Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:06:24.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mechanical materialism and modern physics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2022

Boris M. Hessen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Historical Document
Information
Science in Context , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 155 - 186
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

The following is a translation of Gessen 1928, 5–47. Hessen’s original references have been replaced by English translations where possible. References to texts not cited by Hessen have been provided by the translator. This translation was completed with the aid of translation software [Translator’s Note; hereafter, “TN”].

References

§. Bibliography

Boltzmann, Ludwig. 1974. “On the Principles of Mechanics.” In Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems: Selected Writings. Edited by McGuinness, Brian and translated by Foulkes, Paul, 129–152. Dordrecht/Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company.10.1007/978-94-010-2091-6_10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boltzmann, Ludwig. 2003. “Further Studies on the Thermal Equilibrium of Gas Molecules.” In The Kinetic Theory of Gases: An Anthology of Classic Papers with Historical Commentary. Edited by Stephen, G. Brush and Nancy, S. Hall, 262–349. London: Imperial College Press.Google Scholar
Caneva, Kenneth L. 1993. Robert Mayer and the Conservation of Energy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chant, Clarence A. 1940. “Death of Sir Oliver Lodge.” Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 34: 435–436.Google Scholar
Clausius, Rudolf. 1867. The Mechanical Theory of Heat, with Its Applications to the Steam-Engine and to the Physical Properties of Bodies. Edited and translated by Thomas Archer Hirst. London: John van Voorst.Google Scholar
Cournot, Antoine A. 2013. Exposition of the Theory of Chances and Probabilities. Translated by Sheynin, Oscar. Berlin: NG Verlag.Google Scholar
Descartes, René. 1985. Principles of Philosophy. In The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vol. 1. Edited and translated by Cottingham, John, Stoothoff, Robert & Murdoch, Dugald, 177–291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doremus, Charles. 1907. “Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot.” Science 25: 592–595.10.1126/science.25.641.592CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. 1900. The Brothers Karamazov. Translated by Garnett, Constance. New York: The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Engels, Friedrich. 2010a. Dialectics of Nature. In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 25 – Engels. Edited by Karmanova, Natalia, et al. and translated by Dutt, Clemens, 313–629. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Engels, Friedrich. 2010b. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy. In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 26 – Engels 1882–89. Edited by Tartakovsky, B., et al. and translated by Jacbos, Nicholas, et al., 353–398. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Graham, Loren R. 1987. Science, Philosophy, and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Loren R. 1993. Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gregersen, Erik, ed. 2011. The Britannica Guide to Statistics and Probability. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 2010. The Science of Logic. Translated by Di Giovanni, George. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hessen, Boris. 2019. “Preface to Articles by A. Einstein and J.J. Thomson.” Translated by Sean Winkler. Society and Politics 13: 87–102.Google Scholar
Huygens, Christiaan. 1912. Treatise on Light. Translated by Silvanus, P. Thompson. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Ings, Simon. 2016. Stalin and the Scientists: A History of Triumph and Tragedy, 1905–1953. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.Google Scholar
The Institution of Engineering and Technology. “A History of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.” Accessed 17 February 2021. https://www.theiet.org/membership/library-archives/the-iet-archives/iet-history/a-history-of-the-institution-of-engineering-and-technology/ Google Scholar
Isaacs, Bernard, ed. 1977. V.I. Lenin: Collected Works, vol. 34 – Letters, November 1895–November 1911. Translated by Dutt, C.. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Joravsky, David. 2009. Soviet Marxism and Natural Science, 1917–1932. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marquis de Laplace, Pierre-Simon. 1902. A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities. Translated by Truscott, Frederick W. & Frederick, L. Emory. New York: John Wiley & Sons; London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.Google Scholar
Martin, Thierry & Touffut, Jean-Pierre. 2007. Introduction to Augustin Cournot: Modeling Economics. Edited by Touffut, Jean-Pierre, 1–7. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Lenin, Vladimir. 1977. Materialism and Empirio-Criticism: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy. In V.I. Lenin – Collected Works, Vol. 14; 1908. Edited by Dutt, Clemens and translated by Fineberg, Abraham. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Lodge, Oliver. 1928a. “The Revolution in Physics.” Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 66: 1005–1020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, Oliver. 1928b. “The Revolution in Physics.” Nature 3073: 429–431.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 2010. Economic Manuscripts of 1857–1858 (First Version of Capital). In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 28 – Marx 1857–61. Edited by Karmanova, Natalia, et al. and translated by Wangermann, Ernst. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Maxwell, James C. 1882. “Does the Progress of Physical Science Tend to Give Any Advantage to the Opinion of Necessity (or Determinism) over that of the Contingency of Events and the Freedom of Will?” In The Life of James Clerk Maxwell with a Selection from his Correspondence and Occasional Writings and a Sketch of His Contributions to Science. Edited by Campbell, Lewis & Garnett, William, 209–213. London: Macmillan and Co.Google Scholar
Maxwell, James C. 2003. “Atom.” In The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. 2. Edited by William, D. Niven, 445–484. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Millikan, Robert A. 1927. Evolution in Science and Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Molière. 2003. The Imaginary Invalid. Translated by Charles H. Wall. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9070/9070-h/9070-h.htm (last accessed 23 February 2021), online version of Molière. 1673. The Imaginary Invalid.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1960a. “The Place of Modern Physics in the Mechanical View of Nature.” In A Survey of Physical Theory [Formerly Titled: A Survey of Physics]. Translated by Jones, R. and Williams, D.H., 27–44. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1960b. “Dynamical Laws and Statistical Laws.” In A Survey of Physical Theory [Formerly Titled: A Survey of Physics]. Translated by Jones, R. & Williams, D.H., 56–68. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1969. Treatise on Thermodynamics, 3rd Ed. Translated by Ogg, Alexander. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Poincaré, Henri. 1914. Science and Method. Translated by Maitland, Francis. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.Google Scholar
Rao, Y.V.C. 1997. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. Hyderguda: Universities Press [India] Private Limited.Google Scholar
Rouse Ball, Walter W. 1908. A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 4th Ed. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Sheehan, Helena. 1985. Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press International, Inc.Google Scholar
Temple, George F.J. 1956. “Obituary: Edmund Taylor Whittaker, 1873–1956.” Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society 2: 298–325.Google Scholar
Thompson, Silvanus P. 1910. The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs; in Two Volumes, Vol. 2. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Thomson, William. 1853. “On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with Numerical Results Deduced from Mr. Joule’s Equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault’s Observations on Steam.” Transactions of the Royal Society in Edinburgh 20 (2): 261–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Helmholtz, Hermann. 1853. “On the Conservation of Force; a Physical Memoir [Read before the Physical Society of Berlin on the 23rd of July, 1847. Berlin. G. Reimer].” In Scientific Memoirs, Selected from The Transactions of Foreign Academies of Science and from Foreign Journals, vol. 1. Edited by Tyndall, John & Francis, William and translated by Tyndall, John, 114–162. London: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
von Helmholtz, Hermann. 1885. “On the Aim and Progress of Physical Science: An Opening Address Delivered at the Naturforscher versammlung, in Innsbrück, 1869.” In Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. Translated by Atkinson, Edmund, 363–397. New York: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Wetter, Gustav A. 1964. Dialectical Materialism: A Historical and Systematic Survey of Philosophy in the Soviet Union. Translated by Heath, Peter. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Whittaker, Edmund T. 1910. A History of the Theories of Æther and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the Nineteenth Century. New York/Bombay/Calcutta: Longmans, Green, and Co.Google Scholar
Boltzmann, Ludwig. 1974. “On the Principles of Mechanics.” In Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems: Selected Writings. Edited by McGuinness, Brian and translated by Foulkes, Paul, 129–152. Dordrecht/Boston: D. Reidel Publishing Company.10.1007/978-94-010-2091-6_10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boltzmann, Ludwig. 2003. “Further Studies on the Thermal Equilibrium of Gas Molecules.” In The Kinetic Theory of Gases: An Anthology of Classic Papers with Historical Commentary. Edited by Stephen, G. Brush and Nancy, S. Hall, 262–349. London: Imperial College Press.Google Scholar
Caneva, Kenneth L. 1993. Robert Mayer and the Conservation of Energy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chant, Clarence A. 1940. “Death of Sir Oliver Lodge.” Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 34: 435–436.Google Scholar
Clausius, Rudolf. 1867. The Mechanical Theory of Heat, with Its Applications to the Steam-Engine and to the Physical Properties of Bodies. Edited and translated by Thomas Archer Hirst. London: John van Voorst.Google Scholar
Cournot, Antoine A. 2013. Exposition of the Theory of Chances and Probabilities. Translated by Sheynin, Oscar. Berlin: NG Verlag.Google Scholar
Descartes, René. 1985. Principles of Philosophy. In The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vol. 1. Edited and translated by Cottingham, John, Stoothoff, Robert & Murdoch, Dugald, 177–291. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doremus, Charles. 1907. “Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot.” Science 25: 592–595.10.1126/science.25.641.592CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. 1900. The Brothers Karamazov. Translated by Garnett, Constance. New York: The Modern Library.Google Scholar
Engels, Friedrich. 2010a. Dialectics of Nature. In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 25 – Engels. Edited by Karmanova, Natalia, et al. and translated by Dutt, Clemens, 313–629. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Engels, Friedrich. 2010b. Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy. In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 26 – Engels 1882–89. Edited by Tartakovsky, B., et al. and translated by Jacbos, Nicholas, et al., 353–398. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Graham, Loren R. 1987. Science, Philosophy, and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Graham, Loren R. 1993. Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gregersen, Erik, ed. 2011. The Britannica Guide to Statistics and Probability. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing.Google Scholar
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 2010. The Science of Logic. Translated by Di Giovanni, George. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hessen, Boris. 2019. “Preface to Articles by A. Einstein and J.J. Thomson.” Translated by Sean Winkler. Society and Politics 13: 87–102.Google Scholar
Huygens, Christiaan. 1912. Treatise on Light. Translated by Silvanus, P. Thompson. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Ings, Simon. 2016. Stalin and the Scientists: A History of Triumph and Tragedy, 1905–1953. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.Google Scholar
The Institution of Engineering and Technology. “A History of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.” Accessed 17 February 2021. https://www.theiet.org/membership/library-archives/the-iet-archives/iet-history/a-history-of-the-institution-of-engineering-and-technology/ Google Scholar
Isaacs, Bernard, ed. 1977. V.I. Lenin: Collected Works, vol. 34 – Letters, November 1895–November 1911. Translated by Dutt, C.. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Joravsky, David. 2009. Soviet Marxism and Natural Science, 1917–1932. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marquis de Laplace, Pierre-Simon. 1902. A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities. Translated by Truscott, Frederick W. & Frederick, L. Emory. New York: John Wiley & Sons; London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.Google Scholar
Martin, Thierry & Touffut, Jean-Pierre. 2007. Introduction to Augustin Cournot: Modeling Economics. Edited by Touffut, Jean-Pierre, 1–7. Cheltenham/Northampton: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Lenin, Vladimir. 1977. Materialism and Empirio-Criticism: Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy. In V.I. Lenin – Collected Works, Vol. 14; 1908. Edited by Dutt, Clemens and translated by Fineberg, Abraham. Moscow: Progress Publishers.Google Scholar
Lodge, Oliver. 1928a. “The Revolution in Physics.” Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 66: 1005–1020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, Oliver. 1928b. “The Revolution in Physics.” Nature 3073: 429–431.Google Scholar
Marx, Karl. 2010. Economic Manuscripts of 1857–1858 (First Version of Capital). In Marx & Engels: Collected Works, vol. 28 – Marx 1857–61. Edited by Karmanova, Natalia, et al. and translated by Wangermann, Ernst. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Maxwell, James C. 1882. “Does the Progress of Physical Science Tend to Give Any Advantage to the Opinion of Necessity (or Determinism) over that of the Contingency of Events and the Freedom of Will?” In The Life of James Clerk Maxwell with a Selection from his Correspondence and Occasional Writings and a Sketch of His Contributions to Science. Edited by Campbell, Lewis & Garnett, William, 209–213. London: Macmillan and Co.Google Scholar
Maxwell, James C. 2003. “Atom.” In The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell, vol. 2. Edited by William, D. Niven, 445–484. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Millikan, Robert A. 1927. Evolution in Science and Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Molière. 2003. The Imaginary Invalid. Translated by Charles H. Wall. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9070/9070-h/9070-h.htm (last accessed 23 February 2021), online version of Molière. 1673. The Imaginary Invalid.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1960a. “The Place of Modern Physics in the Mechanical View of Nature.” In A Survey of Physical Theory [Formerly Titled: A Survey of Physics]. Translated by Jones, R. and Williams, D.H., 27–44. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1960b. “Dynamical Laws and Statistical Laws.” In A Survey of Physical Theory [Formerly Titled: A Survey of Physics]. Translated by Jones, R. & Williams, D.H., 56–68. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Planck, Max. 1969. Treatise on Thermodynamics, 3rd Ed. Translated by Ogg, Alexander. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc.Google Scholar
Poincaré, Henri. 1914. Science and Method. Translated by Maitland, Francis. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons.Google Scholar
Rao, Y.V.C. 1997. Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. Hyderguda: Universities Press [India] Private Limited.Google Scholar
Rouse Ball, Walter W. 1908. A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 4th Ed. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Sheehan, Helena. 1985. Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History. Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press International, Inc.Google Scholar
Temple, George F.J. 1956. “Obituary: Edmund Taylor Whittaker, 1873–1956.” Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society 2: 298–325.Google Scholar
Thompson, Silvanus P. 1910. The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs; in Two Volumes, Vol. 2. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited.Google Scholar
Thomson, William. 1853. “On the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with Numerical Results Deduced from Mr. Joule’s Equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M. Regnault’s Observations on Steam.” Transactions of the Royal Society in Edinburgh 20 (2): 261–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Helmholtz, Hermann. 1853. “On the Conservation of Force; a Physical Memoir [Read before the Physical Society of Berlin on the 23rd of July, 1847. Berlin. G. Reimer].” In Scientific Memoirs, Selected from The Transactions of Foreign Academies of Science and from Foreign Journals, vol. 1. Edited by Tyndall, John & Francis, William and translated by Tyndall, John, 114–162. London: Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
von Helmholtz, Hermann. 1885. “On the Aim and Progress of Physical Science: An Opening Address Delivered at the Naturforscher versammlung, in Innsbrück, 1869.” In Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. Translated by Atkinson, Edmund, 363–397. New York: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Wetter, Gustav A. 1964. Dialectical Materialism: A Historical and Systematic Survey of Philosophy in the Soviet Union. Translated by Heath, Peter. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Whittaker, Edmund T. 1910. A History of the Theories of Æther and Electricity: From the Age of Descartes to the Close of the Nineteenth Century. New York/Bombay/Calcutta: Longmans, Green, and Co.Google Scholar

German

du Bois-Reymond, Emil. 1886a. „Ueber die Grenzen des Naturekennens. In Reden von Emil du Bois-Reymond, Erste Folge, 105–140. Leipzig: Verlag von Veit & Comp.Google Scholar
du Bois-Reymond, Emil. 1886b. „Goethe und kein Ende. In Reden von Emil du Bois-Reymond, Erste Folge, 418–447. Leipzig: Verlag von Veit & Comp.Google Scholar
Smoluchowski, Marian. 1918. „Über den Begriff des Zufalls und den Ursprung der Wahrscheinlichkeitsgesetze in der Physik. Die Naturwissenschaften 6: 253–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Helmholtz, Hermann. 1871. „Rede zum Gedächtnis an Gustav Magnus. Berlin.Google Scholar
von Mayer, Julius R. 1845. Die organische Bewegung in ihrem Zusammenhange mit dem Stoffwechsel. Ein Beitrag zur Naturkunde. Heilbronn: C. Drechsler.Google Scholar

Russian

Akselrod, Lyubov I. 1928. V zashchitu dialekticheskogo materializma. Protiv skholastiki [In Defense of Dialectical Materialism: Against Scholasticism]. Moskva [Moscow]/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo [State Publishing House].Google Scholar
Gessen, Boris M. 1928. «Mekhanicheskiy materializm i sovremennaya fizika [Mechanistic Materialism and Modern Physics]». Pod znamenem marksizma [Under the Banner of Marxism] 7 (8): 5–47.Google Scholar
Skvortsov-Stepanov, Ivan I. 1928a. «Osnovnyye itogi diskussii [The Main Results of the Discussion]». In Dialekticheskiy materializm i deborinskaya shkola [Dialectical Materialism and the Deborinite School], 7–68. Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo.Google Scholar
Skvortsov-Stepanov, Ivan I. 1928b. «Dialekticheskoye O moikh oshibkakh, „Otkrytykh i ispravlennykh t. Stenom [On My Mistakes, ‘Open and Corrected’ by C. Stan]». In Dialekticheskiy materializm i deborinskaya shkola, 69–79. Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo.Google Scholar
Skvortsov-Stepanov, Ivan I. 1928c. «Dialekticheskoye ponimaniye prirody. mekhanisticheskoye ponimaniye [The Dialectical Conception of Nature: The Mechanistic Conception]». In Dialekticheskiy materializm i deborinskaya shkola, 80–121. Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo.Google Scholar
Timiryazev, Arkady K. 1923. Kineticheskaya teoriya materii [The Kinetic Theory of Matter]. Moskva/Petrograd: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo.Google Scholar
Timiryazev, Kliment A. 1920. «Lavuaz’ye XIX stoletiya (Marselen Bertlo. 1827–1907) [The Lavoisier of the 19th Century (Marcellin Berthelot, 1827–1907)]». In Nauka i demokratiya. Sbornik statey 1904–1919 gg. Chast’ 1 [Science and Democracy: Collected Articles, 1904–1919, vol. 1], 680–747. Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoye izdatel’stvo.Google Scholar