Original scientific paper

Bridging Two Gulfs: Hermann Weyl

Thomas Ryckman ; Stanford University

Abstract

Professor Dummett challenged us to attempt to bridge two gulfs in communication, the first between contemporary philosophers and physicists, and the second between ‘analytic’ and ‘continental’ philosophy. Deeply sympathetic to the reasons motivating Dummett’s challenge, I adduce the example of Hermann Weyl and his profound philosophical engagement with the mathematics and theoretical physics of his time. I also suggest that Weyl’s epistemology and metaphysics of science stand in stark contrast to the default realism of much contemporary philosophy of physics, an attitude I regard as an obstacle to be overcome in furthering communication among philosophers and between philosophy and the wider intellectual culture.

Keywords

Weyl; general relativity; realism; Schlick; Reichenbach; Quine; Kuhn; gauge invariance; quantum mechanics; transcendental idealism; symmetry; constructive cognition

Hrčak ID:

92843

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/92843

Publication date:

20.8.2012.

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