Einstein, Popper and the Crisis of theoretical Physics

A new Approach to an Ancient Problem

Christoph von Mettenheim

• Publisher: tredition
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9783732378999
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

EINSTEIN, POPPER AND THE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER discusses under philosophical, logical and mathematical aspects the theory of light and the problem of explaining gravitation, one of the oldest problems of philosophy and physics.Assuming the cause of gravity to lie in a force of attraction without a material agent would violate fundamental principles of physics. Newton saw that, and he knew that his theory left gravity well described but unexplained. Michael Faraday also saw the problem but could not solve it. Both relied on the ether hypothesis, which was given up at the beginning of the 20th Century in favour of Quantum Theory and the Theory of Relativity.Quantum Theory and the Theory of Relativity, however, rested on serious logical and mathematical mistakes. Max Planck gave no reasons for the individibility of the quantum, and his quantum jump assumed velocity without taking time. Einstein based his theory on a mathematical self-contradiction that remained undiscovered in a whole century. Both theories must be abandoned.In that difficult situation applying Karl Popper´s theory of science leads to a revival of the ether hypothesis in a different shape. If matter is not distinct from ether but is itself a process composed of ether particles, then their elasticity will explain the phenomena of light, of gravity, of the stability of matter, of the vortex shape of galaxies, and several other phenomena as well.

CONCLUSION:
A CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

‘Among the real dangers to the progress of science is not the likelihood of its being completed, but such things as lack of imagination (sometimes as a consequence of lack of real interest); or a misplaced faith in formalization and precision (…); or authoritarianism in one or another of its many forms.’

KARL POPPER (1902–1994)

Theoretical physics obstructs progress of science systematically. I. Faraday and Popper lost the same battle; theoretical physics unreachable by arguments. II. Popper’s theory of science correct but application sometimes inconsistent. III. Relevance of ethics for science; mistakes of institutio.

Readers having persevered up to this point, if such there should be, will have noticed that the explanation of gravity proposed in Chapter 12 differs in principle from anything proposed in the 20^th Century. They may also have realised that it would have been next to impossible to make anyone accept that explanation without first getting out of the way quantum theory, the theory of relativity and the standard model of particle physics. I would have preferred coming to the point more directly in the whole essay and in each chapter, but it always seemed necessary first to prepare the ground by explaining the historical background of a situation and to discuss only afterwards the problems arising from it. The present situation made all other approaches look hopeless from the outset.

The main concern of this essay however was not about theoretical physics but about the theory of science, though in its application to theoretical physics. I would like to return to that now. What makes the misunderstanding we saw so serious is that it systematically obstructs the progress of science. The fundamentally mistaken approach taken by theoretical physics in the 20^th Century still dominates today’s theoretical physics. It not only is a secular error but is apt also to entail secular consequences. Theoretical physicists must decide whether to fall back mentally into the dogmatism of the Middle Ages or to make progress again by permitting scientific discoveries explaining the known by the unknown.

The great problems of epistemology have long been solved in principle. In his Logik der Forschung (1934) and in Conjectures and Refutations (1963) Karl Popper showed a solution that met with no serious opposition in the more ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: The Issue at Stake
• First Part: On Einstein’s Theory of Knowledge
• Second Part: A Century Lost – The Long Return to Ether Theory
• Conclusion: A Cautiously Optimistic Outlook