The Relationship between Physics and Philosophy
By Kartik Chundru, Laura Byrne, Mark Allen and Tom Ambrose
Supervisor: Prof. Stefan Hutzler
Introduction
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Natural Philosophy
•The word Physics only came into use around the 19th century.
Before this, what we know as Science today was called Natural
Philosophy, the attempt to understand and explain the workings of
the natural world in a contemplative way.
•The mathematical and experiment based science of modern times
set in around the 17th and 18th centuries, in what is now called the
scientific revolution. Newton’s main scientific work, Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica, is an example of this revolution in
Natural Philosophy.
•Remnants of the term Natural Philosophy still remain in physics
today. For example, one of the oldest scientific journals still
published is called Philosophical Magazine. Also there exists a chair
in the School of Physics in Trinity called, the Erasmus Smith's
Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, currently held by
professor Coey.
Common topics of study
Matter, Space, and Time
What the world is made of is a
question that has engaged
philosophers too, from the preSocratics to the early modern.
The philosopher Thales was one
of the first to try describing the
world without resorting to
supernatural arguments.
Atomic theory has its roots in
Greek philosophy, indeed the
word atom comes from the Greek
for ‘indivisible’.
Philosophers talk of what
‘substances’ the world is made
of.
Einstein’s theories of relativity
show us that time and space are
not independent quantities, and
quantum mechanics (QM) tells
us that words like wave, particle,
position and velocity are
meaningless at a certain scale.
Determinism and Free Will
Objective Reality
As physical entities, people are
systems of particles, so how
The idea of an objective reality,
much of our actions are
as is what is knowable, is an
important topic for both physics governed by the laws of physics?
and philosophy.
The concept of free will is central
to much of philosophy. Are we
Descartes set a foundation for
free to make our own decisions,
knowledge with his “I think
or are we simply automata?
therefore I am” and worked from
there.
Many philosophers ascribe
special importance to our
The Many Worlds interpretation
supposed determinism
of QM states that we are in just
behaviour, while others believe in
one world of many,
free will. Others claim the two are
corresponding to all possible
compatible.
outcomes. Is this just a
mathematical formalism, or does The problem is muddied with the
it have deep philosophical
Copenhagen interpretation of
implications?
QM, that states some processes
are inherently random.
While different schools have
different opinions on what we
Some physicists, such as Wigner
can know, QM states qualitatively
and Penrose ascribe special
and quantitatively what we
importance to the role of
cannot know and by how much.
consciousness in QM, and vice
versa.
The Differences between Physics and
Philosophy
Philosophy
Share many different schools of thought such
as Realism, Idealism and Rationalism. The
school of thought a philosopher believes in is
entirely up to their own opinion
Don’t have the same unity as physicists. They
don’t have a set of theories that all
philosophers agree upon also Philosophy is
divided into several different branches such
as: logic, metaphysics and epistemology.
Some of the different branches are concerned
with topics that have a very large scope like
the issue of what is knowledge. (Epistemology)
Tend to give more emphasis to a single
author’s view rather than to a topic as a whole
To educate philosophers they study the (old)
writings of other philosophers, some of which
date back to even before Aristotle’s time more
than 2000 years ago
Experimentation
Physics
Share the same school of thought throughout
the subject, for example all Physicists believe
in the existence of a material world and of
things such as matter.
It is only for the new and cutting-edge theories
that different opinions exist in physics.
Have a sense of unity flowing through their
subject, for example there is a set of SI units
that are used regardless of what topic of
Physics is being studied. Also they agree on a
on a set of theories and these theories are
used countless times across all areas of
physics
This unity and universal agreement within
Physics has enabled the subject to use
textbooks to educate Physicists
Study modern and up to date theories and
literature and try to build upon it to try and
create even newer theories
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing
elit. Donec a nisl nisi, aliquam feugiat sapien. Cras
iaculis odio sit amet diam facilisis eget dignissim
erat luctus. Phasellus malesuada consectetur
euismod. Duis tempus, dolor tempus gravida
ultricies, purus felis placerat ipsum, ac sagittis
metus mi at velit. Aenean lectus tellus, varius id
vehicula nec, volutpat nec odio. Sed in nibh eget
nisl aliquet commodo. Praesent risus urna, gravida
at commodo et, iaculis at libero. Quisque sollicitudin
velit vitae ligula porta sit amet porttitor leo
fermentum. Aenean ut nisl at tortor tempor
elementum. Quisque euismod tortor a nulla blandit
placerat. Aliquam lacus. . Sed in nibh eget nisl
aliquet commodo. Praesent risus urna, gravida at
commodo et, iaculis at libero. Quisque sollicitudin
velit vitae ligula porta sit amet porttitor leo
fermentum. Aenean ut nisl at tortor tempor
elementum. Quisque euismod tortor a nulla blandit
placerat. Aliquam lacus.
Conclusion: Is a conclusion necessary??
References: History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell
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