Doubt and certainty: the celebrated academy

By:

Rothman, Tony

Contributor(s):

Sudarshan, George [Co-author]

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Perseus Books 1998 MassachusettsDescription: xvi, 312 pISBN:

9780738200064

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

501 R6D6

Summary: When scientists and philosophers construct models to explain the phenomena and laws of nature, do those models simulate what's really out there in the world, or do they only represent the languages we use to describe the world? In this far-reaching, thought-provoking book, two world-class physicists from different worlds—one born and raised in the West, the other in the East—examines some of the most profound questions ever to be investigated by science.Against the background of one of the most imaginative settings ever devised for a science book—a fictional modern-day version of Plato's Academy—Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan, along with an eclectic assortment of students and academics, delve deep into modern physics and Eastern philosophy, and come up with startling insights on the structure of the physical world. To gain these insights, the Academy members must tackle questions such as, How much of the millennium synthesis of science and philosophy is meaningful and how much is pure nonsense? Which New Age trends are compatible with physics? Can we learn anything from parallels between physics and Eastern philosophy?The common thread that runs through the debates is the tension between the seemingly opposite, but really complementary, notions of doubt and certainty: doubt that certain fields of science really succeed in describing the world versus the rock-solid certainty in the predictions of theories like Newton's mechanics and Einstein's relativity.In these intriguing, often funny, sometimes violent, but always stimulating debates, Rothman and Sudarshan cover a wide range of subjects, including cosmology, quantum mechanics, theology, mathematics, complexity, synchronicity, and the past and future.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Book	Ahmedabad General Stacks	Non-fiction	501 R6D6 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		197525

Total holds: 0

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Previous	501 K8 Kuhn's structure of scientific revolutions at fifty: reflections on a science classic	501 K8S8 Structure of scientific revolutions	501 O5P4 Philosophy of science: a very short introduction	501 R6D6 Doubt and certainty: the celebrated academy	501 S9S2 Scientific change: historical studies in the intellectual, social, and technical conditions for scientific discovery and technical invention, from antiquity to the present	501.8 A5S2 Science: its method and outlook: a selection from the writings of Bacon, Descartes, wells	501.8 L2S2 Scientific approach, basic principles of the scientific method	Next

Table of Contents:

Preface: Knowledge and Wisdom
1. Is The Universe Describable? Laws, Principles, Theories and Models
2. Is Nature Unreasonably Mathematical? Mathematics, Theories and Reality
3. Is the World Symmetrical? Friezes, Particles and Groups
4. Why Do Things Happen? Causality, Synchronicity and All That
5. Does Time Go Forward? Past and Future
6. Why Is There Left and Right? Chirality, Complexity and Emergent Properties
7. Is the Universe Weird? Quantum Mechanics
8. Is There an Answer? Theories of Everything
9. How Did We Get Here? Cosmology
10. What Do You Mean? Metaphors, Analogies, Culture Wars
Can We Make Any Money Off This? Applied Quantum Mechanics.

When scientists and philosophers construct models to explain the phenomena and laws of nature, do those models simulate what's really out there in the world, or do they only represent the languages we use to describe the world? In this far-reaching, thought-provoking book, two world-class physicists from different worlds—one born and raised in the West, the other in the East—examines some of the most profound questions ever to be investigated by science.Against the background of one of the most imaginative settings ever devised for a science book—a fictional modern-day version of Plato's Academy—Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan, along with an eclectic assortment of students and academics, delve deep into modern physics and Eastern philosophy, and come up with startling insights on the structure of the physical world. To gain these insights, the Academy members must tackle questions such as, How much of the millennium synthesis of science and philosophy is meaningful and how much is pure nonsense? Which New Age trends are compatible with physics? Can we learn anything from parallels between physics and Eastern philosophy?The common thread that runs through the debates is the tension between the seemingly opposite, but really complementary, notions of doubt and certainty: doubt that certain fields of science really succeed in describing the world versus the rock-solid certainty in the predictions of theories like Newton's mechanics and Einstein's relativity.In these intriguing, often funny, sometimes violent, but always stimulating debates, Rothman and Sudarshan cover a wide range of subjects, including cosmology, quantum mechanics, theology, mathematics, complexity, synchronicity, and the past and future.

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