A philosophical approach to quantum field theory
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Publication:4593763
DOI10.1017/9781108227667zbMATH Open1393.81006arXiv1509.09278OpenAlexW2189348025MaRDI QIDQ4593763FDOQ4593763
Authors: Hans Christian Öttinger 
Publication date: 23 November 2017
Abstract: "All men by nature desire to know," states Aristotle in the famous first sentence of his Metaphysics. Knowledge about fundamental particles and interactions, that is, knowledge about the deepest aspects of matter, is certainly high if not top on the priority list, not only for physicists and philosophers. The goal of the present book is to contribute to this knowledge by going beyond the usual presentations of quantum field theory in physics textbooks, both in mathematical approach and by critical reflections inspired by epistemology, that is, by the branch of philosophy also referred to as the theory of knowledge. Hopefully, the present book motivates physicists to appreciate philosophical ideas. Epistemology and the philosophy of the evolution of science often seem to lag behind science and to describe the developments a posteriori. As philosophy here has a profound influence on the actual shaping of an image of fundamental particles and their interactions, our development should stimulate the curiosity and imagination of physicists. This book can be used as a textbook on quantum field theory for students of physics or as a monograph for philosophers and physicists interested in the epistemological foundations of particle physics. The benefits of an approach resting on philosophical foundations is twofold: the reader is stimulated to critical thinking and the entire story flows very naturally, thus removing all the mysteries from quantum field theory.
Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.09278
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Cited In (6)
- An algebraic approach to Koopman classical mechanics
- A new perspective on the philosophical implications of quantum field theory
- Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory
- Nonequilibrium thermodynamics: emergent and fundamental
- Quantum field theory in a semiotic perspective.
- Variational principles and nonequilibrium thermodynamics
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