[Book Review] Philosophy for physicists
Friday, May 20, 2016 - 00:11
in Physics & Chemistry
The 20th-century philosopher Wilfrid Sellars characterized the aim of philosophy as "to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term." This is also physicist Sean Carroll's aim in his new book, The Big Picture. He sets out to show how various phenomena, including thought, choice, conscioussness, and value, hang together with the scientific account of reality that has been developed in physics in the past 100 years. He attempts to do all this without relying on specialized jargon from philosophy and physics, and succeeds spectacularly in achieving both aims. Author: Barry Loewer