Higher Speculations: Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology
| AUTHOR | Kragh, Helge |
| PUBLISHER | Oxford University Press, USA (03/01/2011) |
| PRODUCT TYPE | Hardcover (Hardcover) |
Description
Throughout history, people have tried to construct 'theories of everything': highly ambitious attempts to understand nature in its totality. This account presents these theories in their historical contexts, from little known hypotheses from the past to modern developments such as the theory of superstrings, the anthropic principle and ideas of many universes, and uses them to problematize the limits of scientific knowledge. Do claims to theories of everything belong to science at all? Which are the epistemic standards on which an alleged scientific theory of the universe - or the multiverse - is to be judged? Such questions are currently being discussed by physicists and cosmologists, but rarely within a historical perspective. This book argues that these questions have a history and that knowledge of the historical development of 'higher speculations' may inform and qualify the current debate of the nature and limits of scientific explanation.
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Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13:
9780199599882
ISBN-10:
0199599882
Binding:
Hardback or Cased Book (Unsewn / Adhesive Bound)
Content Language:
English
More Product Details
Page Count:
416
Carton Quantity:
1
Product Dimensions:
6.50 x 1.10 x 9.40 inches
Weight:
2.10 pound(s)
Feature Codes:
Bibliography,
Index,
Dust Cover,
Table of Contents,
Illustrated
Country of Origin:
US
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Science | Space Science - Cosmology
Science | Space Science - Astronomy
Dewey Decimal:
523.109
Library of Congress Control Number:
2011377091
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
Throughout history, people have tried to construct 'theories of everything': highly ambitious attempts to understand nature in its totality. This account presents these theories in their historical contexts, from little known hypotheses from the past to modern developments such as the theory of superstrings, the anthropic principle and ideas of many universes, and uses them to problematize the limits of scientific knowledge. Do claims to theories of everything belong to science at all? Which are the epistemic standards on which an alleged scientific theory of the universe - or the multiverse - is to be judged? Such questions are currently being discussed by physicists and cosmologists, but rarely within a historical perspective. This book argues that these questions have a history and that knowledge of the historical development of 'higher speculations' may inform and qualify the current debate of the nature and limits of scientific explanation.
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Author:
Kragh, Helge
Professor Helge S. Kragh
History of Science Department, University of Aarhus, Denmark. 1988-90, Associate Professor (Physics, History of Science) at Cornell University, NY, USA.
1994-97, Professor of History of Science, University of Oslo, Norway.
1997 onwards Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
History of Science Department, University of Aarhus, Denmark. 1988-90, Associate Professor (Physics, History of Science) at Cornell University, NY, USA.
1994-97, Professor of History of Science, University of Oslo, Norway.
1997 onwards Professor at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
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