Book contents
- Interpreting Mach
- Interpreting Mach
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Ernst Mach’s Piano and the Making of a Psychophysical Imaginarium
- 2 Mother’s Milk and More
- 3 Meaningful Work
- 4 Mach on Analogy in Science
- 5 Ernst Mach’s Enlightenment Pragmatism
- 6 On the Philosophical and Scientific Relationship between Ernst Mach and William James
- 7 Ernst Mach and Friedrich Nietzsche
- 8 Abstraction, Pragmatism, and History in Mach’s Economy of Science
- 9 Holding the Hand of History
- 10 Ernst Mach and the Vienna Circle
- 11 Narratives Divided
- 12 Phenomenalism, or Neutral Monism, in Mach’s Analysis of Sensations?
- 13 The Case for Mach’s Neutral Monism
- Index
- References
8 - Abstraction, Pragmatism, and History in Mach’s Economy of Science
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2021
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Book contents
- Interpreting Mach
- Interpreting Mach
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Ernst Mach’s Piano and the Making of a Psychophysical Imaginarium
- 2 Mother’s Milk and More
- 3 Meaningful Work
- 4 Mach on Analogy in Science
- 5 Ernst Mach’s Enlightenment Pragmatism
- 6 On the Philosophical and Scientific Relationship between Ernst Mach and William James
- 7 Ernst Mach and Friedrich Nietzsche
- 8 Abstraction, Pragmatism, and History in Mach’s Economy of Science
- 9 Holding the Hand of History
- 10 Ernst Mach and the Vienna Circle
- 11 Narratives Divided
- 12 Phenomenalism, or Neutral Monism, in Mach’s Analysis of Sensations?
- 13 The Case for Mach’s Neutral Monism
- Index
- References
Summary
Ernst Mach’s appeal to the ‘economy of science’ has sometimes been interpreted as an overarching principle of minimisation, promoting the increasing simplification of scientific knowledge via principles that increase calculating power without adding substantively to the knowledge embedded in empirical facts. There is a growing literature arguing for a more robust understanding of Mach’s ‘economy of science’. Machian ‘economy’ appeals to the continuity between scientific experiences and concepts, but also to the increasing complexity of scientific concepts, building on connections between what Mach called world-elements or sensation-elements. Mach’s account emphasises not only continuities between experiences that allow for simplification, but also areas of divergence that promote the branching of scientific concepts and methods. I emphasise the roles of abstraction, pragmatism, and history in Mach’s economy of science and argue that these elements allowed Mach to investigate the productive tension between creative and conservative moments in the history of science.
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- Interpreting MachCritical Essays, pp. 142 - 163Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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