Methodology of Physics

Abstract

The structure of physical knowledge and methods comprises three domains, viz., an empirical one with predominantly inductive methods, a theoretical one with predominantly deductive methods, and the relations between theory and experience characterized by the methods of consistent adjustment. The various experimental methods establishing the empirical basis will be discussed in detail. This empirical basis consists among other things of reproducible events and representative objects instead of singular experiences and direct observations (“sense data”). The dissimilarities between empirical and theoretical methods of concept formation are elaborated and contrasted with each other. Theoretical orders are defined as the conceptual reproduction of structures of reality and as the epistemological kernel of reality cognition in physics. In this context it is shown that Newtonian mechanics is not a causal theory. The diverse meanings and uses of models in physics are classified and elaborated in detail.