Abstract
If we analyze the early historical evolution of the concept of eddy or vortex, it can be shown that it constitutes a mental schema and a powerful heuristic instrument in scientific thinking, with the intuitive properties of rotation and dissipation. This mental schema presents a great capacity to constitute a fruitful analogical source and to develop an analogical inference. For example, Descartes considered celestial vortexes to explain planetary motion, or Maxwell developed the electromagnetic theory via a model based on rotating vortexes. But there were more creative and detailed uses of the eddy schema which had great importance as a cooperative heuristic instrument, instead of as a mere expedient analogy. I will present two episodes to underline the activation via provocative analogy of the eddy schema, multiple roles that it can play and its heuristic adaptability: first, the eureka visualization of an eddy by Johann Bernoulli in the genesis of fluid dynamics; and second, Reynolds’s discovery of the importance of eddies to understand the dynamic and resistance of flow.
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Notes
- 1.
PREFATIO, p. 392: Miratus unde tanta dificultas, ut in fluidis, non aque ac in folidis, fuccedat principiorum dynamicorum applicatio; tandem rem acrius animo volvens, detexi veram dificultati originem; quan in eo consistere deprehendi, quod pars quaedam virium prementium inpemsa in formandum gurgitem (a me ita dictum ab aliis non anivadversum) tanquam nullius momenti fuerit neglecta, & insuper habita, non aliam ob causam quam quia gurges conflatur ex quantitate fluidi perexigua, ac veluti infinite parva, qualis formatur quotiescunque fluidum transit ex loco ampliori in angustiorem, vel vice versa ex angustiori in ampliorem. In priori casu sit gurges ante transitum, in altero post transitum.
- 2.
PREFATIO, p. 373, II Def. Vis motrix est, quae quando agit in corpus quiescens, illud in motum concitat, aut quae corpus jam motum vel accelerare, vel retardare, vel ejus directionem mutare protest/“A motive force is that which, when it acts on a body at rest, excites it into motion, or which can cause a body already moving to accelerate, decelerate, or change its direction”.
- 3.
PREFATIO, p. 374, IV Def. Vis motrix divisa per massam, dat vim acceleratricem, per hanc vero divisa, dat massam/ “The motive force divided by the mass gives the acelerative force, but divided by this gives the mass.”.
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Ulazia, A. (2018). Activation of the Eddy Mental Schema, Multiple Analogies and Their Heuristic Cooperation in the Historical Development of Fluid Dynamics. In: Danks, D., Ippoliti, E. (eds) Building Theories. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 41. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72787-5_8
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