Preface

Summary

Like other volumes in “The Evolution of Modern Philosophy” series, this book is meant to introduce the reader to a field of contemporary philosophy – in this case, the philosophy of physics – by exploring its sources from the seventeenth century onward. However, while the modern philosophies of art, language, politics, religion, and so on seek to elucidate manifestations of human life that are much older and probably will last much longer than the philosophical will for lucidity, the modern philosophy of physics has to do with modern physics, an intellectual enterprise that began in the seventeenth century as a central piece of philosophy itself. The theory and practice of physics is firmly rooted in that origin, despite substantial changes in its informational contents, conceptual framework, and explicit aims. A vein of philosophical thinking about the phenomena of nature runs through the fourcentury- old tradition of physics and holds it together. This philosophy in physics carries more weight in the book than the reflections about physics conducted by philosophers. Our study of the evolution of the modern philosophy of physics will therefore pay much attention to the conceptual development of physics itself.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The purport and motivation of the first six are summarily described in the short introductions that precede them. The seventh and last chapter – “Perspectives and Reflections” – does not have an introduction, so I shall say something about it here.