Scientific thought: some underlying concepts, methods and procedures

258 Pages·2004·14.02 MB·English

by  Mostowski, Andrzej

Scientific thought,
’/
Some underlying concepts
methods
L
and procedures,
Mouton/U nesco
Paris The Hague
mcmlxxii
Scientific thought
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-79987
0 Unesco 1972, Place de Fontenoy, Paris
Printed in the Netherlands
Preface
‘Weh ave always found that whenever a postulated symmetry principle was
appearing to fail in natural phenomena, this must be due to some still
deeper symmetry,w ith which it must be in conflict. We may, at a given
time, fail to comprehend the aesthetics of nature. When, however, the full
and final picture emerges one has invariably found that the symmetries
this exhibits are profounder still.’
This extract from Professor Salam’s contribution to this book neatly
sums up the history and one of the purposes of science and philosophy.
There is always an ultimate beyond the ultimate: perhaps the ultimate will
at last be reached when man gets to infinity...
Moreover, science is many-sided,a nd each tends to regard it from the
standpoint of his own particular experience and interests. The Bronze
Age and the Iron Age, clearly, were named by technology. But, asked in
1886 whether the nineteenth century would be known as the century of
iron, of steam or of electricity, the eminent physicist Boltzmann had no
hesitation in declaring that it would be known as the century of Darwin.
The philosophers, on their side, have always tried to think beyond
science, and to provide a framework which invites the human mind to
think about science and, thereby, about itself. Aristotle’s categories
provided an early systematization which Kant, digesting new knowledge
acquired meantime in mathematics and many other disciplines, trans-
formed. Hegel attempted a synthesis in which all the partial and
contradictory philosophies of his predecessors would be contained and
transcended.. . one thing is certain: as thinkers, scientists and philosophers
continue to add their contributions, the sum of human knowledge
increases, and so, likewise, does the layman’s difficulty of keeping apace,
Not alone have there been tremendous developments in physics,
chemistry, biology and mathematics, but wholly new disciplines, such
as cybernetics, have appeared. Mass communication techniques have
VI Preface
transformed our concepts of information. Economic planning is the
rule in nearly all countries.T he moon and other planets are being explored.
But, according to the Chinese saying, there is always a first stepina
journey of ten thousand miles...
This book is a collection of articles by eminent scientists who were invited
by Unesco to explain ideas, methods or procedures which underlie many
of the extraordinary discoveries and developments of the twentieth
century. The views expressed are those of the authors, and not necessarily
those of Unesco. The articles are obviously not exhaustive, and in most
cases do not deal with other views that may be held on the same subject.
But each contains a bibliography so that readers specially interested in
any particular article can see where its subject matter can be studied in
greater detail.
In publishing this book, the Unesco Division of Philosophy believes
that readers will welcome it as a series of authoritative statements,
conveniently brought together between two covers, on diverse subjects
which have in common their immense importance in modern scientific
thought.
Contents
Preface V
Notes on the authors IX
1. ANDRZEJM OSTOWSKISe ts 1
2. JEAN PIAGET The concept of structure 35
3. MIHAJDL.O M ESAROVSyIstCe ms concepts 57
4. ABDUSSALAM Symmetry concepts and the
fundamental theory of matter 69
5. LADISLATVO NDL Sign 89
6. YEHOSHBUAAR -HILLELL anguage 107
7. SATOSIW ATANABE Information 129
8. HERBERSTTA CHOWIAK Models 145
9. STAFFORD BEER Management in cybernetic terms 167
10. ARNOLDK AUFMANN Concerning the notions of operation
and optimation 187
11. NICOLNA.I V OROBYEV Game theory 205
12. MARIOBUNGE Metatheory 227
Notes on the authors
YEHOSHUBAAR -HILLEBLo.r n Vienna 1915. Doctorate (1949) from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Research and teaching in the United
States (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; California and Ann
Arbor), Europe (Konstanz and Berlin), and Israel (teaching logic and the
philosophy of science at the Hebrew University).
Past President of the International Union of the History and Philosophy
of Science; member of the Israel Academy of Arts and Science.
Publications include: Language and information; Aspects of language:
essays in philosophy of language, linguistic philosophy and methodology of
linguistics; with A. A,F raenkel and A. Levy, Foundations of set theory.
STAFFORDB EER.V isiting Professor of Cybernetics at Manchester Univer-
sity, and of General Systems at the Open University, London. President
of the Society for General Systems Research, Washington; member of the
United Kingdom Automation Council. Consultant to government and
industry,a nd a regular broadcaster on radio and television.
Publications include: Cybernetics and management; Decision and control
(Wiley-Lanchester Prize); Managenient science; Brain of the $rm;
P1ntfor.mf or change (in press).
MARIEOU NGE.B orn Buenos Aires 1919. Doctorate in theoretical physics.
Research in atomic and nuclear physics. Has taught physics and
philosophy in Argentina and the United States. Now Professor of
Philosophy and Head of the Foundations and Philosophy of Science Unit,
McGill university, Montreal.
Publications include: Causality; Metascientijic queries; Cineincitica del
electrón relativista; Intuition and science; The myth of simplicity; Foun-
dations of physics; Scientijic research.
x Notes on the authors
ARNOLDK AUFMANN. Professor at the Institut National Polytechnique
of Grenoble, France. Has taught at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Mines, Paris, and at the Ecole de l'Air, Salon-de-Provence.C onsultant
on various Unesco projects.
Publications include: Les cadres et la révolution informatique (Centi
Prize, 1970); Des sous-hommes et des super-machines (with J. Pèze);
L'inventique - nouvelles méthodes de créativité (with M. Fustier and
A. Drevet); Mathématiques nouvelles pour le recyclage des parents (with
G.C ullmann); Introduction à la combinatorïque; L'homme d'action et la
science; Introduction à la théorie des sous-ensemblesf lous.
MIHAJLDO. MESAROVPIroCfe.ss or of Engineering and Director of
Systems Research Center at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio, United States. Continuing to work on the mathematical theory
of general systems and the application of the multi-level, hierarchical
approach in environmental and socio-economic problems (in particular
in the 'Predicament of Mankind' project of the Club of Rome,o f which he
is a member).
Publications include: Theory of multilevel hierarchical systems (with
D. Macko and Y. Takahara); Foundations foi a mathematical general
systems theory (with Y. Takahara); Systems approach and the city (ed.,
with A. Reisman); Theory of non-numerical problem solving (ed., with
R. Banerji); Systems theory and biology (ed.).
ANDRZEMJ OSTOWSTKeIac.he s mathematics, logic and foundations of
mathematics at Warsaw University (since 1946). Now engaged in
research on models of extended systems of set theory and of systems of
arithmetic.
Publications include : Constructible sets, with applications.
JEAN PIAGETB.o rn Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1896. Taught at Universities
of Neuchâtel, Lausanne and Geneva,i n Switzerland,a nd at the Sorbonne.
Pioneer of research on child psychology. Former Director of the Inter-
national Bureau of Education, in Geneva,a nd various research agencies.
Honorary doctorates from various European and American universities
including Harvard, Yale and the Sorbonne. Recipient of several prizes
including the American Psychological Association Prize (1969).
Publications include: Mémoire et intelligence (with H. Sinclair-de
Notes on the authors XI
Zwaart); Le structuralisme; L’épistémologie génétique; Psychologie
et épistémologie.C ontributed Introduction and chapter on Psychology to
Main trends of research in the social and human sciences (Unesco, 1970).
ABDUSS ALAM. Director of the International Centre for Theoretical
Physics, Trieste, Italy. Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Imperial
College of Science and Technology, London. Specialist in particle
physics and gravitation theory.
Publications include contributions on the following subjects: Theory
of groups and the symmetry physicist (London Mathematical Society);
The role of symmetry physics; Weak and electromagnetic interactions
(Nobel Symposium 8); Fundamental theory of matter: a survey of results
and methods; Gravitational ward identities (with J. Strathdee); Com-
putation of renormalization constants; Finite field theories (Rochester
Conference).
HERBERSTTA CHOWIAK.P rofessor of the Philosophy of Science, Free
University of Berlin.
Publications include: Denken und Erkennen im kybernetischen Modell;
Rationalismus im Ursprúng. Die Genesis des axiomatischen Denkens.
Editor of ‘Cybernetics’ paperback series. Co-editor of Schriften zur
wissenschaftlichen Weltorientierung (vols. I-VII); Lexikon der kyberne-
tischen Pädagogik; Teoréma (Universidad de Valencia); Grundlagenstu-
dien aus Kybernetik und Geisteswissenschaft.
LADISLTAOVN DL. Born 1924. Research and teaching at the Czechoslovak
Academy of Sciences on the methodology of science, and logical seman-
tics.
Publications include: Methodology of experimental sciences: Con-
temporary western philosophy; Problems of semantics; Man and science;
Scientijïc procedures.
NICOLNA.I V OROBYEV. Born 1925. Doctorate (1961) in Physics and
Mathematics. Professor of Theoretical Cybernetics; Chairman of the
Department of Operations Research, Central Institute for Economics
and Mathematics (Leningrad Branch) of the USSR Academy of Sciences;
Professor at the Leningrad State University. Specialist in game theory.
Publications include articles on coalitional games, extrema1 algebra
XII Notes on the authors
of positive matrices, modern state of the game theory; Fibonacci numbers;
Theory of series; Developinent of game theory (all in Russian); Grundlagen
der Spieltheorie und ihre praktische Bedeutung; Grundfragen der Spiel-
theorie und ihre praktische Bedeutung.
SATOSIW ATANABBoErn. 1910. Doctorates from the Sorbonne and
Tokyo Universities. Taught philosophy, electrical engineering, physics
and information sciences at various universities including Hawaii,
Fordham, Yale, Columbia and Tokyo. President of the International
Society for the Study of Time;m ember of the International Academy of
the Philosophy of Science.
-
Publications include: Knowing and guessing a quantitative study;
Methodologies of pattern recognition (editor); Frontiers of pattern
recognition (editor).