John,
Thanks for summarizing the issue so clearly.
This has traditionally been one of the most
difficult points to get across both on this
List and within the wider spheres of Peirce
readership. I can remember quoting Peirce,
Heisenberg, and a couple of yours on cause
as long as 16 or 17 years ago but the pull
of causal determination over informational
determination appears to be as unrelenting
as gravitation itself.
Regards,
Jon
On 10/21/2016 3:30 PM, John F Sowa wrote:
On 10/21/2016 2:05 PM, Jerry LR Chandler wrote:
The role of efficient causality is extremely perplex in life
and in the chemical sciences.
That is true of all the sciences, especially physics. When I used
the word 'modern', I meant the informal use by Hume. But as early
as the 17th century, physicists discovered that the differential
equations by Newton and Leibniz (local "efficient" causation) could
be derived by minimizing integral equations. That minimum could be
interpreted as global "final" causation. For a summary of the history,
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_action
Peirce understood and used that mathematics in his research in
measuring gravity, in his analysis of the experimental error,
and in his design of better instruments that minimize the error.
The operations of the instruments are determined by the math.
It makes no sense to talk about which aspects of the instruments
or their operation are the causes or the effects.
With general relativity and quantum electrodynamics, the equations
and their explanations become far more complex. In technical
discussions, physicists never use the word 'cause'. When they
develop theories and use them to solve problems, they focus on
the math. If they use the word 'cause', it's only in short,
informal, nontechnical, approximate explanations.
Peirce knew the full history from the ancient Greeks to the early
20th century. He even anticipated some aspects of relativity
and quantum mechanics. Unlike Einstein, he would have been
delighted by the discovery of tychism in QM.
John
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