Process Realism in Physics: How Experiment and History Necessitate a Process Ontology

William Penn

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Process Realism in Physics

How Experiment and History Necessitate a Process Ontology

William Penn

Volume 28 in the series Process Thought

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110782516

Overview
Contents

About this book

Science should tell us what the world is like. However, realist interpretations of physics face many problems, chief among them the pessimistic meta induction. This book seeks to develop a realist position based on process ontology that avoids the traditional problems of realism. Primarily, the core claim is that in order for a scientific model to be minimally empirically adequate, that model must describe real experimental processes and dynamics. Any additional inferences from processes to things, substances or objects are not warranted, and so these inferences are shown to represent the locus of the problems of realism. The book then examines the history of physics to show that the progress of physical research is one of successive eliminations of thing interpretations of models in favor of more explanatory and experimentally verified process interpretations. This culminates in collections of models that cannot coherently allow for thing interpretations, but still successfully describe processes.

Author / Editor information

William Penn, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	XIII
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Continuity and Process Realism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
Chapter 2. Processes Underlie Processes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Chapter 3. The Candle Flame: A Process-Realist Analysis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Chapter 4. Perrin’s Argument: A Robustness Argument for Processes, Not Things Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Chapter 5. Models of the Nucleus: Incompatible Things, Compatible Processes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
Summary and Prospectus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	194

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Metaphysicians, epistemologists, philosophers of science, historians of physics and science, libraries, institutes
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 194
Illustrations
- Coloured Illustrations: 6
- Tables: 4
Keywords: process ontology; scientific metaphysics; physics; realism and antirealism

eBook

Published: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9783110782516

Hardcover

Published: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9783110782370