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Series on the Foundations of Natural Science and Technology - Vol. 3
THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
Matter and Mind in Physics
by Wolfram Schommers (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany)
How do we get an idea from the physical world? There is basically only one possibility, namely the dialogue with nature, i.e. we create a theoretical conception of the world by thinking, and then we check this conception with the help of measuring instruments. In this connection the following question arises: Does there exist for each element of the theory an element-specific deflection at the measuring instrument? In other words, has each element of the theory a counterpart in the actual reality? If not, then the theory contains metaphysical elements, i.e. elements which have no counterpart in reality. In this book it is argued that there are obviously no theoretical conceptions of the world which are free of metaphysical elements. This is not only valid in connection with matter but also for the conceptions of space and time. The consequences in connection with modern conceptions of the world are outlined.
Contents:
- The Observable and the Non-Observable:
- Experience
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Cosmos As a Collection of Matter in Space
- Elements of Quantitative Description
- Why Do Planets Move?
- Summary and Final Remarks
- Matter and Maxwell Theory
- Consequences
- Structured Matter:
- Elementary Matter
- Conventional Elementary Particles
- The Connection Between the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Theory
- Superstrings and Twistors
- Levels of Reality:
- Perception: How Does It Work?
- Pictures of Reality
- Levels of Reality
- Everything is in the Picture
- Generalization
- Overview
- Appearance:
- Correlations in Space
- Examples of the Principle of Level-Analysis
- "Things" at the Levels of Reality
- Space and Time:
- Possibilities of Portrayal
- Other Spaces, Other Particles
- Superstrings and Twistors: Two Alternative World Views?
- Overview
- Outlook:
- On the Application of the Principle of Level-Analysis
- Quantum Theory of the Principle of Level-Analysis
- What Does Reality Mean?
Readership: General.
| 264pp |
Pub. date: Apr 1998 |
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