Forces and Fields

The Concept of Action at a Distance in the History of Physics

$19.95

Publication Date: 17th June 2005

This history of physics focuses on the question, "How do bodies act on one another across space?" The variety of answers illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics, as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Forces and Fields presents an in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece, and it examines the influence of antique philosophy on seventeenth-century thought. Additional topics embrace many elements of modern physics—the empirical basis of quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle, and the action-at-a-dist... Read More
Format: Paperback
30 in stock
This history of physics focuses on the question, "How do bodies act on one another across space?" The variety of answers illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics, as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Forces and Fields presents an in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece, and it examines the influence of antique philosophy on seventeenth-century thought. Additional topics embrace many elements of modern physics—the empirical basis of quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle, and the action-at-a-dist... Read More
Description
This history of physics focuses on the question, "How do bodies act on one another across space?" The variety of answers illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics, as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Forces and Fields presents an in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece, and it examines the influence of antique philosophy on seventeenth-century thought. Additional topics embrace many elements of modern physics—the empirical basis of quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle, and the action-at-a-distance theory of Wheeler and Feynman.
The introductory chapter, in which the philosophical view is developed, can be omitted by readers more interested in history. Author Mary B. Hesse examines the use of analogies in primitive scientific explanation, particularly in the works of Aristotle, and contrasts them with latter-day theories such as those of gravitation and relativity. Hesse incorporates studies of the Pre-Socratics initiated by Francis Cornford and continued by contemporary classical historians. Her perspective sheds considerable light on the scientific thinking of antiquity, and it highlights the debt that the seventeenth-century natural philosophers owed to Greek ideas.

Reprint of the T. Nelson, London and New York, 1961 edition.
Details
  • Price: $19.95
  • Pages: 336
  • Publisher: Dover Publications
  • Imprint: Dover Publications
  • Publication Date: 17th June 2005
  • Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.5 in
  • Illustration Note: 9 figures
  • ISBN: 9780486442402
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    SCIENCE / History
Table of Contents
I. The Logical Status of Theories
II. The Primitive Analogies.
III. Mechanism in Greek Science
IV. The Greek Inheritance
V. The Corpuscular Philosophy
VI. The Theory of Gravitation
VII. Action at a Distance
VIII. The Field Theories
IX. The Theory of Relativity
X. Modern Physics
XI. The Metaphysical Framework of Physics
Appendixes
Bibliography
Indexes
This history of physics focuses on the question, "How do bodies act on one another across space?" The variety of answers illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics, as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Forces and Fields presents an in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece, and it examines the influence of antique philosophy on seventeenth-century thought. Additional topics embrace many elements of modern physics—the empirical basis of quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle, and the action-at-a-distance theory of Wheeler and Feynman.
The introductory chapter, in which the philosophical view is developed, can be omitted by readers more interested in history. Author Mary B. Hesse examines the use of analogies in primitive scientific explanation, particularly in the works of Aristotle, and contrasts them with latter-day theories such as those of gravitation and relativity. Hesse incorporates studies of the Pre-Socratics initiated by Francis Cornford and continued by contemporary classical historians. Her perspective sheds considerable light on the scientific thinking of antiquity, and it highlights the debt that the seventeenth-century natural philosophers owed to Greek ideas.

Reprint of the T. Nelson, London and New York, 1961 edition.
  • Price: $19.95
  • Pages: 336
  • Publisher: Dover Publications
  • Imprint: Dover Publications
  • Publication Date: 17th June 2005
  • Trim Size: 5.5 x 8.5 in
  • Illustrations Note: 9 figures
  • ISBN: 9780486442402
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    SCIENCE / History
I. The Logical Status of Theories
II. The Primitive Analogies.
III. Mechanism in Greek Science
IV. The Greek Inheritance
V. The Corpuscular Philosophy
VI. The Theory of Gravitation
VII. Action at a Distance
VIII. The Field Theories
IX. The Theory of Relativity
X. Modern Physics
XI. The Metaphysical Framework of Physics
Appendixes
Bibliography
Indexes