Truth and Physics Education: a Heideggerian Analysis __________________________ Robert Keith Shaw 2010 A Thesis Submitted in Fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Auckland ii Abstract This thesis develops a hermeneutic philosophy of science to provide insights into physics education. Modernity cloaks the authentic character of modern physics whenever discoveries entertain us or we judge theory by its use. Those who justify physics education through an appeal to its utility, or who reject truth as an aspect of physics, relativists and constructivists, misunderstand the nature of physics. Demonstrations, not experiments, reveal the essence of physics as two characteristic engagements with truth. First, truth in its guise as correspondence enables a human being to prepare for the distinctive event of physics. Second, the event of physics occurs in human perception when someone forces a hidden reality to disclose an aspect of itself. Thus, the ground of physics is our human involvement with reality achieved by way of truth. To support this account of physics, the thesis reports phenomenological investigations into Isaac Newton‘s involvement with optics and a secondary school physics laboratory. These involve interpretations of Heidegger‘s theory of beings, schema and signification. The project draws upon, and contributes to, the hermeneutic phenomenology of modern physics, a tradition in continental philosophy that begins with Immanuel Kant, and advances particularly from Martin Heidegger to Patrick Heelan. The thesis advocates an ontological pedagogy for modern physics which has as its purpose each individual student‘s engagement with reality and truth. Students may achieve this through demonstrations of phenomena that will enable them to dwell with physics, an experience that contrasts with their embroilment in modernity, and which perpetuates nature‘s own science. iii Acknowledgements The author applauds the encyclopaedic knowledge of philosophy and education, scholarship, persistence and patience of Professor Robin Small, Professor Peter Roberts, and Dr Trevor Thwaites. At the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, sustenance came from Jane Needham, Chris Burns, Philip Clarke and Christine Bain. The Polytechnic financed my visit to Newton sites and libraries in England. Michael Peters and Jim Marshall have been my academic inspiration for over two decades. Colleagues in the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia have also contributed to my work. In addition, the support of Andrew, Melissa, and Kate Shaw, Ruth Bradwell, and Joan Johnston has been magnificent. iv Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 Orientation ............................................................................................................ 1 Modern Physics ........................................................................................... 2 Metaphysics ................................................................................................. 3 Heidegger‘s conception of truth ................................................................. 4 Realism and physics .................................................................................... 5 Ontological terminology ............................................................................. 7 Phenomenology ........................................................................................... 7 Hermeneutics ............................................................................................... 9 The hermeneutic philosophy of science ............................................................ 11 Kant ............................................................................................................ 11 Heidegger ................................................................................................... 14 Heelan ......................................................................................................... 19 The argument of the thesis ................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER 2: TRUTH IS IMPORTANT IN PHYSICS EDUCATION ........... 26 Students and teachers shun truth (Nietzsche) ................................................... 28 Physics teachers are evangelists (Rorty) ........................................................... 32 True propositions in physics education (Aquinas) ........................................... 36 Truth in the philosophy of physics (Newton) ................................................... 40 Reality as the truth that founds physics (Plato and Aristotle) ......................... 45 Students construct physics (Hirst) ..................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 3: HEIDEGGER’S THEORY OF TRUTH ...................................... 57 Truth and beings ................................................................................................. 57 Dasein‘s schema provides for truth ................................................................... 61 The beings of truth ............................................................................................. 65 Ready-to-hand beings (Zuhandenheit) ..................................................... 66 Presence-at-hand beings (Vorhandenheit) ............................................... 68 Others like itself (Dasein) ......................................................................... 70 Dasein‘s existence with truth ............................................................................. 72 Ontological understanding (Verstehen) .................................................... 74 Ontological disposition (Befindlichkeit) .................................................. 77 Ontological nomination (Rede)................................................................. 78 For-the-sake-of-which cascades (Signification) ...................................... 80 CHAPTER 4: PHYSICS AND PHYSICS EDUCATION.................................... 83 Ontic disciplines and regional ontology............................................................ 84 Teach the science of nature ................................................................................ 87 Restrict reality ............................................................................................ 88 Force revelations ........................................................................................ 91 Specialise.................................................................................................... 94 The hermeneutic philosophy of science ............................................................ 96 A proposal for an investigation ....................................................................... 103 An existential analytic of the Dasein as method............................................. 106 Formal indication reveals phenomena.................................................... 107 Ontological biography ............................................................................. 110 v CHAPTER 5: NEWTON DWELLS WITH TRUTH ......................................... 115 Truth in institutions (work) .............................................................................. 116 Stumbling into abidance (discovery)............................................................... 124 Colours (observation) ....................................................................................... 134 Mathematics (disclosures) ............................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 6: STUDENTS DWELL WITH TRUTH ........................................ 154 At the school gate (ontological transitions) .................................................... 155 In the classroom (the beings of teaching) ....................................................... 162 The metre ruler (objects) .................................................................................. 167 School physics (demonstrations) ..................................................................... 174 Teachers and students (truth-beings)............................................................... 183 CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................ 189 The involvements of truth ................................................................................ 190 There are four ways to explicate truth in an existential analytic .......... 190 Disciplines, everydayness, and regionalism .......................................... 192 Truth in discovery .................................................................................... 193 Formations of Alētheia ............................................................................ 196 Disclosure always involves correspondence .......................................... 198 Disclosure and alternative theories of truth ........................................... 199 The essence of modern physics ....................................................................... 201 Physics requires a distinctive disclosure ................................................ 201 The truth of physics appears in demonstrations .................................... 204 Ontic texts do not constitute physics ...................................................... 206 Institutions are not essential to physics .................................................. 207 Physics education ............................................................................................