The course examines the fundamental concepts of physical thought and their philosophical implications, with particular emphasis on the conceptual shifts introduced by modern physics. After an introduction from ancient natural philosophy to classical mechanics, the course focuses on the change in the basic concepts of space, time, causality, and physical reality from Newtonian cosmology to the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Space and time in the physics of Galileo and Newton, Einstein’s space-time continuum, and the basic concepts of special and general relativity are examined, as well as the basic ideas of modern cosmology.
The basic conceptual aspects of quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle, Bell’s inequalities, quantum logic, and quantum field theory are also presented.
Fundamental philosophical issues arising from modern physics are also examined, such as the concept of the vacuum, the mathematics of infinity, the relationship between physics and metaphysics, and the problem of unity and diversity in nature.
– Elements of natural philosophy in ancient Greece: Plato. Aristotle, Atomic philosophers, Epicureans.
– From classical antiquity to the Copernican Revolution, Newton, the first unification in physics, and the introduction of interaction in the quantitative description of physical phenomena.
– The major chapters of classical physics: Astronomy, mechanics, kinematics, dynamics (Galileo, Kepler, Newton). Electromagnetism. Faraday – Maxwell. The nature of heat and thermodynamics. Kinetic theory of gases. Maxwell – Boltzmann.
– Methods and structure of natural sciences. The importance of observation. Data and interpretation. Validation, falsifiability, and scientific validity of theories.
– Space and time in Galileo and Newton.
– Einstein’s space-time continuum.
– Living next to a black hole.
– From Copernicus to the Cosmological Principle. The expanding Universe.
– Quantum Mechanics.
– The uncertainty principle and the subject-object coupling
– Bell’s inequalities.
– Quantum Logic – Quantum Field Theory.
– From the zero and infinity of mathematics to the vacuum and infinities of modern physics.
– Physics, Metaphysics, and Ontology.
– Unity and diversity in nature.