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  1.  79
    Understanding Space-Time: The Philosophical Development of Physics From Newton to Einstein.Robert DiSalle - 2006 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
    Presenting the history of space-time physics, from Newton to Einstein, as a philosophical development DiSalle reflects our increasing understanding of the connections between ideas of space and time and our physical knowledge. He suggests that philosophy's greatest impact on physics has come about, less by the influence of philosophical hypotheses, than by the philosophical analysis of concepts of space, time and motion, and the roles they play in our assumptions about physical objects and physical measurements. This way of thinking leads (...)
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  2. Space and Time: Inertial Frames.Robert DiSalle - unknown
    A “frame of reference” is a standard relative to which motion and rest may be measured; any set of points or objects that are at rest relative to one another enables us, in principle, to describe the relative motions of bodies. A frame of reference is therefore a purely kinematical device, for the geometrical description of motion without regard to the masses or forces involved. A dynamical account of motion leads to the idea of an “inertial frame,” or a reference (...)
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  3. On dynamics, indiscernibility, and spacetime ontology.Robert Disalle - 1994 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (1):265-287.
  4. Newton's philosophical analysis of space and time.Robert DiSalle - 2002 - In I. Bernard Cohen & George E. Smith (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Newton. Cambridge University Press. pp. 33--56.
  5. Spacetime theory as physical geometry.Robert Disalle - 1995 - Erkenntnis 42 (3):317-337.
    Discussions of the metaphysical status of spacetime assume that a spacetime theory offers a causal explanation of phenomena of relative motion, and that the fundamental philosophical question is whether the inference to that explanation is warranted. I argue that those assumptions are mistaken, because they ignore the essential character of spacetime theory as a kind of physical geometry. As such, a spacetime theory does notcausally explain phenomena of motion, but uses them to construct physicaldefinitions of basic geometrical structures by coordinating (...)
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  6.  43
    Absolute space and Newton's theory of relativity.Robert DiSalle - 2020 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 71:232-244.
  7. Reconsidering Kant, Friedman, logical positivism, and the exact sciences.Robert DiSalle - 2002 - Philosophy of Science 69 (2):191-211.
    This essay considers the nature of conceptual frameworks in science, and suggests a reconsideration of the role played by philosophy in radical conceptual change. On Kuhn's view of conceptual conflict, the scientist's appeal to philosophical principles is an obvious symptom of incommensurability; philosophical preferences are merely “subjective factors” that play a part in the “necessarily circular” arguments that scientists offer for their own conceptual commitments. Recent work by Friedman has persuasively challenged this view, revealing the roles that philosophical concerns have (...)
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  8. (1 other version)Conventionalism and Modern Physics: A Re‐Assessment.Robert Disalle - 2002 - Noûs 36 (2):169–200.
  9. Helmholtz’s empiricist philosophy of mathematics: Between laws of perception and laws of nature.Robert DiSalle - 1993 - In David Cahan (ed.), Hermann Von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science. University of California Press. pp. 498--521.
     
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  10. The transcendental method from Newton to Kant.Robert DiSalle - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 44 (3):448-456.
  11.  55
    (1 other version)Conventionalism and the Origins of the Inertial Frame Concept.Robert DiSalle - 1990 - PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990:139 - 147.
    This paper examines methodological issues that arose in the course of the development of the inertial frame concept in classical mechanics. In particular it examines the origins and motivations of the view that the equivalence of inertial frames leads to a kind of conventionalism. It begins by comparing the independent versions of the idea found in J. Thomson (1884) and L. Lange (1885); it then compares Lange's conventionalist claims with traditional geometrical conventionalism. It concludes by examining some implications for contemporary (...)
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  12.  34
    Reconsidering Ernst Mach on space, time, and motion.Robert DiSalle - 2002 - In David B. Malament (ed.), Reading Natural Philosophy: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics. Open Court. pp. 167--191.
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  13. Synthesis, the synthetic a priori, and the origins of modern space-time theory.Robert DiSalle - 2010 - In Michael Friedman, Mary Domski & Michael Dickson (eds.), Discourse on a New Method: Reinvigorating the Marriage of History and Philosophy of Science. Open Court.
  14.  30
    Mach I, Mach II, Einstein, und Die Relativitätstheorie. Eine Fälschung und Ihre Folgen. Gereon Wolter.Robert Disalle - 1990 - Philosophy of Science 57 (4):712-723.
    Historians of relativity theory have puzzled over the fact that, while Einstein regarded Ernst Mach as his chief philosophical mentor, Mach himself publicly rejected relativity in the preface to Die Prinzipien der physikalischen Optik. This work was first published by Mach's son Ludwig in 1921, five years after Mach's death, but the preface is dated “July 1913”, when Einstein was working on general relativity and believing not only that he had Mach's “friendly interest” and support, but also that his project (...)
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  15. Einstein, Newton and the empirical foundations of space time geometry.Robert DiSalle - 1992 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 6 (3):181 – 189.
    Abstract Einstein intended the general theory of relativity to be a generalization of the relativity of motion and, therefore, a radical departure from previous spacetime theories. It has since become clear, however, that this intention was not fulfilled. I try to explain Einstein's misunderstanding on this point as a misunderstanding of the role that spacetime plays in physics. According to Einstein, earlier spacetime theories introduced spacetime as the unobservable cause of observable relative motions and, in particular, as the cause of (...)
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  16. The “essential properties” of matter, space, and time.Robert DiSalle - 1990 - In Phillip Bricker & R. I. G. Hughes (eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on Newtonian Science. MIT Press.
     
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  17.  41
    Carl Gottfried Neumann.Robert Disalle - 1993 - Science in Context 6 (1):345-353.
    The ArgumentCarl Gottfried Neumann was born in Königsberg, Prussia, in 1832 and died in Leipzig in 1925. His father was the physicist Franz Neumann, notable for his contributions not only to the study of electricity and magnetism but also to the development of physics education in nineteenth-century Germany. Carl Neumann studied at the University of Königsberg and received his doctorate in 1855 with a work on the application of elliptic integrals to mechanics. In 1858 he became Privatdozent, and in 1863 (...)
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  18.  17
    Newton on the Relativity of Motion and the Method of Mathematical Physics.Robert DiSalle - 2023 - In Marius Stan & Christopher Smeenk (eds.), Theory, Evidence, Data: Themes from George E. Smith. Springer. pp. 43-64.
    The work of George Smith has illuminated how Newton’s scientific method, and its use in constructing the theory of universal gravitation, introduced an entirely new sense of what it means for a theory to be supported by evidence. This new sense goes far beyond Newton’s well known dissatisfaction with hypothetico-deductive confirmation, and his preference for conclusions that are derived from empirical premises by means of mathematical laws of motion. It was a sense of empirical success that George was especially well (...)
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  19. Inferences from phenomena in gravitational physics.William Harper & Robert Disalle - 1996 - Philosophy of Science 63 (3):54.
    Newton's methodology emphasized propositions "inferred from phenomena." These rest on systematic dependencies that make phenomena measure theoretical parameters. We consider the inferences supporting Newton's inductive argument that gravitation is proportional to inertial mass. We argue that the support provided by these systematic dependencies is much stronger than that provided by bootstrap confirmation; this kind of support thus avoids some of the major objections against bootstrapping. Finally we examine how contemporary testing of equivalence principles exemplifies this Newtonian methodological theme.
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  20.  13
    Poincaré, Philosopher of Science: Problems and Perspectives.María de Paz & Robert DiSalle (eds.) - 2014 - Dordrecht: Imprint: Springer.
    This volume presents a selection of papers from the Poincaré Project of the Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, bringing together an international group of scholars with new assessments of Henri Poincaré's philosophy of science-both its historical impact on the foundations of science and mathematics, and its relevance to contemporary philosophical inquiry. The work of Poincaré (1854-1912) extends over many fields within mathematics and mathematical physics. But his scientific work was inseparable from his groundbreaking philosophical reflections, and (...)
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  21.  27
    Einstein's Revolution: A Study in Heuristic. Elie Zahar.Robert Disalle - 1990 - Isis 81 (4):809-810.
  22.  31
    Kant and the Exact SciencesMichael Friedman.Robert Disalle - 1994 - Isis 85 (1):159-160.
  23.  99
    Review. Philosophical concepts in physics: The historical relation between philosophy and scientific theories. JT Cushing.Robert DiSalle - 1999 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 50 (4):747-759.
  24.  21
    Analysis and Interpretation in the Exact Sciences: Essays in Honour of William Demopoulos.Melanie Frappier, Derek Brown & Robert DiSalle (eds.) - 2011 - Dordrecht and London: Springer.
    The essays in this volume concern the points of intersection between analytic philosophy and the philosophy of the exact sciences. More precisely, it concern connections between knowledge in mathematics and the exact sciences, on the one hand, and the conceptual foundations of knowledge in general. Its guiding idea is that, in contemporary philosophy of science, there are profound problems of theoretical interpretation-- problems that transcend both the methodological concerns of general philosophy of science, and the technical concerns of philosophers of (...)
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  25.  53
    (1 other version)Philosophy and Spacetime Physics. Lawrence Sklar. [REVIEW]Robert DiSalle - 1989 - Philosophy of Science 56 (4):714-717.