Duality Science Academy --- DSA ONLINE

Sabah E. Karam

sabah@dualityScience.com

Philosophy vs Natural Philosophy

It was in the early 1800s that natural philosophy (science) and philosophy began to part ways.  Prior to that it was common for philosophers to ask  metaphysical questions like What is Motion?, What is Matter?, and What is Force?  Empirical studies in the physical world demanded that metaphysical questions be answered.  Rational and logical methods and physical investigations were not separate enterprises.  At the end of the 17th century the philosopher  John Locke wrote disapprovingly that "natural philosophy  is not capable of being made a science." History has proved this statement to be wrong.

The Scientific Revolution and Age of Enlightenment in the Western world began with the  discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, and Newton.  Twentieth century physics, dominated by general relativity and quantum mechanics, has turned every physicist into a metaphysicist (philosopher).

Most scientists are dualists even though they may pursue monists goals.  Notable German philosophers who are monists are Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel.  Dualists who unified laws in physics are: Galileo Galilei showed that the laws of physics are the same in any inertial frame of reference (the original theory of relativity); Issac Newton unified principles of celestial and terrestrial mechanics; James Clark Maxwell unified theories describing electricity and magnetism; and Albert Einstein unified theories applying to gravitation and acceleration (non-inertial) frames of reference.

Einstein's ultimate quest for a "unified field theory" failed but his effort lives on.  See the discussion about string theory by clicking on the Dualities across the disciplines tab above.

Origin of term Metaphysics

The first major work in the history of philosophy to bear the title “Metaphysics” was the treatise by Aristotle that we have come to know by that name. But Aristotle himself did not use that title or even describe his field of study as ‘metaphysics’; the name was evidently coined by the first century C.E. editor who assembled the treatise we know as Aristotle's Metaphysics out of various smaller selections of Aristotle's works. The title ‘metaphysics’ — literally, ‘after the Physics’ — very likely indicated the place the topics discussed therein were intended to occupy in the philosophical curriculum. They were to be studied after the treatises dealing with nature (ta phusika).

Source: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-metaphysics

From Newton to Einstein

It was in 1630 Descartes, the originator of mind-body dualism, showed that the behavior of light could be recreated by modeling wave-like disturbances in his universal medium, called plenum.  Christiaan Huygens, born 1629, conducted experiments supporting Descartes views.  Issac Newton, on the other hand, argued that light is composed of particles (corpuscles) and could be refracted when passing into a denser medium.  Duality investigations of light (wave vs particle) ran parallel to the philosophical issues raised in the mind-body problem.

Physicists have resolved the issues of duality as far as physical matter is concerned.  The Copenhagen Interpretation states that duality applies to all material substances, not just light, and that all matter exhibits both wave like and particle like properties simultaneously.  The debate started around the time of Newton but was only resolved at the time of Einstein.  Evidence had been accumulating for around 300 years supporting both the wave and the particle nature of light.  The debate among physicists finally ended at the beginning of the 20th century. Wave-particle duality was accepted when Einstein won a Nobel Prize, not for the theory of relativity, but for the photoelectric effect in which the particle nature of light was demonstrated in 1905.

The debate about dualism and duality continues unabated among metaphysicists.  Experimental evidence in medicine, biology, and the social sciences continues to accumulate. There are signs that the duality debate among philosophers is coming to an end, for there appears to be light at the end of the philosophical tunnel!