The Parable of the Three Umpires …or three different views of reality

Umpire Number One The naïve realist I call them as they are!

Umpire Number Two The critical realist I call them as I see them!

Umpire Number One The “quantum” or anti-realist They ain’t nuthin until I call them!

We may believe in the existence of an external world but the real question is how do we acquire knowledge of this world? Naive realist Critical Realistic Other forms of “realist” positions Anti-realism

The “Folly” of Being Too Literal… Galileo and Joshua 10Joshua 10  If the Sun stood still If the Sun stood still Galileo’s argument did not contradict validity of scripture - it showed that the GEOCENTRIC view did! Is there more to seeing than meets the eye?

Newton’s Rules for Scientific Reasoning 1. We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances. 2. Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes. 3. The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever. 4. In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phænomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phænomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method Gather Observations/Data Formulate a hypothesis to explain the observations Deduce by logical extension a possible test ie – make a prediction Test the prediction NO – discard hypothesis YES - continue

The 19 th Century – Consolidation and Cracks! In the words of Thomas Kuhn a powerful paradigm (Classical or Newtonian Physics) had emerged … but just what does this mean? At its heart it means that you “see” the world through the paradigm

Emergence of Chemistry, Physics and other Disciplines Priestly discovery of Oxygen and other unseen gases Dalton’s Law of Fixed Ratios – revival of the “atomic hypothesis” Phlogiston – explaining heat Charles Lyell Principles of Geology – introduces notion of deep time Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle

Maxwell combined electric and magnetic phenomena into one! Maxwell’s Great Synthesis (1864) The “world” was becoming increasingly mathematical and abstract

Problem of Realism Do scientific theories “mirror” the world? – Do atoms exist or are they theoretic constructs? How do minds influence theories which in turn influence observation which in turn… Is the world “real” and knowable – Is our knowledge gained through scientific observation accurately describing an underlying reality? Naïve realism – scientific theories and their constructs “map” directly to an independently existing world Critical realism - scientific theories and their constructs will always operate as metaphors or incomplete models of an independently existing world

Cracks in the Foundation! The persistent (and annoying!) problem of blackbody spectra Failure of the Michelson-Morley Experiment

It’s Worse than They Thought! How Planck and Einstein “fixed” the cracks… The Michelson-Morley experiment revealed something startling about the nature of time!  Time and simultaneity were not “absolute” concepts but frame dependent - or – motion affects time!  Mass and energy are equivalent at a fundamental level

Discovery of the Quantum Even more deeply troubling was the discovery that the universe is quantized  Light is both a particle and a wave!  A first glimpse at Quantum Weirdness! … to be continued