Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1995 Rhetoric and metaphor in the emergence of modern physics Richard David Johnson Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, and the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Richard David, "Rhetoric and metaphor in the emergence of modern physics " (1995). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 11007. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/11007 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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For the^r^u^ College Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1995 UMI Number: 9606614 ONI Microform 9606614 Copyright 1995, by DHI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, HI 48103 1 Rhetoric and metaphor in the emergence of modem physics Richard David Johnson Major Professor: Dr. Scott Consigny Iowa State University This dissertation offers a series of rhetorical analyses of the seminal papers of the quantum theory. Specifically, it discusses the central role that metaphors play in the invention of new scientific arguments that form the basis of schools of scientific thought. The theory of metaphor that is developed for analysis is situated into the tradition of the rhetoric of the "older" sophists of ancient Greece. Metaphor, or more accurately 'trope,' was a constitutive feature of sophistic beliefs about language and rhetoric. Applied to scientific texts, the sophistic understanding of metaphor illusti'ates how scientific beliefs can be brought into contrast, leading to conceptual changes in scientific communities. The study applies metaphorical analysis to three different papers from quantum theory. First, it analyzes Max Planck's original 1900 quantum paper, "On the Theory of the Energy Distribution Law of the Normal Specuum," showing how his use of another metaphor leads to the unexpected emergence of the quantum postulate as a new metaphor. Second, it analyzes Albert Einstein's 1905 light quanta paper, "Concerning a Heuristic Point of View about the Creation and Transformation of Light," showing how new scientific metaphors, like the quantum postulate, urge other scientists to change their perspective and adopt a new understanding of reality. Finally, it analyzes Niels Bohr's 1927 Copenhagen interpretation paper, 'The Quantum Postulate and the Recent Development of Atomic Theory," showing how the quantum postulate leads to a new world view for modem physics. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE QUANTUM THEORY AND RHETORIC 1 CHAPTER TWO INVENTION AND METAPHOR IN 23 SCIENTinC DISCOURSE CHAPTER THREE THE EMERGENCE OF A DOMINANT 67 METAPHOR IN PHYSICS; MAX PLANCK'S 'QUA>nUM' METAPHOR CHAPTER FOUR METAPHOR AND INTERPRETATION: 103 ALBERT EINSTEIN'S NEW PERSPECTIVE CHAPTER FIVE NIELS BOHR AND THE COPENHAGEN 127 INTERPRETATION; NEW METAPHORS FOR A QUANTUM REALITY CHAPTER SIX IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 156 WORKS CITED 171 1 CHAPTER ONE QUANTUM THEORY AND RHETORIC Our task is not to penetrate into the essence of things, the meaning of which we dcm't know anyway, but rather to develop concepts which allow us to talk in a productive way about phenomena in nature. Niels Bohr The discipline of physics in the twentieth century is defined by the development of two theoretical narratives that dramatically changed the way scientists interpret nature. The first is the theory of relativity. The second is the quantum theory. Of these two narratives, the quantum theory, especially "quantum mechanics," is far more revolutionary in scope.' Undoubtedly, tiie tiieory of relativity dramatically changed physicists' understandings of time, space, and movement, but in many ways Einstein's notion of a relativistic universe represented the final summit of classical physics witli its reliance on notions of causality, certainty, and objectivity. In contrast, quantum mechanics undermined much of the core of physics by abandoning cherished notions of causality, certainty, and objectivity that had been unquestioned pillars of physics since Newton. With the evolution of the quantum theory in the first quarter of the twentieth century, the physics community underwent a dramatic change in beliefs about nature. This period marks tiie transition from what is commonly called "classical physics" to "modem physics." Though few would deny that the physics community experienced an important change in beliefs in the first quarter of the twentieth century, historians, philosophers, and sociologists tend to disagree about how such large-scale conceptual changes in the body of scientific beliefs can be interpreted or explained. One of the first comprehensive attempts at such an explanation, Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of ' J.C. Polkinghome, The Quantum World (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1984) ix. 2 Scientific Revolutions, introduced many scholars to the notion that scientific revolutions are periods in which the members of scientific communities dramatically change the way they conceive of reality. Kuhn writes What are scientific revolutions, and what is their function in scientific development?... scientific revolutions are here taken to be those non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one.'- Although Kuhn's tiieories have been disputed on many fronts, especially by philosophers, his notion that the history of science is not progressive has had a lasting impact on numerous fields. Indeed, the terms paradigm and revolution on which he attempted to confer formalized meanings have been worn smooth with usage. In the aftermath of the debates over Kuhn's book, however, we find ourselves still laboring to explain tiiese periods of "revolution" in science. They seem to be periods of great conceptual change and intellectual creativity in which the members of the physics community begin to regard natural phenomena in new ways. Moreover, these transitions between theoretical perspectives, as Kuhn points out, seem to be heavily reliant on scientists' use of persuasion, as factions within tiie scientific community argue for conceptually different descriptions of nature.^ Kuhn claims that "When paradigms enter, as they must, into a debate about paradigm choice, their role is necessarily circular... the status of the circular argument is only that of persuasion."'' By acknowledging the importance of persuasion in scientific change and advocacy, scholars like Kuhn, who research science and scientists, stress the cultural and social 2 Thomas Kubn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2 ed. (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1970) 92. ^ Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 94. Kuhn, TTte Structure of Scientific Revolutions 94. 3 aspects of the development of scientific theories. They also intensify the importance of argumentation, or rhetoric, as an important means of conceptual change in science. Marcello Pera stresses this important relationship between scientific theories and rhetoric when he claims, scientific discourse is not rhetorical in an ornamental way, as if scientific claims could be proved on certain grounds