Product Description: R.I.G Hughes presents a series of eight philosophical essays on the theoretical practices of physics. The first two essays examine these practices as they appear in physicists' treatises (e.g. Newton's Principia and Opticks) and journal articles (by Einstein, Bohm and Pines, Aharonov and Bohm)...read more

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It is at first surprising, then reassuring, that a book so gently (yet freshly; the first of several appendices provides an "elementary proof of Gleason's Theorem") mathematical as this one is the work of an associate professor of philosophy (at Yale). He is, however, a philosopher with a professional interest in the deep (and these days once again lively) topic to which his title alludes, and who recognizes that useful participation in the discussion of such matters presumes familiarity with some mathematics (none of it terribly abstruse, but some of it not terribly familiar, even to physicists). Part I (five chapters) provides review of the mathematical/conceptual structure of quantum theory, while Part II (five chapters) addresses problems posed by the critical interpretation (as opposed to the mere application) of that theory. A useful work, of interest to specialists, yet accessible to advanced undergraduates and determined general readers. (NW) Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.