The theoretical practices of physics
Subtitle: philosophical essays
By: R.I.G. Hughes.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 278
ISBN-13: 9780199546107
Subjects: Physics -- Philosophy
Description: R.I.G. Hughes explores the theoretical practices that scientists use in doing physics. He offers a critical examination of accounts that notable physicists give of their practices, and investigates the roles of laws, disunities, models and representation, and computer simulation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Criticism, logical empiricism, and the general theory of relativity; title: Theoretical practice : the Bohm; title: Pines Quartet; title: Laws of physics, the representational account of theories, and Newton's Principia; title: Modelling, the Brownian motion, and the disunities of physics; title: Models and representation; title: The Ising model, computer simulation, and universal physics; title: Theoretical explanation; title: The discourse of physics exemplified by the Aharonov-Bohm effect.