Re: [Phys-l] 2 +- 1 new sciences

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

But aren't you now deep into Philosophy of Science and arguing for the ONE 
TRUE philosophy/approach and indeed invoking Galileo's name as a founding 
father of the 'no causes' school?  [Sorry, I'm not really a student of 
Philosophy of Science so I don't know if there is a modern 'find the causes' 
school beyond Aristotle--but it would seem that many in the physics 
educational community would be in such a school.]

Rick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Denker" <jsd@av8n.com>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 10:56 AM
Subject: [Phys-l] 2 +- 1 new sciences


> The other day I quoted the following passage
>
> >      The present does not seem to me to be an opportune time to enter
> >      into the investigation of the cause of the acceleration of
> >      natural motion, concerning which various philosophers have
> >      produced various opinions ....
> >      Such fantasies, and others like them, would have to be
> >      examined and resolved, with little gain. For the present, it
> >      suffices .... to  say that in equal times, equal
> >      additions of speed are made.
>
> I got that from Galileo, _Two New Sciences_ (1638).
>
> In particular, I got that from page 159 of the English translation by
> Stillman Drake, 2nd edition.  Drake is far more than a translator;  he
> is an historian who has studied Galileo's unpublished notes and other
> records, in the effort to understand the background and the methods
> of Galileo's work.
>
> I was particularly taken by Drake's footnote on page 159: "Rejection of
> causal inquiries was Galileo's most revolutionary proposal in physics,
> inasmuch as the traditional goal of that science was the determination
> of causes."