Science and Hypothesis: The Complete Text

ISBN-13: 9781350355576 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 208 str.

Henri Poincaré

Opis

Science and Hypothesis is a classic text in history and philosophy of science. Widely popular since its original publication in 1902, this first new translation of the work in over a century features unpublished material missing from earlier editions. Addressing errors introduced by Greenstreet and Halsted in their early 20th-century translations, it incorporates all the changes, corrections and additions Poincaré made over the years. Taking care to update the writing for a modern audience, Poincaré’s ideas and arguments on the role of hypotheses in mathematics and in science become clearer and closer to his original meaning, while David J. Stump’s introduction gives fresh insights into Poincaré’s philosophy of science. By approaching Science and Hypothesis from a contemporary perspective, it presents a better understanding of Poincare’s hierarchy of the sciences, with arithmetic as the foundation, geometry as the science of space, then mechanics and the rest of physics. For philosophers of science and scientists working on problems of space, time and relativity, this is a much needed translation of a ground-breaking work which demonstrates why Poincaré is still relevant today.

Spis treści

1. Introduction by David J. Stump Origin of the parts of the book Author’s Preface Part I: Number and Magnitude 2. On the Nature of Mathematical Reasoning 3. Mathematical Magnitude and Experiment Part II: Space 4. Non-Euclidean Geometries 5. Space and Geometry 6. Experiment and Geometry Part III: Force 7. Classical Mechanics 8. Relative and Absolute Motion 9. Energy and Thermo-Dynamics Part IV: Nature 10. Hypotheses in Physics 11. The Theories of Modern Physics 12. The Calculus of Probabilities 13. Optics and Electricity 14. XIII Electro-Dynamics 15. The End of Matter Index