RE: First collisions at the LHC with unprecedented Energy! (Ask a particle physisicist)
June 6, 2015 at 6:24 pm
(This post was last modified: June 6, 2015 at 6:30 pm by Alex K.)
What I say above is just my standard opinion which I have voiced many times IRL
Generally, I think that good philosophy of physics is important, because we do want more from our science than a black box of equations which reproduces certain experiments - because as David Deutsch rightly asks in "fabric of reality" (*), what would we have gained in understanding over someone who merely executes the experiment, if we did limit ourselves to such a concept of science as a predictive black box. We want more from our science - we want it to provide intuitions, explanations, we have a natural urge to see truth in our theories. To what extent we can have this and what it means, those are, in my opinion, questions of philosophy, not science, and questions one would not want to do without.
(*) I may be paraphrasing...
(June 6, 2015 at 1:48 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: I .do have a question: What would finish the sentence you started at the end of your post, which is quoted in full above?
Generally, I think that good philosophy of physics is important, because we do want more from our science than a black box of equations which reproduces certain experiments - because as David Deutsch rightly asks in "fabric of reality" (*), what would we have gained in understanding over someone who merely executes the experiment, if we did limit ourselves to such a concept of science as a predictive black box. We want more from our science - we want it to provide intuitions, explanations, we have a natural urge to see truth in our theories. To what extent we can have this and what it means, those are, in my opinion, questions of philosophy, not science, and questions one would not want to do without.
(*) I may be paraphrasing...
