Experiment and metaphysics : towards a resolution of the cosmological antinomies

178 Pages·2001·4.276 MB·English

by  Edgar Wind, Cyril Edwards, Matthew Rampley

GRAD
BD
113
. W763
2001
Experiment and
Metaphysics
Towards a Resolution of the
Cosmological Antinomies
Edgar Wind
LEGENDA
European Humanities Research Centre
I ini\/i»rcif\r ( ^vfnrn . .
E xperiment and M etaphysics
T owards a R esolution of the C osmological A ntinomies
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Professor Ritchie Robertson, St John s College (German)
Professor Lesley Sharpe, University of Bristol (German)
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LEGENDA
European H um anities R esearch C en tre
University of Oxford
Publication of this volume marks the opening in Summer 2001
of the Wind Room of the new Sackler Library in the University
of Oxford. The room is named in honour of Edgar Wind,
the University’s first Professor of the History of Art (195 5-67).
This handsome room, reminiscent of a Renaissance studiolo, will
house books from Professor Wind’s personal library and a
selection he bought for the library of the Department of the
History of Art during his tenure. The arrangement of his
collection was influenced by the classification of the Warburg
Institute, where Wind had spent many years, and follows it in
allowing primary texts in original editions to share shelf space
with modern editions and critical apparatus. The collection thus
constitutes a living bibliography and an outstanding resource in
the fields of iconology and iconography.
I share Lothario’s opinion: that the energy of all the arts and
sciences meets at one central point, and hope by the gods that I
can provide nourishment for your enthusiasm even from the
field of mathematics [...]. Another reason why I have given
physics the preference is because here the connection is at its
most visible. In physics you cannot conduct an experiment
without a hypothesis; every hypothesis, even the most limited,
if it is thought through systematically, leads to hypotheses
concerning the whole, and is indeed based upon these, even if
this is not realized by the person who employs it.
Friedrich Schlegel, Dialogue on Poetry
Edgar Wind
Experiment and Metaphysics
Towards a Resolution of the
Cosmological Antinomies
❖
E dgar W ind
4
T ranslated by C yril E dwards
Introduced by M atthew R ampley
/
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European Humanities Research Centre
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2001
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First published 2001
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CONTENTS
❖
Editorial Note xi
Introduction by Matthew Rampley xiii
Author's Preface I
PART ONE: THE THEORY OF THE EXPERIMENT
§ i. The Circle in Physical Inquiry 7
§ 2. The Elements of Measurement and the Meaning of the
Claim to Accuracy io
§ 3. Einsteins Concept o f‘Practical Geometry’ 13
§ 4. Poincaré s Principle o f‘Arbitrary Convention’ 16
§ 5. The Task of the Experiment 18
§ 6. Transformation and Embodiment 22
§ 7. The ‘Judgements of Appropriateness’ 29
§ 8. Real and Neutral Hypotheses 31
§ 9. The Cyclical Progression and its Methodological Foundations 33
§10. Metaphysics and Empirical Experience 38
§11. Transcendental Philosophy and Experimental Method 46
PART TWO: THE ‘EXPERIM ENTAL RED U CTIO N ’
OF THE COSM OLOGICAL ANTINOM IES
§12. The Empirical Criteria of Metaphysics 53
Chapter 1 : The Antinomy of the Concept of the World
§13. Clarification of the Question of the First Antinomy (Refutation
of Russell’s Objection) 61
§14. The Mathematical Antinomy of Euclidian Space 67
§15. The Physical Antinomy of the Newtonian System 69
§16. The Inevitability of the Newtonian Antinomy according to the
Doctrines of Kant 72
§17. Kant’s Interpretation of Absolute Space 74