Abstract
In reading Hertz’s technical papers on his experiments in Electrodynamics, his reflections on them in his theoretical papers1 and his Bild conception of physical theory in his most conclusive work2, one is led to see a thread which, more or less evident at the beginning and more clearly apparent at the end, interweaves all of Hertz’s thought. (One can also use the term intersections, to indicate the intricacy of themes in this thought.) These interweavings are also manifest on a mere philological level, through the recurrence of certain words and sentences in his writings. The interweavings in Hertz’s works are highlighted in my previous essay on the role played by his 1884 conceptions in his 1888 discovery of contiguous action and electromagnetic waves.
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Notes
Hertz [1962] 195–249; Hertz [1962] 241–268.
Hertz, Introduction [1956] 1–41.
Hertz [1956] 8.
Hertz [1956] 12.
Hertz [1956] 26, 41.
Hertz [1956] 25.
Hertz [1956] 14.
Hertz [1956] 14.
Hertz [1956] 16.
Hertz [1956] 18.
Hertz, Introduction [1956] 2,3.
Hertz [1956] 18.
Hertz [1956] 22.
Hertz [1956] 23.
Hertz [1956] 24.
D’Agostino [1975] 295.
Hertz [1956] 25.
Hertz [1956] 25.
Hertz [1962] 21.
Hertz [1956] 4.
Hertz [1956] 4.
Hertz [1962] 21.
Hertz [1962] 21.
Königsberger[1965] 293. In Helmholtz’s eyes, theoretical physics was also an empirical science and he struggled “to break down the barrier between experimental and theoretical physics” (Königsberger[1965] 284). Helmholtz’s aversion towards a certain kind of abstractness stemmed from his polemic against the late followers of German Naturphilosophie.
Helmholtz, preface, in: Hertz [1956] xvi. Helm0holtz never ceased to adhere to his ownconceptions of elektrodynamics. In his preface he is still unwilling renounce to his double force view (preface, VIII).
Chevalley [1991] 558–559, Glossaire.
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© 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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D’Agostino, S. (2000). A Foundation for Theoretical Physics in Hertz’s Introduction to Die Prinzipien der Mechanik . In: A History of the Ideas of Theoretical Physics. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 213. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9034-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9034-6_8
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