Last Modified: 2010 March 4
Charlie Torres / charlie@phys.utb.edu
The Relationship Between Physics and Philosophy
Prof. Victor Rodriguez, Center for the Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh and Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
The relationship between philosophy and physics can be analyzed in different contexts and under diverse perspectives. The interaction between both disciplines is very old, but this talk will focus on some aspects of the exchange that has taken place during the XX Century In particular, the role of philosophically oriented history of science and the incidence of both disciplines in the teaching of physics and philosophy will be taken into account.
A point that will be presented for discussion is the way scientists, and specially physicists construct images of the world. On the other side, we will pose the question of why philosophers have such a deep dependence on the function of technical languages and of the linguistic constraints of scientific theories. In order to illustrates the main arguments, some examples coming from contemporary physics will be commented.