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The Interpretation of Classical Physics

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Interpreting Physics

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 289))

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Abstract

In introducing a new non-classical physics Einstein and Bohr indirectly specified the limits of classical physics. Einstein’s special relativity put constraints on all the laws of physics, giving these laws a functional unification. Bohr effectively resolved the contradictions physicists were encountering through semantic guidelines limiting the use of classical terms in quantum contexts. This is systematized as Bohrian semantics. To accommodate the interrelation of theoretical deductive inferences and informal experimental inferences we develop a dual inference system.

The limits of my language are the limits of my world

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Kelvin concluded that his 50 years of work were characterized by one work, ‘FAILURE’, because he still knew nothing of atoms and forces (See Thompson 1910, Vol. 2, p. 984). Helmholtz modified the goal and sought only a consistency between empirical laws and mechanical principles (See Jurkowitz 2002). Hertz (1956 [1894]) developed mechanics on a simpler, non-ontological basis. Boltzmann (1974, p. 227) recognized the possibility that future developments of atomic physics might have a non-mechanical foundation.

  2. 2.

    See MacKinnon (1982, chaps. 9 and 10), Pais (1982), and Fine (1986).

  3. 3.

    Einstein (1905a), translated in Furth (1956, pp. 1–18) and in Einstein Papers, Vol. 2. It is analyzed in MacKinnon (2005). See Faye and Folse (1994).

  4. 4.

    A general survey of the theory and practice of diffraction gratings may be found in Stroke (1969) or in Hecht and Zajac (1974, chap. 10).

  5. 5.

    Bohr’s papers on scattering are in Bohr, Works, Vol. 8.

  6. 6.

    A detailed historical account is given in Mehra and Rechenberg (1982, Vol. I, pp. 422–445). See Boorse and Motz (1966, pp. 939–939) for a translation of the original paper and Trigg (1971, pp. 88–96), for an analysis.

  7. 7.

    The primary sources for this interpretation are Jammer (1966, chaps. 3 and 4), and Van der Waerden (1967, Introduction). The most authoritative historical support for this interpretation is given in Heilbron (1985) and Cushing (1994, chaps. 3, 7, 10).

  8. 8.

    See Hendry (1984, chaps. 3–5), Röseberg (1984, chap. 3), Folse (1977, chaps. 2–3), MacKinnon (1985, 1994), Chevalley (1991, Introduction), Faye (1991), Darrigol (1992, Part B), and Petruccioli (1993).

  9. 9.

    See Jammer (1966, chaps. 3 and 4), MacKinnon (1982, chap. 5), Mehra and Rechenberg (1982, Vol. I, Part 2).

  10. 10.

    Massimi’s (2005) provides an excellent account of Pauli’s principle and its extended significance.

  11. 11.

    The best account of the role of virtual oscillators is in Petruccioli (1993, chap. 4). A detailed treatment of the radiation problems is given in Mehra and Rechenberg, Vol. I, pp. 445–453. Less detailed accounts may be found in Jammer (1966, pp. 109–133) and MacKinnon (1982, pp. 185–190).

  12. 12.

    Kramers’s dispersion papers may be found in Van der Waerden (1967). Kramers’s contributions to the development of quantum theory are analyzed in Radder (1982) and Konno (1993). Kramers (1957, pp. 92–95) shows how quantum mechanics yields his dispersion formula.

  13. 13.

    Maxwell dubbed this book, and its authors, T and T’. Tait extended the terminological game by developing an equation, dp/dt=JCM, and subsequently referring to Maxwell as dp/dt.

  14. 14.

    The basic concepts of measurement theory are treated in Ellis (1968). The definitive treatment of the representative theory of measurement is Krantz et al. (1971). See also Adams (1979), Narens (1985), and for a critical reaction, Kyburg (1984).

  15. 15.

    See Quine (1960, § 19 and also note 3, p. 91) for the background to the distinction. Helen Cartwright’s (1965) played a pivotal role in further discussions. See Zimmerman (1995), for a recent treatment.

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  1. California State University East Bay, Manzanita Drive 2045, 94611, Oakland, USA

    Edward Mackinnon

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Mackinnon, E. (2012). The Interpretation of Classical Physics. In: Interpreting Physics. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 289. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2369-6_4

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