Saunders, Simon (2001) Critical Notice: "The Conceptual Development of 20th Century Field Theories", by Tian Yu Cao. UNSPECIFIED. (In Press)

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Abstract

Cao makes two claims of particular philosophical interest, in his book "The Conceptual Development of 20th Century Field Theories". (i) The history of these developments refutes Kuhn's relativistic epistemology, and (tacitly) (2) the question of realism in quantum field theory can be addressed independent of one's views on the probem of measurement. I argue that Cao is right on the first score, although for reasons different from the ones he cites, but wrong on the second. In support of the first of these claims, I review in detail the correspondence between the treatment of critical phenomena in condensed matter physics, and of scaling in the renormalization group of RQFT.

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Item Type:	Other
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Saunders, Simon
Keywords:	quantum field theory, renormalization theory, structural realism, Kuhn.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Depositing User:	Simon W. Saunders
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2001
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:10
Item ID:	461
Public Domain:	No
Commentary on:	Tian Yu Cao, "The Conceptual Development of 20th Century Field Theories", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Date:	June 2001
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/461

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