PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS

OF PHYSICS
 MAIN POINTS

• CLASSICAL PHYSICS IMPACT

• MODERN PHYSICS IMPACT
• PERSONAL VIEWS AND CONCLUSION
 CLASSICAL IMPLICATIONS

HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN ?

IT ALL STARTED WITH ONE OF THE GREATEST SCIENTISTS PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.
 GALILEO GALILEI AND JOHANNES KEPLER

• GALILEO AND KEPLER MADE ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SCIENCE OF MOTION

THROUGH AN INNOVATIVE COMBINATION OF EXPERIMENT AND MATHEMATICS
• GALILEO'S THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK ON THE MOTIONS OF BODIES, ALONG
WITH THE LARGELY INDEPENDENT WORK OF KEPLER AND RENÉ DESCARTES, WAS A
PRECURSOR OF THE CLASSICAL MECHANICS DEVELOPED BY SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
• HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS LAWS OF PLANETARY
MOTION. THESE WORKS ALSO PROVIDED ONE OF
THE FOUNDATIONS FOR ISAAC NEWTON'S THEORY
OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION.
• HE STATED THAT :
• THE ORBIT OF A PLANET IS AN ELLIPSE WITH THE SUN
AT ONE OF THE TWO FOCI.
• A LINE SEGMENT JOINING A PLANET AND THE SUN
SWEEPS OUT EQUAL AREAS DURING EQUAL
INTERVALS OF TIME.
• THE SQUARE OF THE ORBITAL PERIOD OF A PLANET IS
PROPORTIONAL TO THE CUBE OF THE SEMI-MAJOR
AXIS OF ITS ORBIT.
• GALILEO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MODERN THINKERS TO CLEARLY
STATE THAT THE LAWS OF NATURE ARE MATHEMATICAL. IN THE
ASSAYER, HE WROTE "PHILOSOPHY IS WRITTEN IN THIS GRAND
BOOK, THE UNIVERSE ... IT IS WRITTEN IN THE LANGUAGE OF
MATHEMATICS, AND ITS CHARACTERS ARE TRIANGLES, CIRCLES,
AND OTHER GEOMETRIC FIGURES;....“
• GALILEO PUT FORWARD THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY, THAT
THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE THE SAME IN ANY SYSTEM THAT IS
MOVING AT A CONSTANT SPEED IN A STRAIGHT LINE,
REGARDLESS OF ITS PARTICULAR SPEED OR DIRECTION. HENCE,
THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE MOTION OR ABSOLUTE REST. THIS
PRINCIPLE PROVIDED THE BASIC FRAMEWORK FOR NEWTON'S
LAWS OF MOTION AND IS CENTRAL TO EINSTEIN'S SPECIAL
THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
 RENÉ DESCARTES
• RENÉ DESCARTES IS OFTEN CREDITED WITH BEING THE “FATHER OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY.”
• HE WAS AMONG THE FIRST ONES WHO STATED THAT PEOPLE SHOULD TRY TO UNDERSTAND
OUR ROOTS OF EXISTENCE THROUGH SCIENCE AND RATIONAL AND SPIRITUAL THINKING.
 RENÉ DESCARTES
• LAW 1. EACH THING, IN SO FAR AS IT IS SIMPLE AND UNDIVIDED,
ALWAYS REMAINS IN THE SAME STATE, AS FAR AS IT CAN, AND NEVER
CHANGES EXCEPT AS A RESULT OF EXTERNAL CAUSES... HENCE WE
MUST CONCLUDE THAT WHAT IS IN MOTION ALWAYS, SO FAR AS IT
CAN, CONTINUES TO MOVE. (PRINCIPLES PART II, ART. 37)
• LAW 2. EVERY PIECE OF MATTER, CONSIDERED IN ITSELF, ALWAYS
TENDS TO CONTINUE MOVING, NOT IN ANY OBLIQUE PATH BUT ONLY
IN A STRAIGHT LINE. (PRINCIPLES PART II, ART. 39)
• LAW 3. WHEN A MOVING BODY COLLIDES WITH ANOTHER, IF ITS
POWER OF CONTINUING IN A STRAIGHT LINE IS LESS THAN THE
RESISTANCE OF THE OTHER BODY, IT IS DEFLECTED SO THAT, WHILE THE
QUANTITY OF MOTION IS RETAINED, THE DIRECTION IS ALTERED; BUT IF
ITS POWER OF CONTINUING IS GREATER THAN THE RESISTANCE OF
THE OTHER BODY, IT CARRIES THAT BODY ALONG WITH IT, AND LOSES
A QUANTITY OF MOTION EQUAL TO THAT WHICH IT IMPARTS TO THE
OTHER BODY. (PRINCIPLES PART II, ART. 40)
ISAAC NEWTON
Law I. Every body continues in its state of rest,
or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is
compelled to change that state by forces
impressed upon it.
Law II. The change of motion is proportional to
the motive force impressed; and is made in the
direction of the right line in which that force is
impressed.
Law III. To every action there is always opposed
an equal reaction; or, the mutual actions of two
bodies upon each other are always equal, and
directed to contrary parts.
 NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
• NEWTON'S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION STATES THAT A PARTICLE ATTRACTS EVERY
OTHER PARTICLE IN THE UNIVERSE USING A FORCE THAT IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE
PRODUCT OF THEIR MASSES AND INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO THE SQUARE OF THE DISTANCE
BETWEEN THEIR CENTERS
 CONCLUSIONS

WE CAN SEE THAT WE ALREADY FORMED A

PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE USING THIS LAWS:
• EVERYTHING IS IN A STATE ( OF REST OR MOVING
). WE CAN’T SAY THAT SOMETHING DOESN’T DO
ANYTHING.
• EVERYTHING ATTRACTS TO EACH TO OTHER.
• TIME IS ABSOLUTE AND ANY OTHER LAW OF
PHYSICS/LIFE IS THE SAME IN ANY
SYSTEM/PERSON
 MODERN PHYSICS IMPLICATIONS
EINSTEIN’S THEORY OF RELATIVITY :
IN 1905, ALBERT EINSTEIN DETERMINED THAT
THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ARE THE SAME FOR ALL
NON-ACCELERATING OBSERVERS, AND THAT
THE SPEED OF LIGHT IN A VACUUM WAS
INDEPENDENT OF THE MOTION OF ALL
OBSERVERS. THIS WAS THE THEORY OF
SPECIAL RELATIVITY. IT INTRODUCED A NEW
FRAMEWORK FOR ALL OF PHYSICS AND
PROPOSED NEW CONCEPTS OF SPACE AND
TIME.
HEINSBERG’S UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
• IT TELLS US THAT THERE IS A FUZZINESS IN NATURE, A
FUNDAMENTAL LIMIT TO WHAT WE CAN KNOW ABOUT THE
BEHAVIOUR OF QUANTUM PARTICLES AND, THEREFORE, THE
SMALLEST SCALES OF NATURE. OF THESE SCALES, THE MOST
WE CAN HOPE FOR IS TO CALCULATE PROBABILITIES FOR
WHERE THINGS ARE AND HOW THEY WILL BEHAVE. UNLIKE
ISAAC NEWTON'S CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE, WHERE
EVERYTHING FOLLOWS CLEAR-CUT LAWS ON HOW TO
MOVE AND PREDICTION IS EASY IF YOU KNOW THE
STARTING CONDITIONS, THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
ENSHRINES A LEVEL OF FUZZINESS INTO QUANTUM THEORY.
CONCLUSIONS

• WE CAN SAY THAT EVERYBODY SEES LIFE IN A UNIQUE WAY BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE
.HOWEVER THE LAWS OF LIFE APPLY TO EVERYBODY.
• WE CAN ALSO SAY THAT IT IS HARD TO PREDICT OUR LIFE AND THE WAY IT IS GOING TO END
UP, AS PEOPLE ARE VERY UNPREDICTABLE.
 A PHILOSOPHICAL LINK TO BOTH THEORIES

• WE CAN SAY THAT THE CLASSICAL IMPLICATIONS CAN BE ADAPTED TO THE GENERAL WAY OF
LIFE. THE GENERAL RESULT OF EVERYTHING THAT IS HAPPENING AROUND US.
• THE MODERN IMPLICATIONS, ON THE OTHER HAND CAN BE SEEN AS A PERSONAL
UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE.