Physics and the quest for transcendence: A Durkheimian approach

Pub Date : 2024-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.endeavour.2024.100913
Frans H. van Lunteren
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Abstract

This essay aims to shed some light on the still common sense of a vocation among scientists. Taking its cue from Paul Forman’s analysis of twentieth-century disciplinary science and Emile Durkheim’s social view of religions, it suggests that modern scientific communities resemble religious communities in their penchant for transcendence. The essay aims to illustrate this perspective by looking at some developments within the physics discipline since its emergence in the late nineteenth century. One indication for this penchant is the tendency to distance oneself from the material conditions which allowed the discipline to flourish. These utilitarian conditions, industrial as well as material, were seen to pose a threat to the disinterested pursuit of truth. Another is the persistent tendency among theoretical physicists to search for otherworldly, immaterial and unifying foundations.

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物理学与对超越的追求:杜克海姆方法
这篇文章旨在阐明科学家中仍然普遍存在的使命感。文章从保罗-福曼(Paul Forman)对二十世纪学科科学的分析和埃米尔-杜克海姆(Emile Durkheim)的宗教社会观出发,认为现代科学团体在追求超越性方面与宗教团体相似。本文旨在通过研究物理学学科自 19 世纪末出现以来的一些发展来说明这一观点。这种嗜好的一个迹象是,人们倾向于远离使这门学科得以蓬勃发展的物质条件。这些功利条件,无论是工业条件还是物质条件,都被视为对无私追求真理的威胁。另一种倾向是,理论物理学家始终倾向于寻找超凡脱俗的、非物质的和统一的基础。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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