-
98Was Einstein Really a Realist?Perspectives on Science 1 (2): 204-251. 1993.It is widely believed that the development of the general theory of relativity coincided with a shift in Einstein’s philosophy of science from a kind of Machian positivism to a form of scientific realism. This article criticizes that view, arguing that a kind of realism was present from the start but that Einstein was skeptical all along about some of the bolder metaphysical and epistemological claims made on behalf of what we now would call scientific realism. If we read Einstein’s philosophy o…Read more
-
7The Philosophy of Niels Bohr: The Framework of ComplementarityHenry J. FolseIsis 77 (1): 117-118. 1986.
-
6The Philosophy of Niels Bohr: The Framework of Complementarity by Henry J. Folse (review)Isis 77 117-118. 1986.
-
17Einstein and the History of General Relativity (edited book)Birkhäuser. 1989.Based upon the proceedings of the First International Conference on the History of General Relativity, held at Boston University's Osgood Hill Conference Center, North Andover, Massachusetts, 8-11 May 1986, this volume brings together essays by twelve prominent historians and philosophers of science and physicists. The topics range from the development of general relativity (John Norton, John Stachel) and its early reception (Carlo Cattani, Michelangelo De Maria, Anne Kox), through attempts to u…Read more
-
303Who invented the “copenhagen interpretation”? A study in mythologyPhilosophy of Science 71 (5): 669-682. 2004.What is commonly known as the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, regarded as representing a unitary Copenhagen point of view, differs significantly from Bohr's complementarity interpretation, which does not employ wave packet collapse in its account of measurement and does not accord the subjective observer any privileged role in measurement. It is argued that the Copenhagen interpretation is an invention of the mid‐1950s, for which Heisenberg is chiefly responsible, various other p…Read more
-
Review of S. French and D. Krause, Identity and individuality in classical and quantum physics (review)Metascience. forthcoming.
-
129Einstein and DuhemSynthese 83 (3): 363-384. 1990.Pierre Duhem's often unrecognized influence on twentieth-century philosophy of science is illustrated by an analysis of his significant if also largely unrecognized influence on Albert Einstein. Einstein's first acquaintance with Duhem's La Théorie physique, son objet et sa structure around 1909 is strongly suggested by his close personal and professional relationship with Duhem's German translator, Friedrich Adler. The central role of a Duhemian holistic, underdeterminationist variety of conven…Read more
-
15Antipositivist Theories of the Sciences (review)Review of Metaphysics 39 (2): 377-378. 1985.Perhaps without realizing it, Norman Stockman has here written two books, each quite interesting in itself, but the two not wholly compatible when presented as one. The "first book" is a judicious and well-informed comparison of the three principal theories of science which define themselves by their opposition to positivism: critical rationalism, critical theory, and scientific realism. The "second book" is a vigorous defense of critical theory, especially as a theory of the social sciences, ag…Read more
-
266The physics and metaphysics of identity and individuality Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11016-010-9463-7 Authors Don Howard, Department of Philosophy and Graduate Program in History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA Bas C. van Fraassen, Philosophy Department, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA Otávio Bueno, Department of Philosophy, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA Elena Caste…Read more
-
191What makes a classical concept classical? Toward a reconstruction of Niels Bohr's philosophy of physicsIn Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 201--230. 1994.— Niels Bohr, 19231 “There must be quite definite and clear grounds, why you repeatedly declare that one must interpret observations classically, which lie absolute ly in thei r essenc e. . . . It must belong to your deepest conviction—and I cannot understand on what you base it.”.
-
41What makes a classical concept classical?In Jan Faye & Henry J. Folse (eds.), Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 201--229. 1994.
-
1Space-time and Separability: Problems of Identity and Individuation in Fundamental PhysicsIn Robert S. Cohen, Michael Horne & John Stachel (eds.), Potentiality, Entanglement and Passion-at-a-Distance, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 113--142. 1997.
-
155(STARS Conference, Cancún, January 2007).
-
38Such are those thick & gloomie shadows dampe Oft seene in charnel vaults, & sepulchers, Lingering, & sitting by a new made grave, As loath to leave the bodie that it lov'd, & link’t it selfe by carnall sensualtie To a degenerate, & degraded state.
-
5Realism and Conventionalism in Einstein's Philosophy of Science: The Einstein-Schlick CorrespondencePhilosophia Naturalis 21 (2/4): 616. 1984.
-
55On Saturday, August 26, 1893, thirteen-year-old Edith Low Babson was swimming in her favorite swimming hole on the Annisquam river in her home town of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Though she was a strong swimmer, something went wrong, and she drowned. A tragedy like all such. But this drowning had unusual consequences. Edith’s older brother was Roger W. Babson, who grew up to become one of America’s most prominent businessmen of the early twentieth century. A statistician, prolific author, philant…Read more
-
2Holism, Separability, and the Metaphysical Implications of the Bell ExperimentsIn James T. Cushing & Ernan McMullin (eds.), Philosophical Consequences of Quantum Theory, University of Notre Dame Press. pp. 224--253. 1989.
-
353Einstein on Locality and SeparabilityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 16 (3): 171. 1985.
-
99What is Albert Einstein’s place in the history of twentieth-century philosophy of science? Were one to consult the histories produced at mid-century from within the Vienna Circle and allied movements (e.g., von Mises 1938, 1939, Kraft 1950, Reichenbach 1951), then one would find, for the most part, two points of emphasis. First, Einstein was rightly remembered as the developer of the special and general theories of relativity, theories which, through their challenge to both scientific and philos…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
History of Western Philosophy |
Philosophy, Misc |
Areas of Interest
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
History of Western Philosophy |
Philosophy, Misc |