10.04J/24.

114J Philosophical History of Energy

(HASS-H Category, CI-H)
Overview:
The very success of scientific theories in predicting physical events often drives still open
conceptual questions into hiding and converts words that are brimming with
philosophical issues into calcified jargon. Since Plato, it has been a central task of
philosophy to challenge the unreflective use of such words, and to keep theoretical
questions open even when the practice of science does not seem to require it. An
important strategy, which this course follows, in considering the philosophical
implications of scientific developments, is to re-enter the ferment of development when
the exact shape of the concepts and theory were still in question, and take seriously the
debates of scientists and philosophers about what these developments add up to.
In looking at the development of the concept of energy, we will consider such issues as:

[1] the ontology of energy and motion in what way can they be said to exist?

[2] the epistemological assumptions that ground the changing view of reality demanded
by the revolution in thermodynamics (such as the emerging probabilistic approach to
understanding and prediction);

[3] the nature of causality; and

[4] the role of mathematics in elucidating or obscuring conceptual questions.

Instructors:

Name Office Hours Office Phone e-mail

Lee Perlman by appointment 24-610 3-2872 lperlman@mit.edu
Bernhardt L. Trout by appointment E19-502B 8-5021 trout@mit.edu
Stellar Site: http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/10/sp10/10.04J/
Meeting Times & Location:
R 2:00 5:00 pm 66-156

Grading and Requirements:

1] 20%: Weekly analyses of reading through 2 page papers that address study questions
(These are due at 11:59 pm, the Tues. before the class in which they will be discussed,
submitted electronically))

2] 20%: Classroom participation and discussion including one formal oral presentation
based on a weekly study question

3] 25%: First Paper (8 pages) (this paper will be re-written to respond to the instructors
comments, and resubmitted. The grade will be assigned at that time.

4] 35%: Final Paper (9 pages)

CI-H Requirements: [a] The first paper must be rewritten [b] one oral presentation

Topics and Assignments

Energeia and the Foundations of Energy

Feb. 4:
Introduction, scope of class, discussion of objectives of the course; overview of energy

Feb. 11:
Aristotle on causality and chance
Readings: Aristotles Physics Bk. II
Study question for 2 page paper: What is the connection between Aristotles notion of a
final cause and his concept energeia?

Feb. 18:
Aristotle on chance and motion
Readings: Aristotles Physics II.1-III.3, VI.9
Study question for 2 page paper: What is motion for Aristotle? Does it exist, and if so, in
what way? Does it have the same kind of existence as a physical object or a mathematical
object?

Motion without Energy

Feb. 25:
Descartes and Newton on Motion
Readings: Descartes Principles of Philosophy: Principles XXIV XXXIII, XXXVI-XLV
Newton Principia: Definitions and Axioms (pp 403-430 in Cohen translation)
Study question for 2 page paper: What are the differences among the conceptions of
motion of Descartes, Newton, and Aristotle?

Vis vivaliving force

March 4:
Philosophical Concepts of Action and Energy: Leibniz
Readings: Leibniz, Specimen Dynamicum
On Substance as Active Force (Vis Viva) vs. Mere Extension (letter to De
Volder)
Further Discussion of Vis Viva (Letter to Bayle)
Study question for 2 page paper: What is the relationship between Leibniz vis viva and
Aristotles energeia?
The Harnessing of Energy

March 11:
The Foundation of the Modern Scientific Project and the Harnessing of Energy
Reading:
Great Instauration and New Atlantis, Francis Bacon
Study question for 2 page paper: How does Bacon conceive of nature, our relation to
nature and knowledge of it?

March 18:
Heat as Caloric and Maximum Work
Readings: Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry; Part I, Ch. 1 Of the combinations of caloric
S. Carnot, Reflections, selections
Study question for 2 page paper: What is heat for Lavoisier and Carnot? What
assumptions about the nature of things and forces might underlie their view of heat?

April 1:
From the Conservation of Energy to the Probabilistic View of Nature
Readings: Robert Mayer, "The Forces of Inorganic Nature" (1842), translation reprinted
in Brush, Kinetic Theory, vol. 1, pages 71-77; James Prescott Joule, On
matter, living force, and heat (lecture given in 1847), reprinted in Brush,
Kinetic Theory, vol. 1, pages 78-88; Further Studies on the Thermal
Equilibrium of Gas Molecules, Ludwig Boltzmann (1872), translation
reprinted in Brush, vol. 1, pages 262-349; The Kinetic Theory of Dissipation,
William Thomson (1874), translation reprinted in Brush, vol. 1, pages 350-361;
On the General Relation of a General Mechanical Theorem to the Second Law
of Thermodynamics, Ludwig Boltzmann (1872), translation reprinted in
Brush, vol. 1, pages 362-367
Paper 1 due

April 8:
The Spirit of Pure Mathematics (as Related to Energy) and Its Alternatives
Readings: J.W. Gibbs, Excerpts from Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances,;
Husserl, The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Philosophy, Pt.
II, Ch. 9
Study question for 2 page paper: Thinking specifically about Husserl, what might be lost
or obscured in our understanding of the kosmos in treting it as graspable entirely through
mathematics (you might also want to think back to our discussion of Aristotle and Zenos
paradoxes)?

April 15:
Debate on the Probabilistic View of Nature
Readings: On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible Processes, E. Zermelo
 (1896), translation reprinted in Brush, vol. 1, pages 403-411; On Zermelos
Paper On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible Processes, (1896) L.
Bolzmann, translation reprinted in Brush, vol. 1, pages 412-420; Dr.
Watsons Proof of Boltzmanns Theorem on Permanence of Distributions, E.
P. Culverwell, Nature, vol. 50, 617 (1894); Boltzmanns Minimum
Function, S.H. Burbury, Nature, vol. 51, 78 (1894); The Kinetic Theory of
Gases, E. P. Culverwell, Nature, vol. 51, 78-9 (1894); On Certain Questions
of the Theory of Gases, L. Boltzmann, Nature, vol. 51, 413-15 (1895)
Study question for 2 page paper: In these readings, are the strictly mechanistic view of
the kosmos and the probabilistic view compatible, or is there a philosophically significant
tension between them?
Paper 1 Re-write due

April 22:
Philosophical Reflections on Energy and Entropy in the 19th Century
Readings: F. Nietzsche, selections from The Will to Power
C.S. Peirce; Causality and Force
Bergson; Creative Evolution; Ideal Genesis of Matter pp. 264-9, 275-80
Study question for 2 page paper: Do these three thinkers conceive of energy in the same
way? Is there use of the concept compatible with the way the scientists who developed
the concept used it?

The Scientific Enterprise

April 29:
Boltzmanns View of Nature: Realism and Empiricism
Readings: Selections from Populre Schriften: On the Methods of Theoretical Physics
(1892), The Second Law of Thermodynamics (1886), On the Significance
of Theories (1890), On Energetics (1896), On the Indispensability of
Atomism in Natural Science (1897), On the Question of the Objective
Existence of Processes in Inanimate Nature (1897), On the Development of
the Methods of Theoretical Physics in Recent Times (1899)
Study question for 2 page paper: Draw a line of development from Aristotles concept of
energeia, through Leibniz vis viva to the conception(s) of energy found in Carnot and
Boltzmann. In doing so, formulate a basic definition of energy, without the use of
anything resembling a formula, which would satisfy all of these thinkers: a basic
concept of energy, of which the thinkers we have studied have different conceptions.

May 6:
Broader implications of the Revolution in Thermodynamics
Readings: apek, Mili; The Philosophical Impact of Contemporary Physics;
Chs. V, VI, VII; Prigogine, Ilya and Stengers, Isabelle; Order out of Chaos; selections
Study Question for 2 page paper: Considering everything weve read this semester, what
is energy?

May 13:
Conclusions
Paper 2 due