Physics
By: Victor • Essay • 259 Words • April 3, 2010 • 936 Views
Physics
From Aristotle to Newton to Einstein to contemporary Grand Unified theoreticians, physics derives its prescience from increasing generality of natural representation. The concept of such a representation can be illustrated more fruitfully than it can be defined (the definition requiring a formulation in set theory). Newtonian mechanics generalizes Aristotle through the intuition of mass that obviates physical distinctions between heaven and earth, celestial and terrestrial substances. Einsteinian concepts of relativity (laws of physics apply in all reference frames, regardless of motion) and spacetime generalize Newtonian ideas of space, time, and motion. Much as God generalizes over Babylonian and local polytheisms.
And there is good reason for the relation. Western science has roots in Greco-Judeo-Christian-Islamic preconceptions of natural unity, the power of abstraction (evident in Greek philosophy and Judaic theology), and temporal linearity. The Jewish myth of Genesis, with its presumption of creation out of unity progressing to multiplicity and complexity, is what the Big Bang