03312nam 2200625 450 991045090830332120200520144314.00-19-802300-61-280-52549-597866105254920-19-534505-3(CKB)1000000000407926(StDuBDS)AH24082866(SSID)ssj0000305573(PQKBManifestationID)12088598(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000305573(PQKBWorkID)10286175(PQKB)11196471(MiAaPQ)EBC4701602(MiAaPQ)EBC272448(Au-PeEL)EBL4701602(CaPaEBR)ebr11273218(OCoLC)960165897(EXLCZ)99100000000040792620161011h19911991 uy 0engur|||||||||||txtccrParticles and waves historical essays in the philosophy of science /Peter AchinsteinNew York, New York ;Oxford, [England] :Oxford University Press,1991.©19911 online resource (344 p. ) halftones, line drawingsIncludes index.0-19-506547-6 0-19-506755-X This volume contains six published and two new essays, focusing on philosophical problems surrounding the postulation of unobservable entities such as light waves, molecules and electrons.This volume brings together six published and two new essays by the noted philosopher of science, Peter Achinstein. It represents the culmination of his examination of methodological issues that arise in nineteenth-century physics. He focuses on the philosophical problem of how, if at all, it is possible to confirm scientific hypotheses that postulate `unobservables' such as light waves, molecules, and electrons. This question is one that not only was of great interest to nineteenth-century physicists and methodologists, but continues to occupy philosophers of science up to the present day. The essays in this volume deal with this vexing problem as it arose in actual scientific practice in three nineteenth-century episodes: the debate between particle and wave theorists of light, Maxwell's kinetic theory of gases, and J.J. Thomson's discovery of the electron. Achinstein shows that the most important issue raised by these three cases concerns the legitimacy of introducing hypotheses that invoke "unobservables". If science is to be empirical, can such hypotheses be employed? How, if at all, is it possible to confirm them? Achinstein here assesses the philosophical validity of nineteenth-century and modern answers to these questions and presents and defends his own solutions.SciencePhilosophyHistoryPhysicsMethodologyHistoryWave-particle dualityHistoryElectronic books.SciencePhilosophyHistory.PhysicsMethodologyHistory.Wave-particle dualityHistory.501Achinstein Peter44146MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910450908303321Particles and waves2227464UNINA