On Understanding: Maxwell on the Methods of Illustration and Scientific Metaphor

Cat, Jordi

doi:10.1016/s1355-2198(01)00018-1

Cited by 58 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Philosophers have focused on Maxwell's use of models (Morrison 1992;Cat 2001;Chalmers 2001). In his longstanding Dictionary of Scientific Biography entry for Maxwell, the physicist and historian C. W. F.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresnel's laws, ceteris paribus

Wright

2017

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

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This article is about structural realism, historical continuity, laws of nature, and ceteris paribus clauses. Fresnel's Laws of optics support Structural Realism because they are a scientific structure that has survived theory change. However, the history of Fresnel's Laws which has been depicted in debates over realism since the 1980s is badly distorted. Specifically, claims that J. C. Maxwell or his followers believed in an ontologically-subsistent electromagnetic field, and gave up the aether, before Einstein's annus mirabilis in 1905 are indefensible. Related claims that Maxwell himself did not believe in a luminiferous aether are also indefensible. This paper corrects the record. In order to trace Fresnel's Laws across significant ontological changes, they must be followed past Einstein into modern physics and nonlinear optics. I develop the philosophical implications of a more accurate history, and analyze Fresnel's Laws' historical trajectory in terms of dynamic ceteris paribus clauses.Structuralists have not embraced ceteris paribus laws, but they continue to point to Fresnel's Laws to resist anti-realist arguments from theory change. Fresnel's Laws fit the standard definition of a ceteris paribus law as a law applicable only in particular circumstances. Realists who appeal to the historical continuity of Fresnel's Laws to combat anti-realists must incorporate ceteris paribus laws into their metaphysics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fresnel's laws, ceteris paribus

Wright

2017

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

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“…In the Cambridge tradition within which Robb would later study and write, a geometric illustration displayed spatial intuitive qualities that facilitated the application of more general and abstract relations such as mathematical equations. The cognitive value was of special use in communication or education situations such as problem-solving in examinations (Cat, 2001;Warwick, 2003). Alternatively, the concrete illustration might have methodological use.…”

Section: ) Geometric and Physical Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…53 The role of the Cambridge Tripos exams in the introduction and research application of the calculus has been studied by Warwick in Warwick (2003). See also Cat (2001). 54 Sommerfeld (1904: 429, Fig.…”

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confidence: 99%

Las imágenes y la lógica del cono de luz: rastreando el giro postulacional de Robb en la física geométrica

Cat

2016

RHV

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Previous discussions of Robb's work on space and time have offered a philosophical focus on causal interpretations of relativity theory or a historical focus on his use of non-Euclidean geometry, or else ignored altogether in discussions of relativity at Cambridge. In this paper I focus on how Robb's work made contact with those same foundational developments in mathematics and with their applications. This contact with applications of new mathematical logic at Göttingen and Cambridge explains the transition from his electron research to his treatment of relativity in 1911 and finally to the axiomatic presentation in 1914 in terms of postulates. At the heart of Robb's physical optics was the model of the light cone. The model underwent a transition from a working mechanical model in the Maxwellian Cambridge sense of a pedagogical and research tool to the semantic model, in the logical, model-theoretic sense. Robb tracked this transition from the 19th-to the 20th-century conception with the earliest use of the term 'model' in the new sense. I place his cone models in a genealogy of similar models and use their evolution to track how Robb's physical researches were informed by his interest in geometry, logic and the foundations of mathematics.Keywords: Robb, axiomatics, postulates, postulationism, light cone, relativity theory, geometry, foundations of mathematics, space-time, model, logical model, Russell, Hilbert, Veblen, Huntington, Peano, Minkowski, Cambridge, Göttingen. ResumenLas discusiones anteriores de la obra de Robb acerca del espacio y el tiempo han ofrecido un enfoque filosófico de las interpretaciones de la teoría de la relatividad o un enfoque histórico de su empleo de la geometría no-euclidiana, o han ignorado enteramente las discusiones de la relatividad en Cambridge. En este artículo centro mi atención en la forma cómo la obra de Robb tomó contacto con esos mismos desarrollos fundacionales en la matemática y con sus aplicaciones. El contacto con las aplicaciones de la nueva lógica matemática en Göttingen y en Cambridge explica la transición de las investigaciones de Robb sobre los electrones a su tratamiento de la relatividad en 1911 y finalmente a su presentación axiomática de 1914. En el corazón de la óptica física de Robb estaba el modelo del cono de luz. Este modelo pasó de ser un modelo mecánico operante en el sentido cantabrigense maxwelliano de herramienta didáctica y heurística a ser un modelo semántico en el sentido lógico de la teoría de modelos. Robb marcó esta transición de la concepción del siglo XIX a la del siglo XX con el uso más temprano del término "modelo" en el nuevo sentido. Sitúo sus modelos de conos en una genealogía de modelos similares y uso su evolución para seguir la pista de cómo las investigaciones físicas de Robb dependían de su interés en la geometría, la lógica y los fundamentos de las matemáticas.

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“…] Si donc un phénomène comporte une explication mé-2. Sur Maxwell, voir [Achard 1998], [Achard 2005], [Cat 2001], [Campbell & Garnett 1882], [Darrigol 2000], [Harman 1998], [Hesse 1974], [Moyer 1977], [Principe 2010], [Simpson 1970].…”

Section: La Méthode Des Comparaisons Et Le Treatise De Maxwellunclassified

Sources et nature de la philosophie de la physique d’Henri Poincaré

Príncipe¹

2012

philosophiascientiae

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On Understanding: Maxwell on the Methods of Illustration and Scientific Metaphor

Cited by 58 publications

References 23 publications

Fresnel's laws, ceteris paribus

Fresnel's laws, ceteris paribus

Las imágenes y la lógica del cono de luz: rastreando el giro postulacional de Robb en la física geométrica

Sources et nature de la philosophie de la physique d’Henri Poincaré

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