1. Between Rationalism and Empiricism
Chapter 1
(I.5)
Between Rationalism and Empiricism: The Path of Physics
(F.P. 1994)
By: Reza Labbafi
Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

2. Prof. Dr. phil. Erhard Scheibe
Bibliography
Between Rationalism and Empiricism
The Philosophy of the Physicists
Reconstruction
Laws of Nature
Reduction
Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
Space time, Invariance, Covariance
Mathematics and Physics
Since
Prof. Dr. phil. Erhard Scheibe –
Hamburg, Germany

3. Between Rationalism and Empiricism
The Middle Ages and Scientific Revolution
The Path of Physics, before the Scientific Revolution
Modern Scientific Revolution and Philosophy
The Path of Physics, after the Scientific Revolution
Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

4. Introduction Truly What is philosophy? What is search?
Philosophy (Love of Wisdom): The most general or comprehensive type of inquiry.
Introduction
Truly What is philosophy?
What is search?
What is reality and how we know it?
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

5. Introduction
Is the expansion history shows a pattern or is incidental or wheels?
Are all reality can be reduced to the study of physics?
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

6. Rationalism Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

7. Rationalism
A rationalist believes that our beliefs can be best justified in light of rational evidence, not sensory evidence.
We can know something if it appears true in the light of reason, not our senses.
According to rationalism, mathematics and logic provide the most reliable knowledge.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

8. Rationalism Plato could be called a rationalist
Rene Descartes ( )
Baruch Spinoza ( )
Gottfried Leibniz ( )
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

9. Empiricism Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

10. Empiricism
An empiricist holds that our beliefs can be best justified in light of the evidence we receive from our senses.
We therefore can know something if we can justify it with respect to what we see, hear, and feel about the world.
According to empiricism, natural sciences like physics, chemistry, and biology produce the most reliable knowledge.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

11. Empiricism Aristotle could be called a Empiricism
John Locke ( )
David Hume ( )
Logical Positivists: A.J. Ayer ( )
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

12. Between Rationalism and Empiricism
Knowledge is based on experience and experimentation.
Experimental science is the paradigm of knowledge.
Experience and experiment rarely, if ever, produce certainty.
Some empiricists believe that mathematics can be certain.
Rationalism
Knowledge is based on the use of reason or logic.
Mathematics is the paradigm of knowledge.
Genuine knowledge is certain.
Relation to experience.
Experience does not reduce certainty thus, is at best second-class knowledge.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

13. The Middle Ages and Scientific Revolution
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

14. Scholasticism Thomas Aquinas Philosophy of the school
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

15. Scholasticism
Scholasticism; scholastic: Scholasticism is a term applied to the intellectual and academic style of the medieval universities, a style stressing debate, disputation, and the effective use of canonical texts (such as those of Aristotle) in the making of arguments.
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16. The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a period of West thinking history that thinkers have talked about religion, nature, metaphysics, man and society.
&
Philosophical and theological debates, was discussed in this period.
And finally, the catholic tradition in this period was formed.
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17. Scientific Revolution
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

18. Scientific Revolution
What is a Revolution?
Answer:
A new way of thinking about the natural world and society that challenged traditional views and instead relied upon experimentation and new science.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

19. Scientific Revolution
Eagerness to scientific change on every part of the world
Movement fostered by the Enlightenment
Confidence in reason, over tradition and religion
Innovation and improvement
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

20. The Path of Physics, before the Scientific Revolution
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

21. School of Athens (1510 – 1511), Raphael
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

22. Aristotle 4th century B.C.
The GEOCENTRIC THEORY
(The PTOLEMAIC SYSTEM)
The earth was an unmoving object at center of universe! (WHAT?)… The moon, sun, and planets move around earth.
In other words, it is completely at rest.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

23. Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543 The Heliocentric Theory
Earth and planets revolve around the sun!
Circular Orbit
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

24. Johannes Kepler ( )
Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion (1609) are scientific laws describing orbital motion.
The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci. The Sun is at the end of the ellipse, not at the center.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

25. Galileo Galilei Aka the “father of modern observational astronomy”.
Aka the “father of modern physics”.
Aka the “father of science” aka the “Father of Modern Science”.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

26. Galileo Galilei
By the early 1600s, scientists could explain the universe – but, what were planets made of? How is motion in the universe explained?
Three discoveries (1610):
1.) Jupiter has four moons
2.) The Sun has dark spots
3.) Earth’s moon has a rough and uneven surface
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

27. Sir Isaac Newton ( )
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)
Set forth Laws of Motion.
Universal Law of Gravitation.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

28. Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

29. Achievements Focus on physics, not ethics and metaphysics.
Merging science and technology.
Use of mathematics.
Use of experimentation and inductive reasoning.
Basic ancient truths were questioned
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

30. Philosophy and Modern Scientific Revolution
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

31. European revolution Nederland revolution in 1680 &
The English Revolution of 1689
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

32. The Philosophy of Crisis
The Philosophy of Crisis in the post-Hegelian era, i.e., since the middle of the 19th century, is of an entirely different kind from the crises of philosophy in the past.
European Nihilism
Merleau-Ponty
Jean-Paul Sartre
Frankfurt School
Existentialism
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

33. The Path of Physics, after the Scientific Revolution
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

34. Design a Fundamental Theory in Physics
Causation
Rationalism
physics
Empiricism
Design a Fundamental Theory in Physics
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

35. Einstein's Relativity Special Relativity (1905)
General Relativity (1915)
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

36. ∆ x ∆ p≥ ½Һ Quantum Mechanics Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
(1926)
∆ x ∆ p≥ ½Һ
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

37. Acknowledgement
"Between Rationalism and Empiricism: The Path of Physics" translated by Hans-Jakob Wilhelm from Zwischen Rationalismus und Empirismus: Der Weg der Physik", in: VernunftbegrifJe der Moderne. Stuttgarter HegelKongrefl 1993.
Ed. by F. Fulda and R. P. Horstmann, Klett-Cotta: Stuttgart
- Bad Cannstatt 1994, pp Printed by permission of the author.
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Always Learning Philosophy of Physics

38. References
Scheibe, Erhard; 2001, Between rationalism and empiricism: selected papers in the philosophy of physics, Springer.
Cahoone, Lawrence; 2014, Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida, the Great Courses, College of the holy cross, Massachusetts.
Furley, David; 1999, Aristotle the philosopher of nature, From Aristotle to Augustine, Routledge History of Philosophy Volume II.
Stoljar, Daniel, "Physicalism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (spring 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
Markie, Peter; 2008, “Rationalism vs. Empiricism”, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy,
ورنر هایزنبرگ. فیزیک و فلسفه. فصل یازدهم (اهمیّت فیزیک جدید در پیشرفت امروزی فکر انسان )، هیرتسل، ۱۹۷۲ (نسخۀ فارسی).
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39. Thank You Always Learning Philosophy of Physics