The Theoretical Practices of Physics: Philosophical Essays

by R. I. G. Hughes

Overview

R.I.G Hughes presents a series of eight philosophical essays on the theoretical practices of physics. The first two essays examine these practices as they appear in physicists' treatises (e.g. Newton's Principia and Opticks) and journal articles (by Einstein, Bohm and Pines, Aharonov and Bohm). By treating these publications as texts, Hughes casts the philosopher of science in the role of critic. This premise guides the following six essays which deal with various concerns of philosophy and physics such as laws, disunities, models and representation, computer simulation, explanation, and the discourse of physics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199546107
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	03/01/2010
Pages:	289
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

R. I. G. Hughes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword
1. Criticism, the Philosophy of Physics, and the General Theory of Relativity
2. Theoretical Practice: The Bohm-Pines Quartet
3. Laws of Physics, the Representational Account of Theories, and Newton's Principia
4. Modelling, the Brownian Motion and the Disunities of Physics
5. Models and Representation
6. The Ising Model, Computer Simulation, and Universal Physics
7. Theoretical Explanation
8. The Discourse of Physics
Bibliography