The Bild Conception of Physical Theory: Helmholtz, Hertz, and Schrödinger

Abstract.

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) criticized the objective conception of physical theory, denying that theoretical concepts are “images” of physical objects. Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) and Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) used the term Bild to designate their conception of physical theory, meaning an intellectual construct whose relationship to phenomena was to be analyzed. The main features of their Bild conception were an outspoken anti-inductivism and an affirmation of a partial separation of physical theory and experimental observations. Once accepted, the Bild conception loosened the bonds that still justified the attempts at the end of the nineteenth century, such Helmholtz’s and Hertz’s, to unify physics through a generalized form of mechanics and opened the way to the innovations of Einstein’s theory of relativity.