Gray, Jeremy (Author)
I am going to argue that one unfortunate problem with Wigner's paper is its pervasive vagueness, indicate some of the problems this vagueness causes, and then analyse the problem on largely historical grounds insofar as we can see what it is. I will conclude that the paper does not help with the questions of what it means for physics to have laws and how we can know them, and I shall argue on historical grounds that the effectiveness of mathematics in physics may be less unreasonable than Wigner suggested but still be a profitable matter for investigation.
...MoreDescription On a 1960 paper by Eugene Wigner on the relationship between mathematics and the physical sciences. Contents:
Article Lützen, Jesper (2011) The Physical Origin of Physically Useful Mathematics. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (pp. 229-243).
Article Suppes, Patrick (2011) Why the Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences Is Not Surprising. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (pp. 244-254).
Article Baker, Alan (2011) Explaining the Applicability of Mathematics in Science. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews (pp. 255-267).
Article
Gelfert, Axel;
(2013)
Applicability, Indispensability, and Underdetermination: Puzzling Over Wigner's “Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”
(/isis/citation/CBB001211973/)
Article
Quale, Andreas;
(2011)
On the Role of Mathematics in Physics
(/isis/citation/CBB001032754/)
Article
Jha, Stefania;
(2011)
Wigner's “Polanyian” Epistemology and the Measurement Problem: The Wigner--Polanyi Dialog on Tacit Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB001036135/)
Book
Kovács, László;
(2002)
Eugene P. Wigner and His Hungarian Teachers
(/isis/citation/CBB000641848/)
Book
Schuster, John;
(2013)
Descartes-Agonistes: Physico-Mathematics, Method and Corpuscular-Mechanism 1618--33
(/isis/citation/CBB001500367/)
Book
Omnès, Roland;
(2005)
Converging Realities: Toward a Common Philosophy of Physics and Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB000610304/)
Article
Wright, Aaron Sidney;
(2014)
The Advantages of Bringing Infinity to a Finite Place: Penrose Diagrams as Objects of Intuition
(/isis/citation/CBB001201044/)
Article
Josh Hunt;
(2021)
Interpreting the Wigner–Eckart Theorem
(/isis/citation/CBB259885124/)
Article
Pessoa, Osvaldo;
Freire, Olival, Jr.;
De Greiff, Alexis;
(2008)
The Tausk Controversy on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Physics, Philosophy, and Politics
(/isis/citation/CBB000932026/)
Book
Cao, Tian Yu;
(2010)
From Current Algebra to Quantum Chromodynamics: A Case for Structural Realism
(/isis/citation/CBB001421734/)
Article
Giovanni Battimelli;
Adele La Rana;
Paolo Rossi;
(2020)
Masters and students in Italian Physics between the 19th and 20th centuries: the Felici-Bartoli-Stracciati-Corbino case
(/isis/citation/CBB545240140/)
Book
Brown, James Robert;
(1991)
The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB001500158/)
Book
Balazs Hargittai;
István Hargittai;
(2015)
Wisdom of the Martians of Science: In Their Own Words with Commentaries
(/isis/citation/CBB739484002/)
Article
Davey, Kevin;
(2003)
Is Mathematical Rigor Necessary in Physics?
(/isis/citation/CBB000410734/)
Article
Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen;
Jesper Lützen;
(2015)
Interactions Between Mathematics and Physics: The History of the Concept of Function—Teaching with and About Nature of Mathematics
(/isis/citation/CBB766129464/)
Article
Smadja, Ivahn;
(2012)
Local Axioms in Disguise: Hilbert on Minkowski Diagrams
(/isis/citation/CBB001211483/)
Book
Shan Gao;
(2017)
The Meaning of the Wave Function: In Search of the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB078217999/)
Article
Jha, Stefania R.;
(2006)
Hungarian Studies in Lakatos' Philosophies of Mathematics and Science---Editor's Introduction
(/isis/citation/CBB000720082/)
Article
Dunlop, Katherine;
(2013)
Mathematical Method and Newtonian Science in the Philosophy of Christian Wolff
(/isis/citation/CBB001320268/)
Chapter
Huggett, Nick;
(2012)
What Did Newton Mean by “Absolute Motion”?
(/isis/citation/CBB001500345/)
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