Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:21:18.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Counterfactual Histories: The Beginning of Quantum Physics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.
Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.*
Affiliation:
Bahia Federal University
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Inst. de Fisica, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40210–340. Salvador, BA, Brazil; email: cicadao@uol.com.br.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper presents a method for investigating counterfactual histories of science. A central notion to our theory of science are “advances” (ideas, data, etc.), which are units passed among scientists and which would be conserved in passing from one possible history to another. Advances are connected to each other by nets of causal influence, and we distinguish strong and weak influences. Around sixty types of advances are grouped into ten classes. As our case study, we examine the beginning of the Old Quantum Theory, using a computer to store and process historical information. We describe four plausible possible histories, along with six other implausible ones.

Type
History and Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue S3: No. 3 Supplement: Proceedings of the 2000 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 2001 , 2001 , pp. S519 - S530
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brush, Stephen G. (1976), The Kind of Motion We Call Heat: A history of the kinetic theory of gases in the 19th century. Amsterdam: North-Holland.Google Scholar
Feigl, Herbert (1970), “The ‘Orthodox’ View of Theories: Remarks in Defense as well as Critique”, in Radner, M. and Winokur, S. (eds.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. IV. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 3–16.Google Scholar
Hawthorn, Geoffrey (1991), Plausible Worlds: Possibility and understanding in history and the social sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hentschel, Klaus (1997), “The Interplay of Instrumentation, Experiment, and Theory: Patterns Emerging from Case Studies on Solar Redshift, 1890-1960”, Philosophy of Science 64 (Proceedings): S53–S64.10.1086/392586CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holton, Gerald, Chang, Hasok, and Jurkowitz, Edward (1996), “How a Scientific Discovery is Made: A Case History”, American Scientist 84: 364–375.Google Scholar
Hund, Friedrich (1966), “Paths to Quantum Theory Historically Viewed”, Physics Today 19(8): 23–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jammer, Max (1966), The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Laudan, Larry, Donovan, Arthur, Laudan, Rachel, Barker, Peter, Brown, Harold, Leplin, Jarrett, Thagard, Paul, and Wykstra, Steve (1986), “Scientific Change: Philosophical Models and Historical Research”, Synthese 69: 141–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, David (1973), “Causation”, Journal of Philosophy 70: 556–567.10.2307/2025310CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehra, Jagdish and Rechenberg, Helmut (1982), The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Vol. 1. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mott, Neville (1964), “On Teaching Quantum Phenomena”, Contemporary Physics 5: 401–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar