On the use and character of symbols in modern physical theories
pp. 33-72
in: Massimo Ferrari, Ion-Olimpiu Stamatescu (eds), Symbol and physical knowledge, Berlin, Springer, 2002Abstract
We shall venture here into a discussion of some aspects of modern physics from the point of view of the use of symbols. Every physicist would agree that what physical knowledge is dealing with, from observations up to theories, are signs — namely such signs, or symbols, whose particularity is to relate concepts which can be bound in mathematical structures to "rules' for describing phenomena (for instance, Hermann von Helmholtz: "Perceptions are for our consciousness signs whose meaning is to be learned by our reason"2) . However, the subsequent question of whether these symbols are somehow "told" to us, are discovered or are free intersubjective constructs leads to a multiplicity of positions.3 This suggests a rather complex discussion, and we refer the reader to the other chapters in this book to find a detailed treatment of various aspects of this problem. For more general philosophical considerations concerning symbols in science see especially Chaps. 1, 3 and 4. Here we shall take the simple-minded physicist point of view.
