholarly experience, has not encountered technical gibberish and the jargon of the pundit? The contributors to this work have aUempted to remove the artificial barriers between these respective disciplines. The purpose of this volume is to explore the ever present links between logic, physical reality, and history. Indeed there are not two or three or four cuItures: there is only one culture; our generation has lost its awareness of this. Though serious, it is not tragic. All we need is to free ourselves from the fetters of mere "technicalese" and search for a comprehensive interpretation of logical and physical theories. His'torians, logicians, physicists - all are banded in one common enterprise, namely in their desire to weave an enlightened fabric of human knowledge. It is a current, and perhaps weJcome, trend in philosophie inquiry to de-psychologize systems, methods, and theories. However, there is an equally fashionable tendency to minimize or even eschew the historical aspects of logical and physical theories, and analogously, there is a deepseated mistrust among physicists and cosmologists against the seemingly pure abstractions of logical formalisms. We are convinced that logic, physical reality, and history form one rational unity. We shall not try to build imaginary bridges between the three topics chosen for this work. We intend to show that real bridges have always existed and that without them the edifice of human knowledge will remain unfinished. The papers printed here differ somewhat in form and in content from the original presentations at the International Colloquium on Logi
