Scientific Philosophy PDF
Preview Scientific Philosophy
Gustavo E. Romero Scientifi c Philosophy Scientific Philosophy Gustavo E. Romero Scientific Philosophy 123 GustavoE.Romero InstitutoArgentinodeRadioastronomía VillaElisa,BuenosAires,Argentina ISBN978-3-319-97630-3 ISBN978-3-319-97631-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97631-0 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018954655 ©SpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2018 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof thematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation, broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology nowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbook arebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictional claimsinpublishedmapsandinstitutionalaffiliations. ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbytheregisteredcompanySpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:Gewerbestrasse11,6330Cham,Switzerland Themachineryoftheworldis fartoo complexforthesimplicityofmen. —JorgeLuis Borges Goas farasyou can see;when youget there, you’llbeableto seefurther. —ThomasCarlyle To Blumina,again. Foreword So far as I know,this is the onlybooktitled ScientificPhilosophypublishedsince Reichenbach’s dated and forgotten work of 1961. Moreover, although Romero’s workbelongsinthemovementinitiatedinthe1920sbytheViennaCircle,itdeparts radicallyfromtheempiricisttradition,ifonlybecauseittakesmetaphysicsseriously tothepointofseekingtoupdateitinthelightofcurrentscience. Thisbookiscontroversial,becauseitcriticizesanumberofsacredcows,suchas thebeliefsthatsciencehasnophilosophicalpresuppositions,thatspaceandtimeare immaterial,thatmatterdoesnotmatter,andthatvaluesarenotofthisworld.Butno onecandoubtthattheauthorhasstrivedtooffergoodreasonsforhisheterodoxies andthathisproseiscrystalcleartoanyonewhobotherstounderstandhistechnical terms. Surely, the readers of Romero’s sober and calm didactic prose may miss the ironiesof Bertrand Russell’s. But then, the mentor of a groupof twenty or so explorersofwhitedwarfs,blackholes,andcosmicraysandthe likefindsnotime towasteonacloudofgnatsintentonsnuffingoutthefewcandlesthatilluminethe darkrecessesofthelongpostmodernistcavewherewehavebeenabandoned. The most obvious criticism of this work is that it identifies science with contemporary physics, whence it neglects some of the classical philosophical conundrums,suchasthenatureofmindandtheindividualist-holismdilemmathat hasplaguedsocialscience.Thesaidcollapseof“science”onto“physics”alsoleads to underratingor even ignoringthe views that to philosophizeis to search for the goodlife,thatjusticeisbothdefinableandattainable,thatobjectivitydoesnotentail impartiality,andthatgoodphilosophyisouronlydefenseagainstbadscienceand eviltechnology.Adifferenttitle,suchas“Thephilosophicalrootsofscience,”might bemorefaithful,butitmightalsodeterthosewhofeartheintrusionofsuperstition. Romero’s search for objectivity and testability endangers the vast edifice of bayesianism,ortheinterpretationofprobabilityasdegreeofbeliefratherthanasthe measureofrealpossibility.Buttheenemyofarbitrarinessandthereaderinsearch of intellectual stimulation is likely to welcome such attacks on the philosophical industriesoftheday. Insum,letusread,discuss,andtrytooutdothisrecentvindicationandupdateof Aristotle’s conceptionof scientific philosophy,or philosophicalscience, as both a vii viii Foreword toolandanidealofthosewhosearchforthetruthinsideoroutsidethenine-to-five cage. DepartmentofPhilosophy MarioBunge,FRSC McGillUniversity Montreal,QC,Canada Preface This book is the result of my long engagement with philosophy as a research scientist. During the three decades I have pondered about many of the major philosophicalproblemsposedbyphysics,Ihavesoughtforreasonablearticulations ofthewideworldviewimpliedbyourbestcurrentscientifictheories,Ihavereflected uponthenatureofthescientificenterprise,andIhavedespairedoftheworkofmany professionalphilosophers.Philosophyhasbecame,atleastinmostoftheEnglish- speaking world, a sophisticated and highly technical activity. This technicality, unfortunately, many times serves no major purpose since the topics dealt with are completely at odds with science. It seems to me that the image of the world manyphilosophersadoptisthatofthecommonsenseandeverydayintuitions.The physicaldepictionoftheworldonwhichmuchofthecurrentphilosophicaldebateis basedismorelikethatoftheGreekatomistsorthatpresentedinLucretius’sRerum Natura than that of contemporary physics. This is very regrettable since current scienceis in desperateneedof philosophicalworkto clarifytheultimate meaning of its theories and to yield a coherent view of the world. It is not surprising that many scientists, when they learn that academic philosophersdevote long articles, intricatearguments,andevenlengthytreatisestoconcludethingssuchasthatthey donotexistorthattherearenophysicalobjectsotherthanpeopleandatoms,give up philosophyaltogether. And this is regrettablebecause then some of those very same scientists feel the need to express some philosophical implications of their work...andendarticulatingabsurditiessuchasthattheuniverseisamathematical structureorthatthecomputervirusesareaformoflife.Inthemeanwhile,themain loserisourcivilization,whichdependscriticallyonasciencewhosedeepmeaning ismostlyignored. Thisbookisareactiontosuchastateofaffairs.Asaworkingscientist,Iknow well the advantages of some philosophical instruction as well as the perils of an open anti-philosophical stance. Some philosophical insight helps the scientist to graspbetterthefullmeaningofconceptssuchasthoseof“law,”“theory,”“model,” “truth,” “relevancy,” “property,” “existence,” “space,” “state,” “time,” “chance,” “probability,”andmanyothersthatareusedineverydayresearch.Ascientistwho understandswhatheorsheisdoingcanallegedlydoabetterwork.Ascientist,on ix x Preface theotherhand,whodespisesphilosophyisatriskoffallinginadvertentlyintosome badorobsoletephilosophythatmighthinderfurtherresearch. Thisworkpresentsaclearandstraightviewofthemainphilosophicalissuesthat inmyopinionarerelevanttoscientists.Ofcourse,somephilosopherswilldisagree with my views. I have tried to stay as close as possible to the standard scientific imageinordertopresentelucidationsofthemainconceptsofphilosophicalimpor- tancethatappearinthespecialsciences.Theoverallapproachisepistemologically realisticandontologicallymaterialistic(manywouldprefertheword“naturalistic”). The text emergedfrom lectures on scientific philosophyaddressed to scientists at the Universities of La Plata, San Martín, Mexico, Karlsruhe, and Barcelona. The bookcanbeusedasatextbookforashort(onesemester)graduatecourseforeither scientistsandphilosopherswithsomebackgroundinscience.Thosegeneralreaders whoareconcernedwithphilosophybutaretiredofreadingincomprehensiblejargon andwildspeculationswillfindhere,Ihope,somestimulatinganddirectmaterial. Thefirstpartofthebookprovidesanexpositionofthemaintopicsofscientific philosophy:semantics, ontology,epistemology,ethics, and aesthetics. The second partofthebookpresentssomeapplicationsofthescientificmethodinphilosophy. I focus on three major problems: the nature of mathematics, the interpretation of quantummechanics,andtheontologyofspace-time.Alongwithseveralproblems inthe neurosciences,Ithinkthatthese arethe moreurgentphilosophicalissuesin currentscientificresearch.Unavoidably,thesechaptersaremoredemandingforthe reader. For this reason, I include in them more references and more introductory material.Ihopetheywillstimulatesomereaderstopursuefurtherresearchonsuch subjects. Sitges,Catalonia,Spain GustavoE.Romero 11January2018 Acknowledgments IammostgratefultoMarioBungeforinspiration,guidance,andcriticalreviewsof myworkalongmanyyears.Hisfriendshiphasbeenoneofthejoysofmylife.Ihave nodoubtthathewoulddisapprovemanyofmyclaimsinthisbook.Nevertheless,at thesametime,Iamsurethathewouldbesatisfiedoftheoverallscientific-oriented spiritofthebook. Iwanttothankthemanystudentswhohavetakenmycoursesonphilosophical topics over the years at the universities of La Plata, San Martín, UNAM-Morelia, Karlsruhe (KIT), and Barcelona. Their questions and interest have shaped the materialof this book.I am also gratefulto my enthusiastic PhD students Luciano CombiandFedericoLópezArmengolformanydiscussionsonfoundationalissues.I havelearnedmanythingsfromconversationsonthetopicsofthisbookwithfriends andcolleagues.IwanttomentionSantiagoPerez-Bergliaffa,ValentiBosch-Ramon, Pablo Jacovkis, Janou Glaeser, Gerardo Primero, Nicolás Pérez, Matías Castro, Federico Aisenberg, Federico Langer, Carlos Romero, Silvio Sánchez Mújica, HéctorVucetich,SergioRivadeNeyra,NelsonPinto-Neto,FelipeTovarFalciano, Rafael González del Solar, and Javier López de Casenave. I also benefited from manycorrespondentsthroughthe Internet.GerardoPrimero,Nicolás Pérez, Pablo Jacovkis,and SergioRiva de Neyra madevaluableremarkson early draftsof this book.Isincerelythanktheircomments. Special thanks go to Daniela Pérez and my daughter Blumina Romero, for support,encouragement,andcriticalobservations. IalsoremaingratefultoPaulaBenagliaformanyyearsofsupport,comprehen- sion,andhelp.ThankyouPaula,foreverything. Some material presented in this book has been adapted from the articles listed below. I am very thankfulto the editors of the journals for permission to use this stuff. • Perez-Bergliaffa,S.E.,Romero,G.E.,andVucetich,H.1993,Axiomaticfounda- tionsofnonrelativisticQuantumMechanics:Arealistic approach,Int.J.Theor. Phys.,32,1507–1522. xi
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