Monday, February 08, 2010

The projection problem and the symmetries of physics: On the possibility of the scientific realist case, by Harvey Fields

My late cousin, Harvey Fields, worked for Karl Popper as a research assistant for a number of years in the late 70s and early 80s, after a career in physics (studies at MIT) and subsequent doctorate in philosophy and history of science (from Tel Aviv University). I believe that that at the time he worked for the legendary author of The Open Society and Its Enemies, Popper had become quite unpopular among academic philosophers--and not yet championed by the likes of George Soros. As a result, it was not possible for my cousin to find full-time employment in his field. For many years, he worked independently on his own book about the philosophy of science. Harvey was private, and modest. He never showed his drafts to me, never discussed his work. After a while, I doubted whether there really was a book... However, I recently learned that his opus has indeed been published, posthumously, on the internet, by the Philosophy of Science Archive at the University of Pittsburgh.

I can't say that I could understand it. But perhaps some of the readers of this blog might, so here's a link to the full text, in the hope that it might make a small contribution to the advancement of knowledge: The projection problem and the symmetries of physics: On the possibility of the scientific realist case by Harvey Fields.