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Mechanistic Images in Geometric Form - Heinrich Hertz's 'Principles of Mechanics' (Hardcover, New)
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Mechanistic Images in Geometric Form - Heinrich Hertz's 'Principles of Mechanics' (Hardcover, New)
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This book gives an analysis of Hertz's posthumously published
Principles of Mechanics in its philosophical, physical and
mathematical context. In a period of heated debates about the true
foundation of physical sciences, Hertz's book was conceived and
highly regarded as an original and rigorous foundation for a
mechanistic research program. Insisting that a law-like account of
nature would require hypothetical unobservables, Hertz viewed
physical theories as (mental) images of the world rather than the
true design behind the phenomena. This paved the way for the modern
conception of a model. Rejecting the concept of force as a coherent
basic notion of physics he built his mechanics on hidden masses
(the ether) and rigid connections, and formulated it as a new
differential geometric language. Recently many philosophers have
studied Hertz's image theory and historians of physics have
discussed his forceless mechanics. The present book shows how these
aspects, as well as the hitherto overlooked mathematical aspects,
form an integrated whole which is closely connected to the
mechanistic world view of the time and which is a natural
continuation of Hertz's earlier research on electromagnetism.
Therefore it is also a case study of the strong interactions
between philosophy, physics and mathematics. Moreover, the book
presents an analysis of the genesis of many of the central elements
of Hertz's mechanics based on his manuscripts and drafts. Hertz's
research program was cut short by the advent of relativity theory
but its image theory influenced many philosophers as well as some
physicists and mathematicians and its geometric form had a lasting
influence on advanced expositions of mechanics.
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