Abstract
IN this work, Prof. Watson thinks aloud about some fundamental concepts and theories of modern physics. He uses for this purpose the analytical method favoured and practised by Dr. Wittgenstein, with the result that many questions, such as those of atomic mechanics and electricity, regarded mainly as mathematical or physical, resolve themselves into logical problems. There is no doubt that science does benefit from a systematic clarification of its language. But is it not going beyond this achievement to separate science entirely from philosophy? Language and symbols cannot go beyond themselves, so to speak, in representing the world of the physicist; but that should be no reason for denying value to what is represented. Such a value, of course, cannot be found within the restricted world of linguistic expression, especially in so far as it is applied to technically physical concepts. That is why Prof. Watson's conclusions from his discussion of the idea of substance (ch. v) seem to be beside the point. Nevertheless, the new ground broken in his book makes it a most useful contribution to the philosophy of Nature.
On Understanding Physics
Prof.
W. H.
Watson
By. Pp. xii + 146. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1938.) 7s. 6d. net.
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G., T. Philosophy. Nature 144, 196 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144196b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144196b0