Authors:
- Covers the subtle matters of reduction and emergence from the informed perspective of physicists
- With a foreword from the Wolf Prize laureate Sir Michael Berry
- Also of interest to philosophers of science, reductionists as well as non-reductionists
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
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Front Matter
About this book
Scientists have always attempted to explain the world in terms of a few unifying principles. In the fifth century B.C. Democritus boldly claimed that reality is simply a collection of indivisible and eternal parts or atoms. Over the centuries his doctrine has remained a landmark, and much progress in physics is due to its distinction between subjective perception and objective reality. This book discusses theory reduction in physics, which states that the whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts: the properties of things are directly determined by their constituent parts. Reductionism deals with the relation between different theories that address different levels of reality, and uses extrapolations to apply that relation in different sciences. Reality shows a complex structure of connections, and the dream of a unified interpretation of all phenomena in several simple laws continues to attract anyone with genuine philosophical and scientific interests. If the most radical reductionist point of view is correct, the relationship between disciplines is strictly inclusive: chemistry becomes physics, biology becomes chemistry, and so on. Eventually, only one science, indeed just a single theory, would survive, with all others merging in the Theory of Everything. Is the current coexistence of different sciences a mere historical venture which will end when the Theory of Everything has been established? Can there be a unified description of nature?
Rather than an analysis of full reductionism, this book focuses on aspects of theory reduction in physics and stimulates reflection on related questions: is there any evidence of actual reduction? Are the examples used in the philosophy of science too simplistic? What has been endangered by the search for (the) ultimate truth? Has the dream of reductionist reason created any monsters? Is big science one such monster? What is the point of embedding science Y within science X, if predictions cannot be made on that basis?
Keywords
Authors and Affiliations
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University Pierre et Marie Curie, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert Institute, Paris, France
Sergio Chibbaro
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Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche, Polytechnic University of Turin, Torino, Italy
Lamberto Rondoni
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"La Sapienza" Dipartimento di Fisica, University of Rome, Roma, Italy
Angelo Vulpiani
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality
Book Subtitle: The Importance of Being Borderline
Authors: Sergio Chibbaro, Lamberto Rondoni, Angelo Vulpiani
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06361-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-06360-7Published: 28 May 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-35642-6Published: 17 September 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-06361-4Published: 13 May 2014
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 154
Number of Illustrations: 9 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Philosophy of Science, Complex Systems, Quantum Physics, Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems