The Philosophy of the Physicists

Abstract

It is a fact, generally accepted but still not sufficiently appreciated, that during the first half of our century the physicists, in connection with problems in their discipline, developed a philosophy of their own — some physicists only, of course, and not all in the same way. Nevertheless, the event is remarkable and deserves to be made the subject matter of a larger monograph. The modern physicist with Galileo as his prototype is inclined by nature to avoid philosophical questions, or at any rate to keep physics free of them. Therefore, whenever he violates this rule, there certainly must be good reasons for doing so. As is well known, for the movement under discussion the reasons were mainly the establishment of the special and general theory of relativity and, even more so, quantum theory. In the articles of Ch. II it is not so much these theories themselves but rather some consequences of their establishment that are selected for closer inspection: the clarification and securing of an appropriate concept of progress ([6] and [9]), Schrödinger’s reaction to the new physics ([7]), the endeavors of Einstein to obtain a physically justifiable understanding of reality ([8]) and incorporation of quantum theory into Planck’s idea of scientific realism ([10]).