Physics as the science of the possible: Discovery in the age of Godel (1.1 Generality of physics)

TL;DR

This book explores the philosophical and epistemological foundations of physics, emphasizing its role as the science of the possible and examining its generality through Godel's Incompleteness Theorems.

Contribution

It offers a novel perspective on physics by integrating Godel's theorems to analyze the scope and limits of physical theories and understanding.

Findings

Physics as the science of the possible emphasizes the role of mathematical incompleteness.

The approach bridges human cognition and physical reality through epistemological insights.

Godel's theorems highlight fundamental limitations in physical theories.

Abstract

This book represents a continuation, an elaboration, and possibly a clear explanation of the ideas which were expounded in the previous book Time and Methods in Environmental Interfaces Modeling (henceforth abbreviated as TM, Mihailovic et al 2016). In that book as well as in whole of our published scientific work we were either implicitly or explicitly driven by a need to understand how the space between the human mind and observed physical reality is bridged. Here we use synonymously the terms physical reality and reality since the reality is all of physical existence, and concepts related to it as opposed to those products of our mind which remain on the level of mind. Relying on that book we add our new experiences in research in which physics plays a dominant role. To these experiences we attached some epistemological features as well as a view of physics through the optics of Godel Incompleteness Theorems (Godel 1931). In the Prolegomena (Chapter 1) we consider some aspects of generality of physics (1.1 Generality of physics)