The Nature of the Physical World

The Nature of the Physical World is a book written by Arthur Stanley Eddington, a British astrophysicist and philosopher. Published in 1928, it is a comprehensive exploration of the fundamental principles of physics and their philosophical implications. Eddington begins by examining the concept of space and time, and how they are intertwined with matter and energy. He then delves into the nature of light and the electromagnetic spectrum, and how they are related to the structure of the universe. Eddington also explores the theory of relativity and the implications it has for our understanding of the physical world. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the importance of scientific knowledge and the need for a philosophical understanding of the universe. The Nature of the Physical World is a seminal work in the history of physics and philosophy, and continues to be studied and debated by scholars today.1929. The course of Gifford Lectures that Eddington delivered in the University of Edinburgh in January to March 1927. It treats of the philosophical outcome of the great changes of scientific thought which have recently come about. The theory of relativity and the quantum theory have led to strange new conceptions of the physical world; the progress of the principles of thermodynamics has wrought more gradual but no less profound change. The first eleven chapters are for the most part occupied with the new physical theories, with the reasons which have led to their adoption, and especially with the conceptions which seem to underlie them. The aim is to make clear the scientific view of the world as it stands at the present day, and, where it is incomplete, to judge the direction in which modern ideas appear to be tending. In the last four chapters I consider the position which this scientific view should occupy in relation to the wider aspects of human experience, including religion. Contents: The Downfall of Classical Physics; Relativity; Time; The Running-Down of the Universe; Becoming; Gravitation-the Law; Gravitation-the Explanation; Man�������s Place in the Universe; The Quantum Theory; The New Quantum Theory; World Building; Pointer Readings; Reality; Causation; and Science and Mysticism.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.