The Significance for Natural Philosophy of the Move from Classical to Modern Physics

The Chair which I have been elected to occupy, in succession to Professor Darwin, is associated with the name of a great scholar of our fathers' generation, Peter Guthrie Tait. This name has been familiar to me from the time when I first began to study mathematical physics. At that time Felix Klein was the leading figure in a group of outstanding mathematicians at Göttingen, amongst them Hilbert and Minkowski. I remember how Klein, ever eager to link physics with mathematics, missed no opportunity of pointing out to us students the importance of studying carefully the celebrated Treatise on Natural Philosophy of Thomson and Tait, which became a sort of Bible of mathematical science for us.

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The System of Physics

Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190662363.003.0010 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 158-176

Author(s):

Dmitri Nikulin

Keyword(s):

First Principles ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Universal Theory ◽

Physical Change ◽

Prime Mover ◽

Natural Phenomena ◽

Applicability Of Mathematics ◽

Theory Of Motion ◽

Rational Science ◽

Modern Physics

Chapter 10 considers the structure of Proclus’ rarely discussed Elements of Physics and its original contribution to the understanding of physics in antiquity. It is argued that the purpose of the treatise is not only a systematic arrangement of the arguments scattered throughout Aristotle’s works on natural philosophy, using the structure of Euclid’s Elements as a model. Proclus also aims to develop a universal theory of motion or physical change that establishes the first principles as definitions, formulates and demonstrates a number of mutually related propositions about natural objects, and culminates in establishing the existence and properties of the prime mover. Unlike modern physics, which presupposes the applicability of mathematics to physics, Proclus shows that the study of natural phenomena in the more geometrico way can be a systematic rational science arranged by means of logic rather than mathematics.

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The Digital and the Real Universe. Foundations of Natural Philosophy and Computational Physics

Philosophies ◽

10.3390/philosophies4010003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 3

Author(s):

Klaus Mainzer

Keyword(s):

Natural Philosophy ◽

Computational Physics ◽

Epistemic Status ◽

Quantum Field Theories ◽

The Real ◽

Science Technology ◽

Modern Physics ◽

Further Development ◽

The Continuum ◽

Real Universe

In the age of digitization, the world seems to be reducible to a digital computer. However, mathematically, modern quantum field theories do not only depend on discrete, but also continuous concepts. Ancient debates in natural philosophy on atomism versus the continuum are deeply involved in modern research on digital and computational physics. This example underlines that modern physics, in the tradition of Newton’s Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis, is a further development of natural philosophy with the rigorous methods of mathematics, measuring, and computing. We consider fundamental concepts of natural philosophy with mathematical and computational methods and ask for their ontological and epistemic status. The following article refers to the author’s book, “The Digital and the Real World. Computational Foundations of Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Philosophy.”

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