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Maxwell on the Logic of Dynamical Explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Joseph Turner
Joseph Turner*
Affiliation:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
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Extract

In the course of his researches in electromagnetism and the kinetic theory of gases, James Clerk Maxwell gave some thought to the nature of science itself. His observations in this field are of interest today not only because they are his, but because they are still instructive. Maxwell's views are to be found in the many asides with which he enlivened his scientific papers and treatises and in the various articles and reviews which he prepared for more popular consumption. The topics discussed bear on his own contributions to physics; they include the logic of dynamical explanation, the method of physical analogy, and the perennial question of action at a distance versus contiguity. In the present essay, I wish to discuss Maxwell's views on dynamical explanation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1956 , pp. 36 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © 1956, The Williams & Wilkins Company

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