Article ID: CBB000930751

Mach and Hertz's Mechanics (2008)

unapi

vThe place of Heinrich Hertz's The principles of mechanics in the history of the philosophy of science is disputed. Here I critically assess positivist interpretations, concluding that they are inadequate. There is a group of commentators who seek to align Hertz with positivism, or with specific positivists such as Ernst Mach, who were enormously influential at the time. Max Jammer is prominent among this group, the most recent member of which is Joseph Kockelmans. I begin by discussing what Hertz and Mach had to say about one another, and I specify certain respects in which their views are indeed similar. I then go on to detail their differences, looking at Hertz's attitude to the atomic theory, to the mechanical world-view, to simplicity, to unobservables and metaphysics, and his objections to Newtonian forces. I conclude that the positivist interpretation of Hertz's mechanics significantly overplays its similarities to Mach's views. Keywords: Ernst Mach; Heinrich Hertz; Mechanics; Positivism; Atomism; Force; Metaphysics

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Description Reevaluates claims that Hertz's mechanics was aligned with Machean positivism.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000930751/

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Authors & Contributors
Blackmore, John T.
Gori, Pietro
Guidetti, Luca
Joshua Eisenthal
Brading, Katherine
Wolters, Gereon
Concepts
Physics
History of philosophy of science
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Mechanics
Forces
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
17th century
18th century
Places
Europe
United States
Hungary
Germany
Austro-hungary
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