Article ID: CBB616528133

Nature, Knowledge, and Scientific Theories in G. C. Lichtenberg’s Reflections on Physics (2016)

unapi

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) is perhaps best known for his aphoristic writings collected in his Sudelbücher (Waste Books) and his critique of the substantial view of the self in which he argues that we should say “it thinks,” that is, “thinking is happening” rather than “I think.” However, Lichtenberg also reflects in the Waste Books and his lectures on physics on a wide range of issues in epistemology and metaphysics concerning realism and idealism that inform his thoughts on the natural sciences. In this paper, I argue that Lichtenberg rejects epistemological realism in favor of idealism and that he focuses on the heuristic and explanatory value of scientific theories rather than their ability to depict nature accurately as it is independent of our minds. I show how his reflections on idealism and the uses of scientific theories also inform his positions on natural laws, causation, induction, and debates between atomists and dynamists about the nature of matter and the cause of gravity.

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Authors & Contributors
Massimiliano Sassoli de Bianchi
Veloz, Tomas
Radin Dardashti
Schneider, Mike D.
Clark, William
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen
Concepts
Physics
Explanation; hypotheses; theories
Philosophy of science
Natural philosophy
Theories of knowledge
Epistemology
Time Periods
20th century
17th century
18th century
19th century
Ancient
21st century
Places
Germany
Greece
Institutions
Universität Göttingen
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