Doubt
and Certainty : The Celebrated Academy : Debates on Science, Mysticism,
Reality, in General on the Knowable and Unknowable by Tony
Rothman, George Sudarshan, Shannon K. Comins (Illustrator)
When physicists and others construct models to explain
the phenomena and laws of nature, do those models actually simulate
what's really out there in the world, or do they only synthesize the way
we think the world is? And how does our cultural upbringing affect the
way we think about the world? In this far-reaching yet penetrating book,
two world-class physicists, one born and raised in the West, the other
in the Far East, examine these and many other intriguing questions not
yet resolved by modern scientists.
"Rothman and Sudarshan reinvent Plato's academy,
melding their thoughts with those of their ancestors and
contemporaries." -- Science News
"A stimulating mix of physics and philosophy,
science and art written for the professional scientist, and the ordinary
fellow who just thinks big thoughts." -- San Diego Union-Tribune
About the Author
Tony Rothman has written several highly acclaimed trade science books,
including A Physicist on Madison Avenue (nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize) and Instant Physics. He is Professor of Physics
at Illinois Wesleyan University.
George Sudarshan is the distinguished former Director
of the Center for Particle Theory at the University of Texas-Austin and
the coauthor of three physics textbooks. Among his discoveries was the
first theory of the weak nuclear force.
A thoughtful debate on some of science's perennial
questions
When scientists and philosophers construct models to
explain the phenomena and laws of nature, do they only represent the
languages we use to describe the world?In this far-reaching,
thought-provoking book, two world-class physicists from different
worlds-one born and raised in the West, the other in the East-examine
some of the most profound questions ever to be investigated by science.
Against the background of one the most imaginative
settings ever devised for a science book-a fictional modern-day version
of Plato's Academy-Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan, along with an
eclectic assortment of students and academics, delve deep into modern
physics and Eastern philosophy, and come up with some startling insights
on the structure of the physical world. To gain these insights, the
Academy members must tackle questions such as, How much of the
millennium synthesis is meaningful and how much is pure nonsense? Which
of the New Age trends are compatible with physics? Can we learn anything
from parallels between physics and Eastern philosophy?
The common thread that runs through the debates is the
tension between the seemingly opposite, but really complementary,
notions of doubt and certainty: doubt that certain fields of science
really succeed in describing the world versus the rock-solid certainty
in the prediction of theories like Newton's mechanics and Einstein's
relativity.
In these intriguing, often funny, sometimes violent,
but always stimulating debates, Rothman and Sudarshan cover a wide range
of subjects, including cosmology, quantum mechanics, theology,
mathematics, complexity, synchronicity, and the past and future.
Not since Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics have
physics and philosophy joined together in such a fascinating book. -- The
publisher, Jeffrey Robbins jeffrey.robbins@awl.com,
November 19, 1998
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