We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Individuals and collectives in the philosophy of Boris Hessen: An introduction.
- Authors
Winkler, Sean
- Abstract
Argument: This paper provides an introduction to three translations of articles by Soviet philosopher Boris Hessen: "Mechanical Materialism and Modern Physics," "On Comrade Timiryazev's Attitude towards Contemporary Science" and "Marian Smoluchowski (On the Tenth Anniversary of His Death)". It begins by presenting a central tension in Hessen's work; namely, how even though he is better known for the externalism of his 1931 Newton paper, much of his work has been considered exemplary of an internalist approach. I then show that for Hessen, the history of modern science was defined by the discovery of the dialectical unity in opposition between dynamic and statistical regularity. This not only sheds important light on Hessen's understanding of causation, but also reconciles the aforementioned tension by showing his approach to the relationship between individuals and collectives in the study of physical phenomena, along with the relationship between individual scientists and socioeconomic conditions.
- Subjects
INDIVIDUATION (Philosophy); PHENOMENOLOGICAL theory (Physics); MODERN history; PHILOSOPHERS
- Publication
Science in Context (0269-8897), 2021, Vol 34, Issue 1, p121
- ISSN
0269-8897
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0269889722000096