riezler physics & reality [1940]

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Physics and Reality

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n m c w u m z e o ew m x s w o m n mon M O D E R NP H Y S I G 8

A TA NI N T E R N AT I O N A Lcenenese O F S C I E N C E

a reO LY M P. C A M B R I D G E 1 9 4 0A . D .

KURT RIEZLER 1-\-

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PREFACE

Tms little ‘seek is e. h um b le e x p erim e n t in thought dedicatedto these whe, eenseieus o f s .wiening elesvage between Naturean d M a n,are willing ts inquire into its e s u s e s .It neither will n e x -ean do any harm to ethers w ho feel safe only in the shelter o finheriterl habits.

I present Aristotlewith bath thanks and exeuses. The rst forth e use of fundamental eeneepts, th e seeend for th e misses of h isfame. Hugh Jedell helped me in adjusting the language o f Greekphilosophy to the English idiem. Martha Anderson spared nopains in shaping, forming,polishingm y msnuseript.

E.E.



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PART A

THE I MPASSE



one for the other. All your thinkinggoes on in s u c ham -biguity.Youare aware o f it; hence your disoomfort.

Let this b e enough for the day. My aim was to ascer-tain th e sense you give to th e little word ‘is ’, whether yo u

use it o r go around it. T o airm that mot ion is means toyou that Motionbelongs to a multiplicity,the totality o fwhich you call w o 1 ~ l d . t ' 1 ? h edetermining is done on thestrength of that totality. Y o u dete rmine the What of thething inquired for by its place in the world. -

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CLASSICAL PHYSICS

Toner I intend to w alk along paths familiar to you butuntroddeu a nd a rd uo u s to m e. I shall examine th e anwerof your classical physicsto th e question o f M o tio n . sh allunfold the inherent diculties.with which your own prin-

oiples have encumbered y o u .Maybe these difoultieswillforce yo u to ponder on these principles. What to yo useems mo s t natural is m o s t dubious. ? i

Your idea of motion springs from phoronomy‘.Fromthe variety of changes yo u select‘ one: the apparentlysimplest,‘ movement in spaoo. Its mathematical patternis your model of all ohange. A th ree d imensiona l con-t inuum, Space, is extended in a one dimensional eon-

t inuum, Time. First You relate a oontinuous sequence ofpo ints o f space to a continuous sequence o f po ints o ftime. This four dimensionalourve is your model o f move-ment. T hen yo uasoribe to the points o f yo ur four dimen-sional space-time c on tin uu m v a rio us other quantities,representing the physioal oonditions, energy, potential,eld values. Each of these values is a further way o fdetermination, i.e., a dimension. Finally y o u rep res en ttheir continuous ohanges by curves in th e space ofgures.

T hus yo u ascribe to a point of space-time a set of xquantities--1 being a nite ntunher. This set of quantitiesis a complete description of this point. The totality ofall these sets of quantities wouldbe an exhaus tivedes_orip-tion o f the world.These quantities you assume to-he e o n ~nested by laws ivhichcomprise th e laws of _ w o r l d _geom-

etry as wellas of , ; ia tu__r_e.T he rst refers to the propertiesof sets of four numbers, -each signifying to yo u thepoints of spaoe-time; th e second: refers to th e proper‘

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straint-— -whatdid you discover‘You are surprised, stilldoubting that yo u hiow wha t it is .

T wo things yo u have discovered: That th e laws ofnature you know are derived law s, seoondary no t pri-

mary, that their kind o f simplieityis e o n s e q u e n e eo f amaerosoopie view; T h a t on th e s m all soaie it is no t pos~sible to establish a one to o ne oor respondeuoe be tweenyour measurable perceptions and th e olassioal scheme o forder and to describe Nature by differentiation of ooutin-'uous quantities in th e oontinuum o f spaoe and t ime.

The g igan tio te stimo nydoes no t testify to wha t itseemed to pro ve. Thu you have fallen from your o ld

disguised troubles into new, obvious worries. With thesewe shall deal tomorrow.

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IIIQUANTUM PHYSICS

Snvoa th e mot ion of olassieal physies does not -move letuseput th e question to quantum physios. Here I do no thit upon a nished, self-reliant, ready answer, but ndmyself up against a muddle o f emharrassments. Theseembarrassment , however, arise no t only, as m o s t of yo uassume, from th e ineompatihility of quantum theory witholassioal physios .The main ill would no t be remedied bytaokling th e quantum phenomena with the eoneepts ofelassioal physio. It is more deep-seated. The design ofreality in olassioal physiosoontains greater enigmas thanyour s o-called quantum mystery. Whenquantum physiesshows up these riddles inherent in th e fundamental oon-oepts o f olassioal physios, yo u should he glad to he de-livered from their bondage, instead of lo n g in g tobe againunder their tyranny.

It is better to be oonfronted with a mystery than witha phan ta smagor ia . Y o u have a strange predilection forprohabilitie o f th e numerieal valuel. Y o u olaim withoutreason that '1 mu st he the num erical ooeoientof all proh-abilities arising in Nature, relative to an omniscient ob-s erv er. Yo u would love to make insuioieutknowledge ofthat observer responsib lefor all probabilities < 11 .If yo uwere suooessfulyo u wouldimagine that you have relievedyourselves o f all quandaries. It is a s if y ou w is hed tobuild machines, no t to oomprehend Nature.

Miorophysioshas no answer to the problem of motion.The elassioal ooueept of motionneannotbe applied to thesmallest of the small, though it seems to remain valid forthe la rge. M oreover,obliged to base movementin moore-physios upon movement in mierophysios, yo u have toadmi t that the former, w high y ouknow, originates from

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PART B

THE OTHER WAY



V

O O N U R E T E N E S S .Toner, d ism iss ingth e difculticsinherent in your physics,I sha ll appeal to you as human beings, no t as physicists.Y o u will n eed ev en more patience; both yo u and I willneed th e gracious gods more than ever. I entreat yo u toforget your physics as well as the Aristotle of yourschoolbooks.If any of yo u should know m y writings youneed no t worry lest th e Aristotle speaking to yo u todayhere at Cambridge be no t the very same who two thou-sand years ago, at Athens and Btagira, wrote a varietyof works, some of which, curiously enough, have beenhanded down to you. I feel as free as every one of .you torevise o r to change o r even to forget some o f m y writtenwords. I am faced no t o nly with your t remendous dis-coveries hut also with th e labyrinth o f misinterpretationinto which m y philosophyhas been drawn by the chang-ing interests of th e m a n y centuries and because of myown hortcomiugs and obscurities . I cannot be blind toyour discoveries,no r cling to m y errors, no r agree withmy interpreters. Moreover,I am more interested in N a-ture than in the historical identity vvithniyself. But Ihope you will credit me with hav ing the same desire andthe same reverence for knowledge you concede o ld Aris-totle; and someone among you who happens to be inter-ested in th e historical Aristotle migh tperhaps be inducedby m y w ords to reconsider th e meaning,of m y writings.‘

W h a t is Motion? Htherto I put the question to in-organic nature, to meet you on your own ground. No w Ishall change not merely the thing questioned but th emeaning of th e question itself. I must go behind yourvery rst assumptions. I return to the meaning of th etiny word ‘is ’. ’

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d h f h l l h i f ld h id l f l ld d



g ua rd s th e mystery o f this unity. She loves to conceal-—quiet; -newscast <p |J . s i ' . “Even in revealing she conceals. Inciphers speak the God.

Thus Naturc fo o ls th emortal race o f men. I was fooledmyself when prematurely I mingled half answers to th etw o questions, trying to explain human life by th e stars,th e movements in th e heavens by human life. But youwho smile at my errors have been fooled even worse. Byth e wonder o f th e h arm o n y between calculation and oh-servation Nature has led you astray from th e reality youa re yourselves into a net of concepts, in which you your-

iselves are futile, your weal and woes dumb, your experi-ence a paper of c ip hers y o u are neither able no r vvillingto read: World and Being are disconnected. Y o uhave noWay of understanding the nature of yourselves in th e lightof Nature outside yourselves, no wayof comprehendingNature as one and th e same in ruling yourselves and inruling the ruyriads of beings. Thus you feel homeless -andisolated wherever you are. Amid your vas t knowledgeyou miss th e very knowledge you were horn to desire.Never was th e secret of Nature concealed more thor-oughly than in the revelation of your science. And yousense it.

I invite you to travel an unfamiliar road with m e, toinquire into the inward density of Being. From this theconcepts by which you order th e manifold in space andtim e m u st spring,,i§Herethey m u st pro v e their eoiency .It must be by th e some concepts that you order th e M a n yand articulate Being. This is thetask Nature lays beforeyou : to draw up a scheme of B ein g, a system of concepts,axioms, principles, which , embracingyour inward andoutward experience, will be capable o f covering th ebreadth as well as th e density of Nature,

The old name for such a system is ontology. T his w o rdimplies th e unity underlying a double meaning: th e logosof Being (< 5T 0 1 ?5% ; hires) articulating th e One, and th elogos Of beings (5 rfov hmr swaying thg Q 1 - d g 1 ' qf

the Ma n y.But that double meaning is one. The same con-cepts must articulate concreteness within itself and order

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the manifold, cover th e wide, colorful world and yourown inner reality. Such concepts must he searched for.

It is in o‘oedience_to this task that I stress Mot ion .Your questions concern m o tio n o nlyin th e rder of th eM a n y, but motion so conceived does no t move. Ask th eother question , and Motionwill move.

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cept of th e unity of mot ion yo u will discover that in re -ferring to substance I speak of matter and form; inreferring to mot ion , of potentiality and -actuality. But

Soul means th e potentiality of mo v in g one ‘e self. M a n ,R being § P — 1 l 'lt = 1 'P- Ii ? ~ ' 5 Ye 1 * — - a n i m a t eand endowed with‘logos’--is capable of knowledge. Other beings m ay be



referring to mot ion , of potentiality and actuality. Butth e unity of substance is th e unity of m o tio n. T he oneimplies th e other, _ ,

New I hazard‘a ‘further step. Y o u infuse th e d icho tomyo f b od y a nd soul into your dicho tomyof matter a nd mi nd .'Thereby you cover up th e unity in which both yet remainunited, despite their difference. But whereas th e distinc-stion between matter and mind resides in that twofoldunity of Whence and Whither, in dist inguishingbody andsoul yo u wouldhave to start from the unity of your act-in g and being .acted on, saying soul when you speak of

your mo v in gyourselves , and saying b od y w henyo u referto your being m o v e d . Thus bodies would h a v e the abilityto m o re themselves so far as they are and have souls;souls would be cajiable of being moved so far as they area nd h av e bodies. But in any ease do not iso la te either th eone o r the other. No self-constituentbeing moves withoutbeing moyedfor is moved without moving ;no such beingis a body without soul or a souiwithout body. Neither

would be substance. Your belief in dead matter is just asmistaken as your belief in a life of souls in heaven andhell. Both are abstractions.

Y o u object? Y o u bury th e body of your friend who hasdied--this body is real. Surely, but no t as a O ne in bim-s elf, n o long as a being who is himself to himself . T hedead bo dy is nolonger your friend. It is only a C . ' n e — 1 I Q i 1 §sue n--for something or somebody eise; for instance, for

th e m en who carry it away. Death dissolves th e unity andentinguishes this substance. Life does not end. This m andies..Being is immortal; all beings die. .__ _._ y

I shall attempt another stepin th e fo g of inheri teddis»tinc tions . Ash u man beings yo u wan t to be credited withh av ing no t o nly ouls but someth ing ca lled spirit. _Y o um ay even remind m e that I mysel fdierentiated soul andspirit. I did. But a ga in y ou m a s t go back to the starting

point , that unity of emotion that unites Whenoe and‘Whither. A 1 1 beings are d ire cted to w a rd a ‘Whither ’.108

blind; he can behold th e en d toward which he is directed.T h u s Spiritis Sou1’s eye.

*But ignore this chance digression in which I dealt am -brguouslywith ambiguous terms. Y o u would do better no tto use these terms at all. It is late. Thank you for yourpatience.

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INDEX O F NAMES

Aristotle, 5, 51 , 1 1 9 ff.

Augusirinus, 1 20

Baeh , 88

Gepernielm, 73

Dante, 10‘?Dime, 37

Eddington, 1 19, 1 21Eins t e in ,

2 e ,es ,1 0 4

Galileo, B , 20 , 26, 28, 37 '., 4 5 11 , 11 7 , 119 ff.

Hegel, 120 _Heisenberg, 37, 1 1 9Iierakleitee, 1 20 , 1 21Homer, 107

Kepler, 6 , 37, 45, 65, 119Keehler, Wolfgang, 120

Libnii, 75

Leonardo d a .Vinci, 121

Newton , 23 , 35

Plato, 59, 60, B2, 93 , 96, 1 07, 1 20, 1 21Peseideniee, 1 21Pythagoras, S 0



Sepplie‘, T Bi'f., 84 , 87 ff.

Sehrdinger, 37, 119Sextue, 1 21Shakespeare, 54Seerates, 1 20

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riezler physics & reality [1940]

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