List:
This website:
http://www.eoht.info/page/Atomic+theory
gives a short survey of atomism, from classic Greek philosophy to modern times,
including its relation to sub-atomic physics. The stages of development of
philosophical thought about the nature of matter are presented diagrammatical
Jerry, list,
Jerry, thanks for this very handy "survey of atomism," as you phrased it.
As for Peirce being "a follower of Boscovich," there are only a very few
mentions of him in the CP, mainly in relation to Kant's logic. There are
some brief remarks on "Boschovichian points" in the 1898 Cambrid
Interesting, Jerry. The Scottish Common Sense philosophers (Thomas Reid and his
followers) were Boscovichians, but they thought just that atoms were very
small, not points, since one could not confirm they were points, but they acted
like points, being very small. They were quite influential on
John, Steven, Gary:
The critical role of Boscovich in CSP's scientific thinking is expressed very
clearly in W8:284-285, in an article for Nation, entitled "The Periodic Law."
In the last paragraph, he hypothesizes ... "it might be supposed that most of
the existing chemical elements have be
Charles' many appeals to the continuum and (essentially) deconstruction
(the inverse of the constructive approach) suggest that his appeal to
atomism and constructive approaches is exactly as his appeal is to
evolution. IOW, atoms are ideas, in my terms "ways of speaking about the
world," Charles'
