Lecture: “The Important Role of Philosophy in Physics” by Dr. Mehdi Golshani

In the past, philosophy itself encompassed all sciences, but in our time this is no longer the case. The mathematical, physical, biological sciences, etc., are no longer subsumed under philosophy.

In Greek philosophy, as I mentioned, all sciences are together. It is the same in Islamic philosophy; for example, you have Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi, who is both a mathematician and a philosopher. In our era, however, science faculties deal with philosophy antagonistically, and philosophy faculties pay no attention to the sciences, nor do they heed Bertrand Russell's warning that any philosophy that does not engage with the sciences is sterile. When we reach Newton's era, the same natural philosophy still prevails, but Newton made a claim, and his claim was that he does not feign hypotheses; that is, everything he says is rooted in experience, and he does not accept anything rooted in anything other than experience. And this story, of course, contradicts Newton's own work, as he made many hypotheses. For example, he hypothesized that the world is space and time, and matter is poured into it, whereas Einstein does not accept such a thing at all and says these came into being together.... And recently, a philosopher has shown to what a great extent Newton's work was based on metaphysical assumptions. General assumptions such as no effect exists without a cause, the universe is purposeful, etc. Newton could not present his science without metaphysical assumptions....

But why did philosophy separate from physics?

1) One of the reasons is philosophy's connection with religion, and due to the weakening of religion in Europe, metaphysics was consequently weakened as well.

2) Another reason is specialization.

3) The lack of expertise of later philosophers in biology, mathematics, and physics.

4) The remarkable success of physics in describing phenomena.

5) The prevalence of empiricist schools. (By empiricism, I mean that only things rooted in experience are meaningful to us.) The prevalence of these schools is the most important reason for the separation of philosophy from physics.

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Audio of "The Important Role of Philosophy in Physics" by Dr. Mehdi Golshani

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The Important Role of Philosophy in Physics

Dr. Mehdi Golshani

Location: Physics Scientific Association, University of Isfahan

Date: 27 September 2016

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