[Phys-L] Re: metaphysics

[scerri at CHEM.UCLA.EDU (Eric Scerri)]

Why concentrate just on physics?

Does a chemist not say something like "the solution turned red because
we added acid"

Does the biologist not say "the organism died because its heart stopped
beating"

Where does physics stop and all the other sciences begin?

Either there are causes in nature or there are not.


I repeat what I said earlier,  our way of speaking or putting questions
is the less interesting part of this question.  It is whether objective
causes actually exist in nature.




eric scerri


---------------------------------------------------


On Friday, December 10, 2004, at 08:54  AM, Bob Sciamanda wrote:

> I think that in our physics, "causality" is a construct which we
> invent as
> an underlying context inherent in our models, in order to organize our
> thoughts in our own human way.
>
> In asserting  F = ma, we invent the concept of particle interaction
> (quantified as a vector "force") as the cause of accelerations.
>
> But in an application such as GMm/r^2 =ma,  do I assert that the left
> hand
> side is the "cause" of the right hand side?  I think not.  The cause
> is the
> interaction (force), a mental construct of my model.
>
> Bob Sciamanda
> Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (Em)
> http://www.winbeam.com/~trebor/
> trebor@winbeam.com
>
>
>
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Dr. Eric Scerri,
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry,
UCLA,
Los Angeles,
CA 90095- 1569

E-mail scerri@chem.ucla.edu

Tel: 310 206 7443

Web Page:  http://www.chem.ucla.edu/dept/Faculty/scerri/

Editor of Foundations of Chemistry,
http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/1386-4238

Also see International Society for the Philosophy of Chemistry
http://www.georgetown.edu/earleyj/ISPC.html