Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction and background
- 2 Origin of the S matrix: Heisenberg's program as a background to dispersion theory
- 3 Dispersion relations
- 4 Another route to a theory based on analytic reaction amplitudes
- 5 The analytic S matrix
- 6 The bootstrap and Regge poles
- 7 An autonomous S-matrix program
- 8 The duality program
- 9 ‘Data’ for a methodological study
- 10 Methodological lessons
- Appendix
- Notes
- References
- Glossary of technical terms (from physics and from philosophy)
- Some key figures and their positions
- Index
10 - Methodological lessons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction and background
- 2 Origin of the S matrix: Heisenberg's program as a background to dispersion theory
- 3 Dispersion relations
- 4 Another route to a theory based on analytic reaction amplitudes
- 5 The analytic S matrix
- 6 The bootstrap and Regge poles
- 7 An autonomous S-matrix program
- 8 The duality program
- 9 ‘Data’ for a methodological study
- 10 Methodological lessons
- Appendix
- Notes
- References
- Glossary of technical terms (from physics and from philosophy)
- Some key figures and their positions
- Index
Summary
Here we present some philosophical lessons drawn from, and discussion of, questions raised by this case study. The previous chapters ought to be able to be taken or left independently of this chapter, but not vice versa. That is, some familiarity with the facts of the case study is necessary for an appreciation of the argument of this chapter. We point out specific features of our story that are relevant to constructing and evaluating a methodology of scientific practice. The discussion is not based only upon or restricted exclusively to the S-matrix case study. Several methodologies currently on offer are reviewed in the light of that case study and of the other episodes in modern physics reviewed in the previous chapter. We argue for a multifaceted and evolving description or model of scientific practice.
Since there is a good deal of over and back between the specific case studies and general methodological issues in this chapter, it may be helpful to outline here the structure of the argument to be followed. Some general characteristics of science, as identified by modern philosophers of science, are first outlined (Section 10.1) as a preliminary to comparing them with those features of scientific practice found in the SMT study and in our summary of other major episodes in modern physics in Chapter 9. In Section 10.2 the recent works by Pickering (1984) and by Galison (1987) are used to illustrate the role sociological factors have played in scientific practice in high-energy physics (HEP), both theoretical and experimental.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Theory Construction and Selection in Modern PhysicsThe S Matrix, pp. 238 - 290Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1990