The Analysis of Matter is the product of thirty years of thinking by one of the twentieth century's best-known philosophers. An inquiry into the philosophical foundations of physics, it was written against the background of stunning new developments in physics earlier in the century, above all relativity, as well as the excitement around quantum theory, which was just being developed. Concerned to place physics on a stable footing at a time of great theoretical change, Russell argues that the concept of matter itself can be replaced by a logical construction whose basic foundations are events. He is careful to point out that this does not prove that matter does not exist, but it does show that physicists can get on with their work without assuming that matter does exist. Russell argues that fundamental bits of ''matter'', such as electrons and protons, are simply groups of events connected in a certain way and their properties are all that are required for physics. This Routledge Classics edition includes the 1992 Introduction by John G. Slater.

The Analysis of Matter is the product of thirty years of thinking by one of the twentieth century's best-known philosophers. An inquiry into the philosophical foundations of physics, it was written against the background of stunning new developments in physics earlier in the century, above all relativity, as well as the excitement around quantum theory, which was just being developed.

Concerned to place physics on a stable footing at a time of great theoretical change, Russell argues that the concept of matter itself can be replaced by a logical construction whose basic foundations are events. He is careful to point out that this does not prove that matter does not exist, but it does show that physicists can get on with their work without assuming that matter does exist. Russell argues that fundamental bits of ''matter'', such as electrons and protons, are simply groups of events connected in a certain way and their properties are all that are required for physics.

This Routledge Classics edition includes the 1992 Introduction by John G. Slater.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Routledge Classics edition John G. Slater

Preface

1. The Nature of the Problem

Part 1: The Logical Analysis of Physics

2. Pre-Relativity Physics

3. Electrons and Protons

4. The Theory of Quanta

5. The Special Theory of Relativity

6. The General Theory of Relativity

7. The Method of Tensors

8. Geodesics

9. Invariants and Their Physical Interpretation

10. Weyl’s Theory

11. The Principle of Differential Laws

12. Measurement

13. Matter and Space

14. The Abstractness of Physics

Part 2: Physics and Perception

15. From Primitive Perception to Common Sense

16. From Common Sense to Physics

17. What is an Empirical Science

18. Our Knowledge of Particular Matters of Fact

19. Data, Inferences, Hypotheses, and Theories

20. The Causal Theory of Perception

21. Perception and Objectivity

22. The Belief in General Laws

23. Substance

24. Importance of Structure in Scientific Inference

25. Perception From the Standpoint of Physics

26. Non-Mental Analogues to Perception

Part 3: The Structure of the Physical World

27. Particulars and Events

28. The Construction of Points

29. Space-Time Order

30. Causal Lines

31. Extrinsic Causal Laws

32. Physical and Perceptual Space-Time

33. Periodicity and Qualitative Series

34. Types of Physical Occurrences

35. Causality and Interval

36. The Genesis of Space-Time

37. Physics and Neutral Monism

38. Summary and Conclusion.

Index