Sachgebiete

Beschreibung:

XIV; 355 S.; Illustr.; graph. Darst.; 24 cm. Originalleinen mit illustr. Schutzumschlag.

Bemerkung:

Gutes Exemplar; Umschlag stw. berieben sowie mit kl. Läsuren. - Englisch. - One of the great mysteries of the human mind is its power to create new forms of knowledge. Arthur I. Miller offers a fresh, unique approach to this subject. First, the relation between creative scientific thinking and the construction of scientific concepts from prescientific knowledge is explored through historical case studies. Miller focuses on Niels Bohr, Ludwig Boltzmann, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Henri Poincare because the depth of their research led them to consider the problem of thinking itself. To a large degree these philosopher-scientists set the intellectual milieu of the 20th century. The historical case studies reveal that fundamental advances in science are closely coupled to, and affected by, changing notions of mental imagery. Those results are then used as data for contemporary theories of cognitive psychology in order to investigate the dynamics of creative scientific thinking. This method of investigation permits futher assessment of the cognitive theories themselves. ? (Verlagstext) // INHALT : Preface ---- Acknowledgments ---- Author's Notes to the Reader ---- Introduction ---- Background ---- Methods of Analysis ---- Notes ---- PART I. STUDIES IN COMPARATIVE EPISTEMOLOGIES ---- 1. Poincare and Einstein ---- Poincare's Theory of Knowledge Poincare on the Origins of Geometry Poincare on the Nature of Space Poincare's Epistemology ---- A Background Note ---- The Structure of a Scientific Theory ---- Poincare's Notions of Induction and of Scientific ---- Invention ---- Poincare on the Reality of the Ether The Realm of the Physical Sciences On Poincare's Post-1905 Thoughts on Geometry, Classical Mechanics, and the Physical Sciences Einstein's Theory of Knowledge Concepts, Geometry, and Physics ---- Einstein's Epistemology and the Structure of a Scientific Theory Visual Thinking, Concepts, and Axiomatics ---- Visual Thinking and Concepts ---- Axiomatics Principles of Relativity ---- Action-at-a-distance, Concepts, Ether, and Relativity ---- Theory ---- Conclusion ---- Notes ---- 2. On the Origins, Methods, and Legacy of Ludwig Boltzmann's Mechanics ---- The Origins of Boltzmann's Mechanics ---- Perspective ---- Hertz's Mechanics ---- The Foundations of Boltzmann's Mechanics The Methods of Boltzmann's Mechanics Aftermath ---- A Legacy of Boltzmann's Mechanics Conclusion Notes ---- PART II. ON AESTHETICS, VISUALIZABILITY, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS ---- 3. The Special Theory of Relativity: Einstein's Response to the Physics and Philosophy of 1905 ---- The Nature of Space and Time ---- Electromagnetic Theory ---- Electrical Dynamos ---- Radiation ---- Einstein's View of Physical Theory ---- Conclusion ---- Notes ---- Appendix: Einstein's Gedanken Experiment of 1895 ---- 4. Redefining Visualizability ---- Background: The Period 1913-1923 ---- The Picture of Light Quanta ---- Visualizability Lost ---- The New Quantum Mechanics ---- Visualizability Regained ---- Further Developments in Visualizability ---- Nuclear Physics: Metaphor Becomes Physical Reality ---- A Glimpse of the Microcosm ---- Elementary-Particle Physics: Visualizability Transformed ---- (u.v.a.) ISBN 0817631968