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Creating Reality

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Ways of Thinking, Ways of Seeing

Part of the book series: Automation, Collaboration, & E-Services ((ACES,volume 1))

Abstract

Analogues in the nineteenth century provided experimenters such as Lodge, Maxwell, Kirchhoff, Mach and Hertz with inspiration for mechanical descriptions of hidden physical processes that had, for example, electrical or magnetic properties, and suggested mechanical models that could illustrate their developing theories to a wider audience. Models and theories intertwine, since any confirmation or test of a theory has to show its predictive power in a specific situation. It is tempting to imagine that a model or theory is an accurate reflection of what takes place in reality; however prominent nineteenth century physicists and latterly pragmatist philosophers have insisted that our descriptions of reality are of our own making and are a product of our institutions and customs. Models as part of our descriptive practices, therefore, make a contribution to the construction of reality. This chapter discusses some of the nineteenth-century analogical models that offered ways of seeing and understanding physical phenomena, and goes on to discuss how philosophers have explored ways of thinking about the relationship between models and reality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    John Monk

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  1. John Monk
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom

    Chris Bissell

  2. , Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom

    Chris Dillon

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Monk, J. (2012). Creating Reality. In: Bissell, C., Dillon, C. (eds) Ways of Thinking, Ways of Seeing. Automation, Collaboration, & E-Services, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25209-9_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25209-9_1

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