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bk. 1 ISBN 9780792332312
Description
2 But already he had done important work on thermal equilibrium which helped generalize Maxwell's distribution law. Indeed, there is part of a letter by James Clerk Maxwell to Loschmidt from this period which runs: "I am very pleased over the outstanding work of your student; in England experi mental physics is much neglected. Sir William Thomson has done the most in this connection, but you [in Austria] are ahead of us with your good example. "2 But while praise was fine, Boltzmann lusted after further travel. He wanted to know what other physicists were doing first hand. In 1870 he attended lectures by Bunsen and Konigsberger in Heid elberg, and in the same year went to Berlin only to scurry back to Vienna with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, but Boltzmann was back in Berlin the next year attending lectures, visiting laboratories, and working on dielectricity more or less under the direction of Kirchhhoff and Helmholtz.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction. 2. Preliminary Quotations. 3. Call to Leipzig. 4. Back to Vienna. 5. Philosophy Lectures. 6. Brentano and California. 7. El Dorado & Anecdotes. 8. Final Months & Aftermath. Appendix A: Boltzmann's Battalion. Appendix B: Beethoven in Heaven: A Choral Jest by Ludwig Boltzmann. Bibliography. Name Index.
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bk. 2 ISBN 9789048145478
Description
After his failure to replace metaphysics by a linguistic approach, Ludwig Boltzmann came to identify the philosophy of science with methodology which, in turn, he considered to be part of science itself, and thus not part of philosophy at all. His definition of philosophy as metaphysics meant that, from his point of view, all philosophers were metaphysicians, himself included.
Boltzmann the philosopher was advised on the improvement of his Weltanschauung by Franz Brentano; to such effect that, by the summer of 1905, Boltzmann appeared to be close to a form of critical realism. However, the stronger this realism became, the more inconsistent it seemed to be with his `Mach plus pictures' methodology of science. During this period, he planned to write a book, first on metaphysics and then later on what he called `A priori probability' and what he considered to be its shortcomings. Apparently, the book was never completed.
All know Boltzmann the great physicist. Much less widely known is that he was an original philosopher: one who had a great impact on early 20th Century Viennese philosophy, beginning with Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle and extending even to Popper and Feyerabend. Blackmore's delving into Boltzmann's correspondence, coupled with his unparalleled knowledge of Boltzmann's final years, allows him to present Boltzmann in an entirely new light to readers in the English language.
For physicists, philosophers and historians.
Table of Contents
Preface. 1. First Introduction (On Realism). 2. Second Introduction (On Idealism). 3. Philosophy of Science. 4. Linguistic Philosophy. 5. Public Lectures. 6. Franz Brentano. 7. Critical Realism. 8. Overwork. 9. Conclusion. Bibliography. Philosophy Index. Name Index. Late Appendix: On the Philosophical Society of the University of Vienna, 1888--1922. A: Alois Hoefler's Role plus Separate Lists by Author, Date, and Topic of the More than 400 Lectures and Discussions Given/ Also a Membership List. B: Rediscovered Dialogues by Boltzmann and Others.
by "Nielsen BookData"
