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Does Physics need a second scientific revolution? - Chrislianity encourages tackling foundational problem of Physics
Larenz, Rudolf
Larenz, Rudolf
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Abstract
This article identifies an inbuilt detect oi rnotieni Physics. It consists in not providing enough connection between the two bodies of knowledge that make up Physics; observations of and experiments with material things, on the one hand, and mathematical theories, on the other. More specifically, the ddect consists in that mathematical structures are applied to experiences oi the material world, as it they were only in the mind oi the physicist. Nevertheless, the success or rnatheruarieal Physics suggests that these mathematical structures are somehow related to the material realities they are applied to. — Due to the inbuilt detect, mathematical theories in Physics have to undergo a procedure of approval or disapproval by experiments. However, even if approved, the hypothetical character of such a theory cannot be removed. A theory never hecornes definitive. — The roots of the said defect lie in the scientific revolution during the 16th and 17“ centuries. This article makes three of them explicit: (i) the dominant View that Nature and human cognitive capacities do not fit together, (ii) most present day ways of understanding Mathematics do not involve the material world, a.iid (n the scientific revolution has essentially brought, for Physics, its mathematization. — It is proposed that lhoniistic hyloniorphisni is a suitable tool to show how those mathematical structures that are used in Physics have their root in material things themselves. The “application" of mathematical structures to experiences oi the material world thus has an ohjeetive foundation. The belonging oi mathematical structures to material things is based on that the hylomorphic structure unites organically the singularity of a material thing and its belonging to a species. — Christianity does not endorse any particular solution of that problem. However, Christianity contributes to a solution insofar it supports strongly the genuine intelligibility of our world. The spirit of Christianity thus supports the view of science as a sort of realist knowledge.
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2013
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