Abstract
The main claim of this talk is that mathematical physics and philosophy of physics are not different. This claim, so formulated, is obviously false because it is overstated; however, since no non-tautological statement is likely to be completely true, it is a meaningful question whether the overstated claim expresses some truth. I hope it does, or so I’ll argue. The argument consists of two parts: First I’ll recall some characteristic features of von Neumann’s work on mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics and will claim that von Neumann’s motivation and results are essentially philosophical in their nature; hence, to the extent von Neumann’s work exemplifies what is considered to be mathematical physics, mathematical physics appears as formally explicit philosophy of physics. The second argument is based on a rather trivial interpretation of what mathematical physics is. That interpretation implies that mathematical physics shares some key characteristic features with philosophy of physics which make the two almost indistinguishable.
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References
M. Rédei: “Why John von Neumann did not like the Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics (and what he liked instead)”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 27(1996) 493–510.
M. Rédei: Quantum Logic in Algebraic Approach( Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1998 ).
M. Rédei: “Unsolved problems in mathematics” J. von Neumann’s address to the International Congress of Mathematicians, Amsterdam, September 2–9 1954, The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 21, 1999 p. 7–12.
M. Rédei: “John von Neumann’s concept of quantum logic and quantum probability” in [5] 153–172.
M. Rédei, M. Stöltzner (eds.): John von Neumann and the Foundations of Quantum Physics( Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2001 ).
M. Stöltzner: “Opportunistic aziomatics: John von Neumann on the methodology of mathematical physics” in [5] 35–62.
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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Rédei, M. (2002). Mathematical Physics and Philosophy of Physics (with Special Consideration of J. von Neumann’s Work). In: Heidelberger, M., Stadler, F. (eds) History of Philosophy of Science. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook [2001], vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1785-4_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1785-4_18
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