Physical Theory as Logico-Operational Structure. University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, Volume 7

Hooker, C. A., ed.

ISBN 10: 9027707111 / ISBN 13: 9789027707116

Published by Reidel, 1979

About this Item

334 pp., hardcover, underlining to the first forty pages, else very good in a very good dust jacket. - If you are reading this, this item is actually (physically) in our stock and ready for shipment once ordered. We are not bookjackers. Buyer is responsible for any additional duties, taxes, or fees required by recipient's country.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Physical Theory as Logico-Operational Structure. University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, Volume 7
• Publisher: Reidel
• Publication Date: 1979
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9027707111
• ISBN 13: 9789027707116
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

In two earlier volumes, entitled The Logico-Algebraic Approach to Quan­ tum Mechanics (hereafter LAA I, II), I have presented collections of research papers which trace out the historical development and contem­ porary flowering of a particular approach to physical theory. One might characterise this approach as the extraction of an abstract logico-algebraic skeleton from each physical theory and the reconstruction of the physical theory as construction of mathematical and interpretive 'flesh' (e. g. , measures, operators, mappings etc. ) on this skeleton. The idea is to show how the specific features of a theory that are easily seen in application (e. g. , 'interference' among observables in quantum mechanics) arise out of the character of its core abstract structure. In this fashion both the deeper nature of a theory (e. g. , in what precise sense quantum mechanics is strongly statistical) and the deeper differences between theories (e. g. clas­ sical mechanics, though also a 'mechanics', is not strongly statistical) are penetratingly illuminated. What I would describe as the 'mainstream' logico-algebraic tradition is captured in these two collections of papers (LAA I, II). The abstract, structural approach to the characterisation of physical theory has been the basis of a striking transformation, in this century, in the understanding of theories in mathematical physics. There has emerged clearly the idea that physical theories are most significantly characterised by their abstract structural components.