Physics and Philosophy: Volume 4 Philosophical Papers

This collection of the writings of Paul Feyerabend is focused on his philosophy of quantum physics, the hotbed of the key issues of his most debated ideas. Written between 1948 and 1970, these writings come from his first and most productive period. These early works are important for two main reasons. First, they document Feyerabend's deep concern with the philosophical implications of quantum physics and its interpretations. These ideas were paid less attention in the following two decades. Second, the writings provide the crucial background for Feyerabend's critiques of Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. Although rarely considered by scholars, Feyerabend's early work culminated in the first version of Against Method. These writings guided him on all the key issues of his most well-known and debated theses, such as the incommensurability thesis, the principles of proliferation and tenacity, and his particular version of relativism, and more specifically on quantum mechanics.

Part I. Papers and Book Chapters, 1948–70: 1. The concept of intelligibility in modern physics (1948); 2. Physics and ontology (1954); 3. Determinism and quantum mechanics (1954); 4. A remark about von Neumann's proof (1956); 5. Complementarity (1958); 6. Niels Bohr's interpretation of the quantum theory (1961); 7. Problems of microphysics (1962); 8. About conservative traits in the sciences and especially in quantum theory, and their elimination (1963); 9. Problems of microphysics (1964); 10. Peculiarity and change in physical knowledge (1965); 11. Dialectical materialism and the quantum theory (1966); 12. Remarks about the application of non-classical logics in quantum theory (1966); 13. On the possibility of a perpetuum mobile of the second kind (1966); 14. In defense of classical physics (1970); Part II. Reviews and Comments, 1957–67: 15. Review of Alfred Landé, Foundations of Quantum-Mechanics: A Study in Continuity and Symmetry (1957); 16. Discussions with Léon Rosenfeld and David Bohm (1957); 17. Review of John von Neumann, Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (1958); 18. Review of Hans Reichenbach, The Direction of Time (1959); 19. Professor Landé on the reduction of the wave packet (1960); 20. Comments on Grünbaum's 'Law and Convention in Physical Theory' (1960); 21. Comment on Hill's 'Quantum Physics and Relativity Theory' (1960); 22. Review of Norwood R. Hanson, The Concept of the Positron: A Philosophical Analysis (1964); 23. Review of Hans Reichenbach, Philosophic Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (1967); Part III. Encyclopaedia Entries, 1958–67: 24. Natural philosophy (1958); 25. Philosophical problems of quantum theory (1964); 26. Ludwig Boltzmann, 1844–1906 (1967); 27. Werner Heisenberg (1967); 28. Max Planck, 1858–1947 (1967); 29. Erwin Schrödinger, 1887–1961 (1967).

Stefano Gattei is Assistant Professor at the IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Italy and Sidney Edelstein Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been working extensively on contemporary issues in the philosophy of science (Karl Popper's critical rationalism, Thomas Kuhn, the dynamics of theory-change and conceptual change, the incommensurability thesis, relativism) and on the history of early-modern astronomy and cosmology (especially Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei). He is the author of Thomas Kuhn's Linguistic Turn and the Legacy of Logical Positivism (2008) and Karl Popper's Philosophy of Science: Rationality without Foundations (2009), as well as of several articles in the learned press.
Joseph Agassi is Professor Emeritus at Tel-Aviv University and at York University, Toronto. He is the author of about twenty books and editor of about ten, as well as author of over 500 contributions to the learned press in the humanities, in diverse natural and social sciences, as well as in law and in education.