Abstract
I. The year 1927 is a landmark in the evolution of physics — the year which saw the obsequies of the notion of causality. To avoid misconceptions, it should not be thought that the concept fell a victim to the unbridled antipathy of certain physicists or their indulgence in fancies. The truth is that men of science came, very reluctantly and almost against their will, to recognize the impossibility of giving a coherent causal description of the happenings on the atomic scale, though some of them — curiously enough, amongst them Planck, Einstein, de Broglie, Schrodinger — could never bring themselves to accept wholeheartedly so drastic a renunciation of classical ideals.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
‘The most direct, and in a sense the most important, problem which our conscious knowledge of nature should enable us to solve is the anticipation of future events, so that we may arrange our present affairs in accordance with such anticipations.’ H. Hertz, Introduction to the Principles of Mechanics (translated by D. E. Jones), London, 1899.
T. E. Hulme, Speculations, London, 1924.
M. Schlick, ‘Die Kausalität in der gegenwärtigen Physik’, Ges. Aufsätze, Vienna, 1938.
Doubts as to that were first raised by R. V. Mises (Probability, Statistics, and Truth) 2nd ed., London, 1957, and even before in an article in Die Natur-wissenschaften, 1922.
For a similar example cf. M. Bom, Physics in My Generation, London, 1956.
N. Bohr, Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge, New York, 1958.
G. Birkhoff and J. V. Neumann, ‘The Logic of Quantum Mechanics’ (Annals of Mathematics 37 (1936); C. F. v. Weizsäcker, ‘Komplementärität und Logik’ (Die Naturwissenschaften, 1955). Even Heisenberg has given his blessing to this enterprise.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1968 The Literary Executors of F. Waismann, and R. Harré
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Waismann, F. (1968). The Decline and Fall of Causality. In: Harré, R. (eds) How I See Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00102-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00102-6_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-00104-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-00102-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Religion & Philosophy CollectionPhilosophy and Religion (R0)