Husserl and problem of unobservable entities in physics

Khandan, Mesbah; Nouri, Morteza

doi:10.30465/ps.2024.48181.1709

Husserl and problem of unobservable entities in physics

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mesbah Khandan ¹

Morteza Nouri ²

¹ Ph.D. Student in philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

² Asistant Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran,

10.30465/ps.2024.48181.1709

Abstract

Husserl presents a scheme of his philosophy of physics in paragraphs 40 to 52 of treatise Ideas1, relying on the foundations of the idea of transcendental phenomenology. The main pillar of his theory is the discussion of the nature and existence of unobservable and theoretical entities in mathematical physics. He expands his opinion while rejecting and violating two theories of primary-secondary qualities and critical realism and tries to propose an alternative model. In this article, I will first reread the clear and explicit aspect of Husserl's theory about unobservable entities by referring to the text of Ideas1, then by proposing an epistemological framework based on transcendental phenomenology, I will try to complete and reconstruct the ambiguous and controversial aspects of Husserl's theory. In this regard, I will argue that theoretical entities in physics have a "Universal" status, and therefore the discussion of what they are should be done using the doctrine of categorial intuition. In the following, while paying attention to the two ways of realizing universals in Husserl's view (Platonic and Kantian) and emphasizing the role of a ‘primary imaginary given’ in the constitution of universals, I will consider theoretical entities as universals in the Kantian sense and I will give evaluate the advantages and limitations of this interpretation.

Keywords

Husserl

Transcendental Phenomenology

Unobservable Entities

Categorial Intuition

Philosophy of Physics

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