
Symbol and Physical Knowledge
On the Conceptual Structure of Physics
Springer (Publisher)
Published on 30. November 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
XV, 230 pages
978-3-642-07474-5 (ISBN)
Description
The question of the symbolic structure of physics is implicitly involved in any discussion about the character of physical knowledge and the development of physical theories. Actually many discussions would greatly profit from an explicit reference to and an investigation of this question, and much confusion may be avoided in this way. A book directly addressing the use and character of symbols in physics may help provide a point of view which is in the back ground of any consideration in the theory of knowledge and which is, to be sure, very relevant today, but - strangely enough - often seems to be missing as an explicit and central perspective in the present epistemological debates. The concept of symbol has different meanings. Its wide diffusion in various cultural fields such as religion, mythology, art, and psychoanalysis, constitutes the best proof of its semantic variety, but also of the danger of using it in too vague a way. We start here from the concept of symbol conceived in the general sense of a sign or a material medium which is able, on the one hand, to communicate mental or conceptual contents and, on the other hand, to des ignate things or situations in the world. In this way symbols make it possible for human knowledge to "translate" the mental activity grasping the real ity in conceptual frames, formal or natural languages, scientific propositions, theories and so on.
Reviews / Votes
"The book has the important merit of calling our attention to the fundamental problem of sorting out what in physical theories comes from ourselves (the a priori, symbolic, conventional part) and what comes from nature, a question that we are far from having definitely solved." (International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 17/1, 2003)
More details
Edition
Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2002
Language
English
Place of publication
Berlin
Germany
Publishing group
Springer Berlin
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Research
Illustrations
1 s/w Abbildung
XV, 230 p. 1 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
382 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-642-07474-5 (9783642074745)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-662-04855-9
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
08/2001
1st Edition
Springer
€53.49
Shipment within 10-15 days
Content
1. Sources for the History of the Concept of Symbol from Leibniz to Cassirer.- 2. On the Use and Character of Symbols in Modern Physical Theories.- 3. The Symbol in the Theory of Science: Duhem's Alleged Instrumentalism or Conventionalism and the Continuity of Scientific Development.- 4. Beyond Realism. Symbolism in the Philosophy of Science by Charles S. Peirce and Ernst Cassirer.- 5. Heinrich Hertz and the Concept of a Symbol.- 6. Shifting Symbolic Structures and Changing Theories: On the Non-Translatability and Empirical Comparability of Incommensurable Theories.- 7. Symbol and Intuition in Modern Physics.- 8. Idealizations in Physics.- 9. Symbolizing States and Events in Quantum Mechanics.- 10. The Semiotics of "Postmodern" Physics.