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Huygens' Principle: A case against optimality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2003

Hans-Martin Gaertner
Hans-Martin Gaertner*
Affiliation:
Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS) Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
*
[email protected]
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Abstract:

I will present evidence that nature does not optimize in the sense of Fermat's principle of least time, contrary to what Schoemaker's unintentionally ambiguous exposition might suggest. First, Huygens' principle, an alternative nonteleological account of Snell's law, is outlined. Second, I confront Fermat's principle with a substantive conceptual problem.

Type
Continuing Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 26 , Issue 6 , December 2003 , pp. 779 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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References

Commentary on P. J. H. Schoemaker (1991). The quest for optimality: A positive heuristic of science? BBS 14(2):205–215.

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