Article ID: CBB054306641

The Boussinesq Debate: Reversibility, Instability, and Free Will (2015)

unapi

In 1877, a young mathematician named Joseph Boussinesq presented a mémoire to the Académie des sciences which demonstrated that some differential equations may have more than one solution. Boussinesq linked this fact to indeterminism and to a possible solution to the free will versus determinism debate. Boussinesq's main interest was to reconcile his philosophical and religious views with science by showing that matter and motion do not suffice to explain all there is in the world. His argument received mixed criticism that addressed both his philosophical views and the scientific content of his work, pointing to the physical “realisticness” of multiple solutions. While Boussinesq proved to be able to face the philosophical criticism, the scientific objections became a serious problem, thus slowly moving the focus of the debate from the philosophical plane to the scientific one. This change of perspective implied a wide discussion on topics such as instability, the sensitivity to initial conditions, and the conservation of energy. The Boussinesq debate is an example of a philosophically motivated debate that transforms into a scientific one, an example of the influence of philosophy on the development of science.

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Authors & Contributors
White, Paul
Xie, Wenyu
Strien, Marij van
Smith, Roger C.
Miert, Dirk van
Lines, David A.
Concepts
Science and religion
Controversies and disputes
Philosophy
Mathematics
Determinism
Societies; institutions; academies
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century, late
17th century
Early modern
Enlightenment
Places
France
Great Britain
Bahia (Brazil)
Florence (Italy)
United States
Netherlands
Institutions
Académie des Sciences, Paris
Universidade da Bahia
Royal Society of London
Jardin du roi (France)
Jesuits (Society of Jesus)
Académie Royale de Chirurgie de Paris
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