Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional virtues - How can philosophy and physics be unified in the service of humanity?

How can philosophy and physics be unified in the service of humanity?

Physics and philosophy are a pair of siblings born and raised together. Natural science is one of the important foundations of philosophy, and philosophy provides correct methodological guidance for the study of natural science. This determines that he plays a fundamental role in the whole building of natural science, and therefore must have a more direct connection with philosophy. Physics is the study of the most general laws of material motion and the basic structure of matter, while philosophy is the study of worldview and methodology. Worldview is a deep-rooted metaphysical belief about nature, society and life. The ideal of natural order constitutes the ideological foundation of scientific theory, determines the meaning and scope of scientific facts, and constrains the scope of scientists' scientific research. It influences the criteria for judging the validity of scientific theories and the final choice. In other words, the scientific theory of the proposed, judgment and development of choice, are closely related to people's worldview. The development of physics is not only inseparable from philosophy, but also enriches the philosophical reservoir of ideas. The real basis of methodology in physics is the most general philosophical method. Evolution from mechanical materialism to discursive materialism, classical physics studies simple systems, its philosophical basis is mechanical materialism, while modern physics and systems science studies complex systems, the philosophical basis is discursive materialism. Many great natural scientists in history are also great thinkers and philosophers. Such as Descartes, Newton and Einstein. Every physicist who has made outstanding contributions within the frontiers of physics research has stated his philosophical position. Newton said, "Nature loves simplicity," and Einstein said, "What is physically true must be logically simple." Newton called his mechanics <<the mathematical principles of natural philosophy>>. Einstein's scientific thought centered on the pursuit of harmony and unity. The theoretical basis of his special relativity is the principle of equivalence and the principle of invariance of the speed of light, these two meanings are very deep, the content of the doctrine is very broad, the theoretical basis of the form of expression is so simple, presenting a high degree of unity. The three laws of classical mechanics boil down to nothing more than symmetry in time and space. The philosophical idea is that if one thinks that nature is simple, one must recognize the essential unity of the material world, because only the unity of the laws of nature makes the multifarious forms of nature simple and easy to understand. Many great physicists have taken simplicity, harmony, symmetry, and unity as their guiding principles in the exploration of physical theory. Newton's "heavenly motion" and "earthly motion" unified into classical mechanics; Maxwell used four equations to unify electricity, magnetism, and light together; Einstein's theory of relativity will be the unification of high-speed motion and low-speed motion, and will be the unification of mechanical phenomena with electromagnetic phenomena In the space-time framework; quantum mechanics will be microscopic particles and macro-objects movement unification. These are all examples of the unification of physics and philosophy. Although many people have realized that there is some kind of commonality between modern physics and ancient Chinese philosophical thought, no one can clearly point out the root cause behind it. In the book <<Traditional Chinese Culture and Modern Physics (Written Discussion)>> by Song Zhenghai, Li Yongfeng, Zhang Zhongjing, etc., there is a lot of talk about the connection between physics and ancient Chinese philosophy, which is as follows: Traditional Chinese Culture and the Principle of Imperceptibility; The Group Motion of Particles---Condensed Matter Physics and Traditional Chinese Culture; Metamorphic Qi and Quantum Theory; Tai Chi Diagrams and String Theory <<Lun Heng>> the idea of "cold is not born" and the second law of modern thermodynamics; <<Zhuangzi>> relativism and relativistic physics; traditional Chinese culture and the discovery of the nonlinear gravitational effect of a line of three stars; traditional Chinese culture and the principle of universality in modern physics; national culture and the exploration of the earth's electrostatic force; the fundamental merging of the walls of the earth; the principle of chaos and Chinese traditional culture and modern physics; the fundamental merging of the earth and its physics; the theory of chaos and Chinese traditional culture and the principle of inaccuracy; the theory of the motion of group particles --- condensed matter physics and Chinese traditional culture; Tai Chi diagrams and string theory ---Chaos and traditional Chinese thinking; the influence of the ancient Chinese concept of "chaos" on modern physics; the materiality and volatility of Chinese essence; the influence of Chinese medicine on modern physics; and the future view of science embedded in ancient Chinese science. We find that Chinese philosophical thought coincides with the thought of physics in some aspects. In addition to the philosophical point of view, the invariance of anything is only relative, and complete absolute invariance does not exist. Physical constants also imply this philosophical principle. I won't give any more examples here. The relationship between physics and philosophy is quite close, and there is now a discipline known as the philosophy of physics. The so-called philosophy of physics is the logical structure of physics itself, the law of development, the change of physical concepts, the relationship between physical theory and the objective material world. It is a branch of philosophy that reflects on the relationship between theories of physics and the beliefs and intellectual background of physicists, as well as the relationship between the picture of nature painted by the theories of physics. One of the ways to study the philosophy of physics is to analyze the concepts of physics, especially the new concepts of physics, and the meaning of physics, and to analyze them at a high philosophical level, thus contributing to the development of philosophy. Another way of philosophical research in physics is through the discussion of philosophical issues at the forefront of physics, so that some of the traditional philosophical viewpoints to produce a more fundamental change. The application of philosophy in physics makes the development of physics grow by leaps and bounds, the physical theories become more and more mature, and the ideas of physics are further philosophized, and at the same time, the practicality of philosophy is also enhanced. Philosophy is bound to have some connection with other disciplines as well, and to improve each other through coordinated development with other disciplines. We sincerely hope that the rapid development of science will make the world simpler.