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49The Logical Analysis of Quantum Mechanics. Erhard Scheibe, J. B. Sykes (review)Philosophy of Science 42 (1): 96-100. 1975.
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44The role of a posteriori mathematics in physicsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 62 166-175. 2018.
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3The Role of Conceptual and Linguistic FrameworksProceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 43 24-43. 1969.
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19The problem of scientific realismAppleton-Century-Crofts. 1972.Aristotele. Science as a systematic explanation through causes.--Newton, I. Rules and reflections on scientific reasoning.--Carnap, R. Empiricism, semantics, and ontology.--Hempel, C. On the logic of explanation.--Nagel, E. The realist view of theories.--Quine, W. V. On the role of logic in explanation.--Harris, E. E. Method and explanation in metaphysics.--Einstein, A. Remarks on Bertrand Russell's theory of knowledge.--Sellars, W. The language of theories.--MacKinnon, E. Atomic physics and rea…Read more
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733Why Interpret Quantum Physics?Open Journal of Philosophy 6 (1): 86-102. 2016.This article probes the question of what interpretations of quantum mechanics actually accomplish. In other domains, which are briefly considered, interpretations serve to make alien systematizations intelligible to us. This often involves clarifying the status of their implicit ontology. A survey of interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics supports the evaluation that these interpretations make a contribution to philosophy, but not to physics. Interpretations of quantum field theor…Read more
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7Interpreting Bodies: Classical and Quantum Objects in Modern Physics by Elena Castellani (review)Isis 92 209-210. 2001.
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26Bruce R. Wheaton, The Tiger and the Shark: Empirical Roots of wave-particle Dualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Pp. xxiv + 355. ISBN 0-521-25098-6. £22.50, $39.50. With a Foreword by Thomas S. Kuhn (review)British Journal for the History of Science 18 (3): 347-348. 1985.
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37Interpreting Physics: Language and the Classical/Quantim DivideSpringer. 2011.This book is the first to offer a systematic account of the role of language in the development and interpretation of physics. An historical-conceptual analysis of the co-evolution of physics and mathematics leads to the classical/quantum interface. Bohr's interpretation is analyzed and extended to the interpretation of the standard model of particle physics.
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32The language of classical physicsLinguistic and Philosophical Investigations 9 36-113. 2010.ABSTRACT. The objectivity of physics has been called into question by social theorists, Kuhnian relativists, and by anomalous aspects of quantum mechanics. Here we focus on one neglected background issue, the categorical structure of the language of classical physics. The first half is an historical overview of the formation of the language of classical physics, beginning with Aristotle's Categories and the novel idea of the quantity of a quality introduced by medieval Aristotelians. Descartes a…Read more
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11Physical Sciences and History of Physics by R. S. Cohen; M. W. Wartofsky (review)Isis 77 110-111. 1986.
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15Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science. Mary S. Morgan, Margaret MorrisonIsis 92 (3): 642-643. 2001.
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17Epistemological Problems in the Philosophy of Science, IIReview of Metaphysics 22 (2). 1968.This article completes the study begun in I by a detailed consideration of errol harris's, "the foundations of metaphysics in science" and by an independent interpretation of the epistemological foundations of scientific theories. This is done in terms of two components labelled 'a physical language' and 'a mathematical language'. A physical language is conceived as a transformed extension of ordinary language which preserves its basic structural principles while modifying its descriptive metaph…Read more
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128The standard model as a philosophical challengePhilosophy of Science 75 (4): 447-457. 2008.There are two opposing traditions in contemporary quantum field theory (QFT). Mainstream Lagrangian QFT led to and supports the standard model of particle interactions. Algebraic QFT seeks to provide a rigorous consistent mathematical foundation for field theory, but cannot accommodate the local gauge interactions of the standard model. Interested philosophers face a choice. They can accept algebraic QFT on the grounds of mathematical consistency and general accord with the semantic conception o…Read more
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255Scientific realism: The new debatesPhilosophy of Science 46 (4): 501-532. 1979.In place of earlier instrumentalist and phenomenalist interpretations of science both Quine and Sellars have developed highly influential realist positions centering around the doctrine that accepting a theory as explanatory and irreducible rationally entails accepting the entities posited by the theory. A growing reaction against this realism is partially based on perceived inadequacies in the doctrines of Quine and Sellars, but even more on reconstructions of scientific explanations which do n…Read more
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12Mecanique quantique: Une introduction philosophique by Michel Bitbol (review)Isis 89 360-361. 1998.This is an evaluative review of Bitbol's book.
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8Interpreting Bodies: Classical and Quantum Objects in Modern Physics. Elena CastellaniIsis 92 (1): 209-210. 2001.
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11Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by Bernard d'Espagnat (review)Isis 91 428-429. 2000.
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7Atoms, Metaphors, and Paradoxes: Niels Bohr and the Construction of a New Physics by Sandro Petruccioli (review)Isis 86 515-515. 1995.
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30The Nature of Physical Knowledge (review)Modern Schoolman 39 (3): 269-272. 1962.A review of a book bu L. W. Friedrich, S. J.
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54Review of From c-Numbers to q-Numbers: The Classical History of Quantum Theory by Olivier Darrigol (review)Philosophy of Science 62 (2): 348-350. 1995.
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13Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science by Mary S. Morgan; Margaret Morrison (review)Isis 92 642-643. 2001.
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24Epistemological Problems in the Philosophy of Science, IReview of Metaphysics 22 (1). 1968.The revolt against logical positivism within the philosophy of science has now lasted long enough to produce something of a counter-revolution. As the more strident charges (positivistic analyses misrepresent the most fundamental features of the scientific enterprise and have contributed little or nothing to its clarification) and counter-charges (any attempt to induce a philosophy of science from studies in the history of science rests on a massive genetic fallacy) gradually subside, critical i…Read more
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49A reinterpretation of Harre's copernican revolutionPhilosophy of Science 42 (1): 67-79. 1975.Rom Harré's proposed Copernican Revolution in the philosophy of science is a very ambitious undertaking. It challenges established views, proposes a radically new model for scientific explanation, and forces a rethinking of the foundations of the field. In his treatment of the natural sciences, Harré rejects all deductivist accounts of scientific explanation basically on the grounds that such accounts seriously distort the methods of explanation actually operative in science. In the social scien…Read more
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247The truth of scientific claimsPhilosophy of Science 49 (3): 437-462. 1982.The idea that science aspires to and routinely achieves truths about the world has been challenged in recent writings. Rather than beginning with a theory of scientific development, or of scientific explanation, we begin with a consideration of truth claims in ordinary discourse, particularly with Davidson's truth-functional semantics. Next we consider the way in which some framework features of ordinary language discourse are extended to and modified in scientific discourse. Two areas are treat…Read more
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394The consistent histories reformulation of quantum mechanics was developed by Robert Griffiths, given a formal logical systematization by Roland Omn\`{e}s, and under the label `decoherent histories', was independently developed by Murray Gell-Mann and James Hartle and extended to quantum cosmology. Criticisms of CH involve issues of meaning, truth, objectivity, and coherence, a mixture of philosophy and physics. We will briefly consider the original formulation of CH and some basic objections. Th…Read more
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40Niels Bohr on the Unity of SciencePSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1980 224-244. 1980.Niels Bohr began his career with an attempt to give a correct descriptive account of the motion of electrons. When forced to abandon this interpretation, he adopted, but soon rejected, a hypothetical-deductive account. In his development of an interpretation for the new quantum theory Bohr began to concentrate on the way language functions to make descriptions possible. His later work on this problem and on the role of concepts in the foundations of science led him to anticipate some of the basi…Read more
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Boston CollegeRetired faculty
Saint Louis University
PhD, 1959
Hayward, California, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |