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NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
BY WILHELM OSTWALD TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SELTZER With the author's special revision for the American edition NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1910 Copyright , 1910, BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY Published November , 1910 THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS RAHWAY N. J. The original of this book was published as volume I in Reclam's Bücher der Naturwissenschaft ....
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PREFACE
PREFACE
The beginning of the twentieth century is marked by a sudden rise of interest in philosophy. This is especially manifest in the vast growth of philosophic literature. The present movement, it is noteworthy, is by no means a revival proceeding from the academic philosophy traditionally represented at the universities, but has rather the original character of natural philosophy . It owes its origin to the fact that after the specialization of the last half century, the synthetic factors of science
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Natural science and natural philosophy are not two provinces mutually exclusive of each other. They belong together. They are like two roads leading to the same goal. This goal is the domination of nature by man, which the various natural sciences reach by collecting all the individual actual relations between the natural phenomena, placing them in juxtaposition, and seeking to discover their interdependence, upon the basis of which one phenomenon may be foretold from another with more or less c
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1. The Formation of Concepts.
1. The Formation of Concepts.
To the human mind, as it slowly awakens in every child, the world at first seems a chaos consisting of mere individual experiences. The only connection between them is that they follow each other consecutively. Of these experiences, all of which at first are different from one another, certain parts come to be distinguished by the fact that they are repeated more frequently, and therefore receive a special character, that of being familiar . The familiarity is due to our recalling a former simil
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2. Science.
2. Science.
The prophecy of future events based upon the knowledge of the details of recurring events is called science in its most general sense. Here, as in most cases in which language became fixed long before men had a clear knowledge of the things designated, the name of the thing is easily associated with false ideas arising either from errors that had been overcome or from other, still more accidental, causes. Thus, the mere knowledge of past events is also called science without any thought of its u
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3. The Aim of Science.
3. The Aim of Science.
These views are deliberately opposed to a very widespread idea that science should be cultivated "for its own sake," and not for the sake of the benefits it actually brings or may be made to bring. We reply that there is nothing at all which is done merely "for its own sake." Everything, without exception, is done for human purposes. These purposes range from momentary personal satisfaction to the most comprehensive social services involving disregard of one's own person. But in all our actions
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4. Concrete and Abstract.
4. Concrete and Abstract.
Such coinciding or repeated parts of similar experiences we call, as already stated, concepts . But here, too, attention must immediately be drawn to a linguistic imperfection, which consists in the fact that in such a group of coinciding experiences we designate by the same name both the isolated experience or the object of a special experience and the totality of all the coinciding experiences; in other words, all the similar experiences. Thus, horse means, on the one hand, quite a definite th
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5. The Subjective Part.
5. The Subjective Part.
We shall therefore have to recognize realities in abstract ideas in so far as they must rest upon some experiences to be at all intelligible to us. Since the formation of concepts depends upon memories, and these may refer, according to the individual, to very different parts of the same experience of different individuals, concepts always possess an element dependent upon the individual, or a subjective element. This, however, does not consist in the addition by the individual of new parts not
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6. Empirical Concepts.
6. Empirical Concepts.
First and unconditionally those concepts possess reality which always and without exception are based on experienced facts. But we can easily make manifold arbitrary combinations of concepts from different experiences, since our memory freely places them at our disposal, and from such a combination we can form a new concept. Of course it is not necessary that our arbitrary combination should also be found in our past or future experiences. On the contrary, we may rather expect that there could b
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7. Simple and Complex Concepts.
7. Simple and Complex Concepts.
The formation of concepts consists, as we have seen, in the selection of those parts of different but similar experiences which coincide with one another and in the elimination of those that are different in kind. The results of such a procedure may vary greatly according to the number and the difference of the experiences placed in relation with one another. If, for example, we compare only a few experiences, and if, moreover, these experiences are very similar to one another, then the resultin
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8. The Conclusion.
8. The Conclusion.
First let us consider the scientific import of the complex empirical concepts. It consists in the fact that they accustom us to the coexistence of the corresponding elements of a concept. So that when, in a new experience, we meet with some of these elements together, we immediately suppose that we shall find in the same experience the other elements also which have not yet been ascertained. Such a supposition is called a conclusion . A conclusion always exceeds the present experience by predict
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9. The Natural Laws.
9. The Natural Laws.
The facts just described have very frequently found expression in the doctrine of the laws of nature , in connection with which we have often, as in the man-made social or political laws, conceived of a lawmaker, who, for some reasons, or perhaps arbitrarily, has ordained that things should be as they are and not otherwise. But the intellectual history of the origin of the laws of nature shows that here the process is quite a different one. The laws of nature do not decree what shall happen, but
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10. The Law of Causation.
10. The Law of Causation.
By reason of its frequency and importance the mental process above described has been subjected to the most diverse investigations, and that most general form of the scientific conclusion (which we apply in ordinary life even much more frequently than in science) has been raised, under the name of the law of causation, to a principle anteceding all experience and to the very condition making experience possible. Of this so much is true, that through the peculiar physiological organization of man
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11. The Purification of the Causal Relation.
11. The Purification of the Causal Relation.
If by experience we have found a proposition of the content, If A is, then B is also, the two concepts A and B generally consist of several elements which we will designate as a, a´, a´´, a´´´, etc., and as b, b´, b´´, b´´´. Now the question arises, whether or not all these elements are essential for the relation in question. It is quite possible, in fact, even highly probable, that at first only a special instance of the existing phenomena was found, that is, that the concept A, which has been
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12. Induction.
12. Induction.
The form of conclusion previously discussed, because it has been so, I expect it will continue to be so in the future , is the form through which each science has arisen and has won its real content, that is, its value for the judgment of the future. It is called inference by induction , and the sciences in which it is preponderatingly applied are called inductive sciences . They are also called experiential or empirical sciences. At the basis of this nomenclature is the notion that there are ot
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13. Deduction.
13. Deduction.
In addition to the inductive method, science has ( p. 38 ) another method, which, in a sense, should be the reverse of the inductive and is claimed to provide absolutely correct results. It is called the deductive method, and it is described as the method that leads from premises of general validity by means of logical methods of general validity to results of general validity. As a matter of fact, there is no science that does or could work in such a way. In the first place, we ask in vain, how
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14. Ideal Cases.
14. Ideal Cases.
Each experience may generally be considered under an indefinite number of various concepts, all of which may be abstracted from that experience by corresponding observations. Accordingly an indefinite number of natural laws would be required for prophesying that experience in all its parts. Likewise the indefinite number of premises must be known through the application of which those natural laws acquire a certain content. Thus it seems as if it were altogether impossible to apply natural laws
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15. The Determinateness of Things.
15. The Determinateness of Things.
A very widespread view and a very grave one, because of its erroneous results, is that by the natural laws things are unequivocally and unalterably determined down to the very minutest detail . This is called determinism , and is regarded as an inevitable consequence of every natural scientific generalization. But an accurate investigation of actual relations produces something rather different. The most general formulation of the natural law: if A is experienced, then we expect B , necessarily
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16. The Freedom of the Will.
16. The Freedom of the Will.
This relation explains why, on the one hand, we assume a far-reaching determinateness for many things, that is, for all those accessible to scientific treatment and regulation, and why, on the other hand, we have the consciousness of acting freely , that is, of being able to control future events according to the relations they bear to our wishes. Essentially there is no objection to be found to a fundamental determinism which explains that this feeling of freedom is only a different way of sayi
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17. The Classification of the Sciences.
17. The Classification of the Sciences.
From the preceding observations the means may be drawn for outlining a complete table of the sciences. However, we must not regard it complete in the sense that it gives every possible ramification and turn of each science, but that it sets up a frame inside of which at given points each science finds its place, so that, in the course of progressive enlargement, the frame need not be exceeded. The basic thought upon which this classification rests is that of graded abstraction. We have seen ( p.
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18. The Applied Sciences.
18. The Applied Sciences.
It will be remarked that the grouping of the table gives no place at all in its scheme to certain branches of learning taught in the universities and equally good technical institutions. We look in vain not only for theology and jurisprudence, but also for astronomy, medicine, etc. The explanation and justification of this is, that for purposes of systematization we must distinguish between pure and applied sciences. By virtue of their strictly conceptual exclusiveness the pure sciences constitu
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19. The Most General Concept.
19. The Most General Concept.
If we try to conceive the whole structure of science according to the principle of the increasing complexity of concepts, the first question which confronts us is, What concept is the most general of all possible concepts, so general that it enters into every concept formation and acts as a decisive factor? In order to find this concept let us go back to the psycho-physical basis of concept formation, namely, memory , and let us investigate what is the general characteristic determining memory.
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20. Association.
20. Association.
The experience of the connection or relation between various things is also derived from the nature of our experiences in the most general sense. When we recall a thing A, another thing B comes to our mind, the memory of which is called forth by A, and vice versa . The cause of this invariably lies in some experiences in which A and B occur together. In fact, A and B must have occurred together a number of times. Otherwise they would have disappeared from memory. In other words, it is the fact o
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21. The Group.
21. The Group.
The aggregate of all individual things occurring in a definite concept, or the common characteristics of which make up this concept, is called a group. Such a group may consist of a limited or finite number of members, or may be unlimited, according to the nature of the concepts that characterize it. Thus, all the integers form an unlimited or infinite group, while the integers between ten and one hundred (or the two-digit numbers) form a limited or finite group. From the definition of the group
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22. Negation.
22. Negation.
When the characteristics a, b, c, d of a group have been determined, then the aggregate of all things existing can be divided into two parts, namely, the things which belong to the group A and those which do not belong to it. This second aggregate may then be regarded as a group by itself. If we call this group "not-A," it follows from the definition of this group that the two groups, A and not-A, together form the aggregate of all things. This is the meaning and the significance of the linguist
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23. Artificial and Natural Groups.
23. Artificial and Natural Groups.
The combination of the characteristics which are to serve for the definition of a group is at first purely arbitrary. Thus, when we have chosen such an arbitrary combination, a, b, c, d, we can eliminate one of the characteristics, as, for example, c, and form a group with the characteristics a, b, d. Such a group, which is poorer in characteristics , will, in general, be richer in members , for to it belong, in the first place, all the things with the characteristics a, b, c, d, of which the fi
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24. Arrangement of the Members.
24. Arrangement of the Members.
Since we have started from the proposition that all members of a group are different from one another, we have perfect liberty to arrange them. The most obvious arrangement according to which some one definite member is followed by a single other member and so forth (as, for example, the arrangement of the letters of the alphabet) is by no means the only mode of arrangement, though it is the simplest. Besides this linear arrangement, there is also, for instance, the one in which two new members
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25. Numbers.
25. Numbers.
An especially important group in the linear order is that of the integral numbers . Its origin is as follows: First we abstract the difference of the things found in the group, that is, we determine, although they are different, to disregard their differences. Then we begin with some member of the group and form it into a group by itself. It does not matter which member is chosen, since all are regarded as equivalent. Then another member is added, and the group thus obtained is again characteriz
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26. Arithmetic, Algebra, and the Theory of Numbers.
26. Arithmetic, Algebra, and the Theory of Numbers.
From this regular form of the number series numerous special characteristics can be established. The investigations leading to the discovery of these characteristics are purely scientific, that is, they have no special technical aim. But they have the uncommonly great practical significance that they provide for all possible arrangements and divisions of numbered things, and so have instruments at hand ready for application to each special case as it arises. I have already pointed out that in th
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27. Co-ordination.
27. Co-ordination.
So far our discussion has confined itself to the individual groups and to the properties which each one of them exhibits by itself . We shall now investigate the relations which exist between two or more groups , both with regard to their several members and to their aggregate. If at first we have two groups the members of which are all differentiated from one another, then any one member of the one group can be co-ordinated with any one member of the other group. This means that we determine th
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28. Comparison.
28. Comparison.
If we have two groups A and B, and if we co-ordinate their members severally, three cases may arise. Either group A is exhausted while there are members remaining in B, or B is exhausted before A, or, finally, both groups allow of a mutual co-ordination of all their members. In the first case A is called, in the broader sense of the word, smaller than B, in the second B is called smaller than A, in the third the two groups are said to be of equal magnitude . The expression, "B is greater than A,
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29. Counting.
29. Counting.
The group of integral numbers, because of its fundamental simplicity and regularity, is by far the best basis of co-ordination. For while arithmetic and the theory of numbers give us a most thorough acquaintance with the peculiarities of this group, we secure by the process of co-ordination the right to presuppose these peculiarities and the possibility of finding them again in every other group which we have co-ordinated with the numerical group. The carrying out of such co-ordination is called
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30. Signs and Names.
30. Signs and Names.
The co-ordination of names and signs with numbers calls for a few general remarks on co-ordination of this nature. The possibility of carrying out the formal operations effected in one of the groups upon the co-ordinated group itself facilitates to an extraordinary extent the practical shaping of the reality for definite purposes. If by counting we have ascertained that a group of people numbers sixty, we can infer without actually executing the steps that it is possible to form these men in six
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31. The Written Language.
31. The Written Language.
Sound signs, to be sure, possess the advantage of being produced easily and without any apparatus, and of being communicable over a not inconsiderable distance. But they suffer under the disadvantage of transitoriness. They suffice for the purpose of temporary understanding and are constantly being used for that. If, on the other hand, it is necessary to make communications over greater distances or longer periods of time, sound signs must be replaced by more permanent forms. For this we turn to
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32. Pasigraphy and Sound Writing.
32. Pasigraphy and Sound Writing.
There are two possibilities for co-ordination between concepts and written signs. Either the co-ordination is direct , so that it is only a matter of providing every concept with a corresponding sign, or it is indirect, the signs serving only the purpose of expressing the language sound . In the latter case the written language is based entirely upon the sound language, and the only problem, comparatively easy to solve, is to construct an unambiguous co-ordination between sound and sign . The Ch
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33. Sound Writing.
33. Sound Writing.
In point of unambiguity of co-ordination phonetic writing is far more imperfect than concept writing. It is obvious that in phonetic writing all the faults already present in the co-ordination between concept and sound are transferred to the written language. To these are added the defects as regards unambiguity occurring in co-ordination between sound and sign from which no language is free. In some languages, in fact, notably in English, these defects amount to a crying calamity. The principle
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34. The Science of Language.
34. The Science of Language.
A comparison of our investigations—which we cannot present in detail but only indicate—with the science of language or philology as taught in the universities and in a great number of books, reveals a great difference between them. This academic philology makes a most exhaustive study of relations, which from the point of view of the purpose of language are of no consequence whatever, such as most of the rules and usages of grammar. A study of this sort must naturally confine itself to a mere de
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35. Continuity.
35. Continuity.
Up to this point our discussions have been based on the general concept of the thing , that is, of the individual experience differentiated from other experiences. Here the fact of being different , which, as a general experience, led to the corresponding elementary concept, appeared in the foreground in accordance with its generality. But in addition to it there is another general fact of experience, which has led to just as general a concept. It is the concept of continuity . When, for example
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36. Measurement.
36. Measurement.
Measuring is in a certain way the opposite of counting. While, in counting, the things are regarded in advance as individual , and the group, therefore, is a body compounded of discontinuous elements, measuring, on the other hand, consists in co-ordinating numbers with continuous things , that is, in applying to continuous things a concept formed upon the hypothesis of discontinuity. It lies in the nature of such a problem that the difficulty of adaptation must crop out somewhere in the course o
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37. The Function.
37. The Function.
The concept of continuity makes possible the development of another concept of greater universality, which can be characterized as an extension of the concept of causation ( p. 31 ). The latter is an expression of the experience, if A is, B is also, in which A is understood to be a definite thing at first conceived of as immutable. Now it may happen that A is not immutable, but represents a concept with continuously changing characteristics. Then, as a rule, B will also be of that nature, so tha
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38. The Application of the Functional Relation.
38. The Application of the Functional Relation.
I have already shown ( p. 34 ) how the first formulation of a causal relation which experience yields can be purified and elaborated by the multiplication of the experience. The method described was based upon the fact that the necessary and adequate factors of the result were obtained by eliminating successively from the "cause" the various factors of which its concept was or could be compounded, and by concluding from the result, that is, the presence or absence of the "effect," as to the nece
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39. The Law of Continuity.
39. The Law of Continuity.
From the fact that natural phenomena in general proceed continuously we can deduce a number of important and generally applicable conclusions which are constantly used for the development of science. When a relation of two continuously varying values of the form A = f(B) is conjectured, we convince ourselves of its truth by observing for different values of A the corresponding values of B, or reversely. If we find that changes in the one correspond to changes in the other, the existence of such
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40. Time and Space.
40. Time and Space.
Time and space are two very general concepts, though without doubt not elementary concepts. For besides the elementary concept of continuity which both contain, time has the further character of being one-seried or one-dimensional, of not admitting of the possibility of return to a past point of time (absence of double points) and of absolute onesidedness, that is, of the fundamental difference between before and after. This last quality is the very one not found in the space concept, which is i
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41. Recapitulation.
41. Recapitulation.
Before we proceed to consider the fundamentals of other sciences, it is well to make a general résumé of the field so far traversed. Since the later sciences, as we have already observed, make use of the entire apparatus of the earlier sciences, the mastery of them must be assured in order to render their special application possible. This does not mean that one must have complete command of the entire range of those earlier sciences in order to pursue a later one. Mere human limitations would p
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42. General.
42. General.
In the formal sciences we began the specialization of the object from the most general concept of thing conceivable, possessing no other characteristic attribute than its capability of being distinguished from other things; and we carried the specialization so far that we could follow in its movements an object definite as to time and space. This object, to be sure, was defined only in that it occupied a definite space, and accordingly had a definite form. As a matter of fact, the spacial thing
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43. Mechanics.
43. Mechanics.
Recently many scientists have taken exception to the traditional division of mechanics into statics , or the science of equilibrium, and dynamics , or the science of motion, because it does not correspond to the essence of the thing, equilibrium being only the limit-case of motion. However, the classic presentations of this science are based on that division, so that it must express an essential difference. This difference we can clearly recognize through the application of the concept of energy
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44. Kinetic Energy.
44. Kinetic Energy.
The law of the conservation of work is by no means true of all cases in which work is expended or converted, but, as has been said, only of ideal machines, that is, of such cases which do not exist in reality. But while in imperfect machines there is at least an approximation to this law, there are besides countless normal cases in which we cannot even speak of an approximation. When, for example, a stone falls to the ground from a certain height, a certain quantity of work is expended, which is
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45. Mass and Matter.
45. Mass and Matter.
It has been noted above that kinetic energy depends upon another magnitude beside velocity. A conception of its nature can be obtained when we try to put different bodies in motion. In doing so the muscles of the arm perform certain quantities of work, and we feel whether the quantities are greater or smaller. In this way we obtain a clear consciousness of the fact that different bodies require quite different quantities of work for the same velocity. The property which comes into play here is c
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46. Energetic Mechanics.
46. Energetic Mechanics.
In the light of our previous observations the branch of science traditionally known as mechanics appears as the science of work and of kinetic energy. Furthermore, statics is shown to be the science of work, while dynamics, besides treating of kinetic energy in itself, also treats of the phenomena of the change of work into kinetic energy, and vice versa . We shall find the same relation again later, only in more manifold forms. Every branch of physics proves to be the science of a special kind
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47. The Mechanistic Theories.
47. The Mechanistic Theories.
Because the evolution of mechanics antedates that of the other branches of physics, mechanics has largely served as a model for the formal organization of the other physical sciences, just as geometry, which has been handed down to us from antiquity in the very elaborate form of Euclid, has largely been used as a model for scientific work in general. Such methods of analogy prove to be extremely useful at first because they serve as a guide to indicate when and where new sciences, in which all p
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48. Complementary Branches of Mechanics.
48. Complementary Branches of Mechanics.
The field of pure or classical mechanics is limited to the above two kinds of energy, work and kinetic energy, though these do not exhaust the manifoldness of the mechanical energies. Accordingly, other branches of mechanics dealing with the corresponding phenomena are added to the classical mechanics described above. If by mechanical energies we understand all energies in which changes of space are connected with changes of energy , there are as many different forms as there are spacial concept
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49. The Theory of Heat.
49. The Theory of Heat.
The various forms of energies the aggregate of which is comprehended in physics, have very different special characters. A systematic investigation has not yet been made of the characters of manifoldness by which, for example, work is distinguished from heat, electrical energy from kinetic energy, etc., nor of what are the essential properties peculiar to each individual energy. We feel certain that differences do exist, for otherwise the energies could not be distinguished, and we feel certain
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50. The Second Fundamental Principle.
50. The Second Fundamental Principle.
Another fundamental discovery has been made in connection with the heat form of energy, which, like the law of conservation, relates to all forms of energy, but has found its first and most important application in heat. While the law of conservation answers the question, how much of the new form of energy is developed if a given quantity of energy changes, but gives no clue as to when such a change occurs, this second law asserts the condition under which such changes arise, and is therefore ca
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51. Electricity and Magnetism.
51. Electricity and Magnetism.
While the knowledge of heat energy goes back to the most ancient periods of civilization, electrical and magnetic energies are relatively young acquisitions. The highly developed technical application of both with the rich harvests they have yielded belongs exclusively to most recent times. Both these forms of energy, like those discussed above, are connected in the main with ponderable "matter," but in a much slighter and less regular measure. While it is not possible as yet to render any given
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52. Light.
52. Light.
The case of light in our day seems to be similar to that of sound, which, although it has its special sense organ in man, is yet no particular form of energy, but has been found to be a combination of mechanical energies in an oscillatory or mutually changing state. It seems highly probable that light, too, is not a special form of energy, but a peculiar oscillatory combination of electrical and magnetic energies. It is true that the circle of proof is not yet quite closed, but the gaps have bec
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53. Chemical Energy.
53. Chemical Energy.
Since chemical energy is only one of several forms of energy, there seems to be no justification for allotting it to a special science, since all the other forms of energy must be incorporated in physics. But the actual existence of chemistry as a special science which has already many subdivisions is justified in the first place by the external fact that in practical life and in industry chemistry occupies a very wide field comparable, if not superior, to that of the whole of physics. In the ne
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54. Life.
54. Life.
Among the bodies in our environment that are ponderable and have mass the animate beings are so strikingly distinguished from the inanimate that in most cases we have not the slightest doubt whether a body belongs to the one kind or to the other, even if in some cases we happen not to be familiar with its peculiar form. In the first place, therefore, we must answer the question in a general way and tell what the distinguishing peculiarities are that mark them off one from the other. The first pe
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55. The Storehouse of Free Energy.
55. The Storehouse of Free Energy.
If we ask whence the organisms obtain the free energy which they require for the maintenance of their stationary existence, the answer is that solar radiation alone furnishes this supply. Without this permanent supply the free energies upon the earth, so far as our knowledge goes, would long ago have reached a state of equilibrium, and the earth's bodies would be stable, that is, dead and not stationary and living. It is comprehensible, therefore, that machines should have evolved in the organis
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56. The Soul.
56. The Soul.
Our observations so far have shown the organisms to be extremely specialized individual instances of physico-chemical machines. Now we have to take into consideration a property which seems markedly to distinguish them from the lifeless machines, and which we have already encountered in the very beginning of our treatise. It is the property which we there called memory , and which we will define in a very general way as the quality by virtue of which the repetition in organisms of a process whic
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57. Feeling, Thinking, Acting.
57. Feeling, Thinking, Acting.
For good reasons it is generally assumed that the organisms have not always been what they are now, but have "developed" from previous simpler forms. It is undecided whether originally there were one or several forms from which the present forms sprang, nor is it known how life first made its appearance on earth. So long as the various assumptions with regard to this question have not led to decisive, actually demonstrable differences in the results, a discussion of it is fruitless, and therefor
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58. Society.
58. Society.
The external circumstance that as an organism multiplies the new being must come to life in the proximity of the older one, is in itself cause for the formation of closed groups confined to certain localities by animal organisms of the same species. But they become scattered if the advantage of their living together is not such as to outweigh the disadvantage of having a narrow field of competition for the means of sustenance. Thus we see different plants and animals behaving differently in this
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59. Language and Intercourse.
59. Language and Intercourse.
The essential value of the social organization resides in the fact that the work of the individual, in so far as it is adapted to it, accrues to the benefit of the collective whole. For this it is absolutely essential that the members of the collectivity should be able to have intercourse with one another in order that every part of the general activity may be communicated to the others. This intercourse is obtained through language in the most general sense. We have already learned that the ess
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60. Civilization.
60. Civilization.
Everything which serves the social progress of mankind is appropriately called civilization or culture, and the objective characteristic of progress consists in improved methods for seizing and utilizing the raw energies of nature for human purposes. Thus it was a cultural act when a primitive man discovered that he could extend the radius of his muscle energy by taking a pole in his hand, and it was another cultural act when a primitive man discovered that by throwing a stone he could send his
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