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This book offers a new interpretation of Hermann von Helmholtz's
work on the epistemology of geometry. A detailed analysis of the
philosophical arguments of Helmholtz's Erhaltung der Kraft shows
that he took physical theories to be constrained by a regulative
ideal. They must render nature "completely comprehensible", which
implies that all physical magnitudes must be relations among
empirically given phenomena. This conviction eventually forced
Helmholtz to explain how geometry itself could be so construed.
Hyder shows how Helmholtz answered this question by drawing on the
theory of magnitudes developed in his research on the colour-space.
He argues against the dominant interpretation of Helmholtz's work
by suggesting that for the latter, it is less the inductive
character of geometry that makes it empirical, and rather the
regulative requirement that the system of natural science be
empirically closed.
This book offers a new interpretation of Hermann von Helmholtz's
work on the epistemology of geometry. A detailed analysis of the
philosophical arguments of Helmholtz's Erhaltung der Kraft shows
that he took physical theories to be constrained by a regulative
ideal. They must render nature "completely comprehensible", which
implies that all physical magnitudes must be relations among
empirically given phenomena. This conviction eventually forced
Helmholtz to explain how geometry itself could be so construed.
Hyder shows how Helmholtz answered this question by drawing on the
theory of magnitudes developed in his research on the colour-space.
He argues against the dominant interpretation of Helmholtz's work
by suggesting that for the latter, it is less the inductive
character of geometry that makes it empirical, and rather the
regulative requirement that the system of natural science be
empirically closed.
This book is a collection of essays on Husserl's "Crisis of
European Sciences" by leading philosophers of science and scholars
of Husserl. Published and ignored under the Nazi dictatorship,
Husserl's last work has never received the attention its author's
prominence demands. In the "Crisis," Husserl considers the gap that
has grown between the "life-world" of everyday human experience and
the world of mathematical science. He argues that the two have
become disconnected because we misunderstand our own scientific
past--we confuse mathematical idealities with concrete reality and
thereby undermine the validity of our immediate experience. The
philosopher's foundational work in the theory of intentionality is
relevant to contemporary discussions of "qualia," naive science,
and the fact-value distinction. The scholars included in this
volume consider Husserl's diagnosis of this "crisis" and his
proposed solution. Topics addressed include Husserl's late
philosophy, the relation between scientific and everyday objects
and "worlds," the history of Greek and Galilean science, the
philosophy of history, and Husserl's influence on Foucault.
This analysis of Wittgenstein's concept of a Spielraum, in which
the author approaches the Tractatus Logico-philosophicus both
systematically and from the perspective of the history of
philosophy and knowledge, opens up a new and important perspective
in Wittgenstein research. In establishing unexpected
cross-connections between physics, the theory of perception, and
logic, Hyder also makes a valuable contribution to the history of
19th century science. In particular, the links he establishes
between early sensory physiology and the logicism of Russell and
Frege yield a sharper and more plausible account of the notion of a
"space" of possible meanings than has hitherto been available in
the secondary literature. In showing this notion to be a formal
precursor to that of a language game, the study also provides
important pointers for the interpretation of Wittgenstein's late
work.
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