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A Spontaneous Physics Philosophy on the Concept of Ether Throughout the History of Science: Birth, Death and Revival

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Abstract

In the course of the history of science, some concepts have forged theoretical foundations, constituting paradigms that hold sway for substantial periods of time. Research on the history of explanations of the action of one body on another is a testament to the periodic revival of one theory in particular, namely, the theory of ether. Even after the foundation of modern Physics, the notion of ether has directly and indirectly withstood the test of time. Through a spontaneous physics philosophical analysis, this article will explore how certain aspects of the concept of ether have appeared in different branches of the history of science.

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Notes

  1. In the eyes of most physicists and philosophers, Albert Einstein has acquired a reputation for abolishing the concept of the ether... Today, this notion is echoed in textbooks, encyclopedias, and scientific reviews. However, it does not fully reflect the historical truth, and in a sense even represents a distortion [...]. (Kostro 2000).

       As we will discuss in the present paper, Einstein denied the existence of the luminiferous ether in the context of the STR in 1905, but he recognized the ether in another sense after 1916 with the GTR.

  2. See Mach (1925).

  3. For the followers of Naturphilosophie, Nature is an organic whole. In Nature, there will always be a conflict such that one force will always overwhelm another and if the resulting tension is great enough a new phenomenon will make its appearance.

  4. In a way, the words of Aristotle negatively anticipated the Galileo Inertia Principle, included by Newton in his Principia as the First Law of Mechanics; from this point of view there is no analogy with the modern ether concept.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Foundation Project Coordination, Research and Technology Studies-COPPETEC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro—History of Science, Techniques and Epistemology, HCTE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Elaine Maria Paiva de Andrade & Luiz Pinguelli Rosa

  2. Serra dos Órgãos University Center, Teresópolis, Brazil

    Elaine Maria Paiva de Andrade

  3. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro—Institute Alberto Luiz Coimbra, COPPE—UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Jean Faber & Luiz Pinguelli Rosa

  4. Institute for Infrastructure, Technology and Development, Federal University of Latin America Integration—UNILA, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil

    Jean Faber

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  1. Elaine Maria Paiva de Andrade
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  2. Jean Faber
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Correspondence to Jean Faber.

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de Andrade, E.M.P., Faber, J. & Pinguelli Rosa, L. A Spontaneous Physics Philosophy on the Concept of Ether Throughout the History of Science: Birth, Death and Revival. Found Sci 18, 559–577 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-013-9336-9

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