Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This volume collects reflections on the role of philosophy in case studies in the history of science. Case studies have played a prominent role in recent history and philosophy of science. They have been used to illustrate, question, explore, or explicate philosophical points of view. Even if not explicitly so, historical narratives are always guided by philosophical background assumptions. But what happens if different philosophies lead to different narratives of the same historical episodes? Can historical case studies decide between competing philosophical viewpoints? What are the criteria that a case study has to fulfill in order to be philosophically relevant? Bringing together leading practitioners in the fields of history and philosophy of the physical and the life sciences, this volume addresses this methodological problem and proposes ways of rendering explicit philosophical assumptions of historical work.

Philosophy of science --- History as a science --- Science --- Philosophy and science --- History --- Historiography --- Philosophy --- Science - Historiography --- Science - Philosophy --- History. --- Philosophy and science. --- History of Science. --- Philosophy of Science.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This volume explores the interplay between mathematical and physical research and the interactions of twentieth-century scientists within their academic communities. Beginning with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the authors investigate a series of dramatic discoveries and rival theories in physics that influenced the development of modern differential geometry. Other sections recount the numerous methods, like the resurgence of Weyl geometry, used by geometers to solve the problems revealed by those same innovations in space-time physics. The effect of general relativity on astronomy is also addressed, namely how astronomers worked through new theories like inflationary cosmology and Phoenix models. By including recent historical research and coupling this work with many disciplines’ unique perspectives, this text provides a rich picture of general relativity and cosmology over the course of the twentieth century. The increased study on the documentation of Einstein’s early scientific work has clarified the history of science for that time and profoundly altered the way scientists view their own work, as this interdisciplinary volume demonstrates.

General relativity (Physics) --- Physics --- Mathematics --- History --- Mathematics. --- Philosophy and science. --- Differential geometry. --- History. --- Gravitation. --- Quantum physics. --- History of Mathematical Sciences. --- Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory. --- Quantum Physics. --- Differential Geometry. --- Philosophy of Science. --- Relativistic theory of gravitation --- Relativity theory, General --- Gravitation --- Relativity (Physics) --- Quantum theory. --- Global differential geometry. --- Science --- Philosophy. --- Normal science --- Philosophy of science --- Geometry, Differential --- Quantum dynamics --- Quantum mechanics --- Quantum physics --- Mechanics --- Thermodynamics --- Science and philosophy --- Differential geometry --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Math --- Field theory (Physics) --- Matter --- Antigravity --- Centrifugal force --- Properties --- Geometry, Differential. --- Classical and Quantum Gravity.