Physics and Philosophy are intertwined....

[Johnny Yuma]

TL;DR

An article in weekend WSJ on page C9 went into this via a book review of "The Dream Universe" by David Lindley. Book mentions "universal expansion at an accelerating rate"....Hermann Weyl and Paul Dirac.....Higgs bosun......The Theory of Everything, etc., etc.

I know zilch about both of the above. But I thought maybe this could be discussed a bit...and I could learn something. (Me, who got thru high school with a C- average and no college). About a year ago I submitted a question similar to this... and the moderator shot it down as not germane to physics. This might get shot down also, but I am 80 y/o and content with ...restin' and digestin' and reading the bad jokes thread.

 

[Drakkith]

Sorry, what were you wanting to discuss? The book "The Dream Universe"? Or the two topics mentioned? Or how philosophy and physics are related?

 

[Johnny Yuma]

I wanted to know how, or if, philosophy and physics are related. I kinda think they are.

 

[jack action]

I wanted to know how, or if, philosophy and physics are related. I kinda think they are.

University of Oxford seems to so.

Physics and Philosophy are historically intertwined and each continues to contribute to developments in the other. Philosophy played a crucial role in the two revolutions of 20th-century physics – namely, relativity and quantum mechanics – and continues to contribute both to foundational research in theoretical physics and to the articulation and critique of scientific method. Conversely, discoveries in physics provide profound implications for philosophical inquiry, such as the nature of space and time and the behaviour of matter at the quantum realm. Students on this course can expect to investigate not only central developments in both subjects, but also this interplay.

 

[Drakkith]

My knowledge of this area is very limited, but I believe they are certainly related. Physics, and science as a whole, has its origins as a branch of philosophy, and the philosophy of science is still an active area. I'm sure others here have far more knowledge about this topic than I, so I'll leave this thread to them.

 

[Nugatory]

Some physicists consider philosophical questions, and some philosophers consider physics questions, and all of the empirical sciences share certain philosophical underpinnings... so yes, the two are related.

However, we lack the capacity to effectively moderate discussions of philosophy, and there is plenty of physics to cover without delving into philosophy, so we generally do not allow these discussions. (The only exception is the "Quantum Interpretations and Foundations" subforum, where it is sometimes impossible to disentangle philosophy and interpretation - but QM is unique in this respect).

So we're sorry but this thread is out of scope for PhysicsFourms and it is closed.