Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Faraday to Einstein: Constructing Meaning in Scientific Theories

  • Book
  • © 1984

Overview

Authors:
  1. Nancy J. Nersessian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Part of the book series: Science and Philosophy (SCPH, volume 1)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Philosophical Situation: A Critical Appraisal

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Introduction

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 3-4

    3. The ‘standard’ account of meaning

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 5-12

    4. ‘Meaning variance’ and ‘incommensurability’

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 13-29

  3. The Scientific Situation: An Historical Analysis

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Introduction

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 33-36

    3. Faraday’s ‘lines of force’

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 37-68

    4. Maxwell’s ‘Newtonian aether-field’

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 69-94

    5. Lorentz’ ‘non-Newtonian aether-field’

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 95-120

    6. Einstein’s ‘field’

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 121-139

  4. The Making of Meaning: A Proposal

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 141-141
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Introduction

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 143-143

    3. Meaning in scientific practice

      • Nancy J. Nersessian
      Pages 144-159
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

Einstein often expressed the sentiment that "the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility," and that science is the means through which we comprehend it. However, nearly every­ one - including scientists - agrees that the concepts of modem physics are quite incomprehensible: They are both unintelligible to the educated lay-person and to the scientific community itself, where there is much dispute over the interpretation of even (and especially) the most basic concepts. There is, of course, almost universal agreement that modem science quite adequately accounts for and predicts events, i. e. , that its calculations work better than those of classical physics; yet the concepts of science are supposed to be descriptive of 'the world' as well - they should enable us to comprehend it. So, it is asked, and needs tobe"asked: Has modem physics failed in an important respect? It failed with me as a physics student. I came to physics, as with most naIve students, out of a desire to know what the world is really like; in particular, to understand Einstein's conception of it. I thought I had grasped the concepts in classical mechanics, but with electrodynamics confusion set in and only increased with relativity and quantum mechanics. At that point I began even to doubt whether I had really understood the basic concepts of classical mechanics.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Faraday to Einstein: Constructing Meaning in Scientific Theories

  • Authors: Nancy J. Nersessian

  • Series Title: Science and Philosophy

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6187-6

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht 1984

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-247-2997-5Published: 30 September 1984

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-0950-5Published: 31 October 1990

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-6187-6Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0924-4697

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 196

  • Topics: Philosophy of Science

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation