#### TL;DR
- In this paper, the author argues about the importance...
Alpheus W. Smith was...
The first interpretations of Nature were animistic. Humans at the t...
Teleology is the explanation for something in function of its end o...
*...
**Euclidian geometry** - models the properties of shapes on a plane...
Here the author is describing the scientific method. It is a method...
For Newton space and time were absolute, there was nothing that cou...
Physicists believed that atoms were like indivisible perfect sphere...
A quick reminder of Newton's laws of motion:
#### 1. Newton's ...
A **physical theory is only useful if it describes reality and can ...
> ***“Each man's rainbow is a selection of his own eyes, a subjecti...
In physical thinking, the principles we develop must be in agreemen...
Here the author advocates for the application of the scientific met...
A scientific hypothesis is a tentative explanation about nature. Th...
> ***“Intelligence in itself has no power. It is intelligence integ...
Physics
as
a
Way
of
Thinking*
ALPHEUS
W
SMITHt
There
is
always
before
us
one
supreme
question.
From
what
angle
may
we
view
the
physical
and
social
world
so
that
it
may
be
reasonably
intelligible,
so
that
we
may feel
a
friendly
relation
to
it
and
accept
it
as
our
home.
The
Buddhist
finds
his
answer
in
a
toleration
for
what
he
may
neither
understand
nor
alter.
The
Greeks
like others
under
similar
conditions
asked
this
question
and
replied
with
a
lucidity
peculiar
to
them-
selves,
"It
is
something
like
myself."
In
such
an
answer
there
is
no
attempt
to
rise
above
immediate
human
needs
and
satis-
factions
and
to
find
universal
relations
which
are
independent
of
time
and
space.
The
physical
scientist
on
the
other
hand
must
thrust
aside
all
personal
and
social
implications
of
the
physical
world
and
address
himself
to
finding
order
and
system
among
physical
phenomena.
Here
it
is
proposed
to
look
at
some
of
the
more
essential
characteristics
of
physical
thinking,
to
trace
the
way
in
which
they
have
developed
and
to
suggest
how
this
way
of
thinking
may
have
validity
in
other
fields
of
thought.
Approached
in
this
way,
physics
is
considered
not
as
a
framework
which
determines
our
material
environment
but
as
a
type
of
thinking
which
penetrates
our
intellectual
atmos-
phere
-
not
as
a
record
of
achievements
and
tendencies
but
as
an indication
of
essential
characteristics
of
the
human
mind
in
its
attempt
to
build around
itself
an
ordered
and
organized
universe
which
will
be
an
agreeable
intellectual
habitation.
To
get
an impression
of
primitive
man's
approach
to
the
physical
universe
one
can
scarcely
do
better than
to
quote
from
G.
Lowes
Dickinson.
"When
we
try
to
conceive
of
the
state
of
mind
of
primitive
man,
the
first
thing
that
occurs
to
us
is
the
*
Much
which
this
paper
contains,
both
in
ideas
and
phraseology,
I
owe
to
Jeans,
Planck,
Eddington,
and
Dingle.
t
Chairman,
Department
of Physics
andAstronomy,
Ohio
State
University