Physics envy
The term physics envy is used to criticize modern writing and research of academics working in areas such as "
Background
The success of physics in "mathematicizing" itself, particularly since
Evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr discusses the issue of the inability to reduce biology to its mathematical basis in his book What Makes Biology Unique?.[7] Noam Chomsky discusses the ability and desirability of reduction to its mathematical basis in his article "Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden."[8] Chomsky contributed extensively to the development of the field of theoretical linguistics, a formal science.
Examples
The Social Sciences have been accused of possessing an inferiority complex, which has been associated with physics envy. For instance, positivist scientists accept a mistaken image of natural science so it can be applied to the social sciences.[9] The phenomenon also exists in business strategy research as demonstrated by historian Alfred Chandler Jr.'s strategy structure model. This framework holds that a firm must evaluate the environment in order to set up its structure that will implement strategies.[10] Chandler also maintained that there is close connection "between mathematics, physics, and engineering graduates and the systemizing of the business strategy paradigm".[10]
In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), physics envy arises in cases of projects that lack interaction with each other, using only one idea due to the manner by which new hypotheses are tested and discarded in the pursuit of one true intelligence.[11]
See also
- Scientism
- Academese
- Newtonianism
- Philosophy of biology
- Philosophy of physics
- Philosophy of science
- Reductionism
- Unreasonable ineffectiveness of mathematics
Notes
- New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ Sokal, Alan. "Physics envy in psychology: A cautionary tale" (PDF). New York University. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ Bennis, Warren; O'Toole, James (May 2005). "How Business Schools Lost Their Way". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-571-26519-0.
- ^ Smith, Noah (12 December 2015). "Academic B.S. as artificial barriers to entry". Economics, neologisms, and distraction. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
- ^ For example, Eugene Wigner remarked "The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve."[citation needed], while Richard Feynman said "To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in."[citation needed]
- ^ Mayr (2004)
- ^ Chomsky (2009)
- ISBN 9780739173992.
- ^ ISBN 9781843768357.
- ISBN 9783540237334.
References
- Chomsky, N. (2009). "The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?". .
- Collected in Chomsky, Noam (2010). "1. The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?". In Jean Bricmont; Julie Franck (eds.). Chomsky Notebook. ISBN 978-0-231-14475-9.
- Collected in Chomsky, Noam (2010). "1. The Mysteries of Nature: How Deeply Hidden?". In Jean Bricmont; Julie Franck (eds.). Chomsky Notebook.
- Csikszent, M.; Hektner, J.M.; Schmidt, J.A. (2006). Experience Sampling Method: Measuring the Quality of Everyday Life. ISBN 978-1-4129-4923-1.
- Mayr, E. (2004). What Makes Biology Unique? Considerations on the Autonomy of a Scientific Discipline. ISBN 978-0-521-84114-6.
- Mirowski, P. (1999). "The Ironies of Physics Envy". More Heat Than Light. ISBN 0-521-42689-8.
- Schabas, M. (1993). "What's So Wrong with Physics Envy?". In de Marchi, N. (ed.). Non-Natural Social Science. ISBN 0-8223-1410-X.
- Schram, S.; Caterino, B. (2006). Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. ISBN 978-0-8147-4033-0.
External links
- Overcoming ‘Physics Envy’, New York Times, published March 30, 2012
- Physics Envy: "quants" and financial models, essay and book review of Models Behaving Badly by Emanuel Derman. Review by Burton Malkiel, WSJ, December 14, 2011
- [1] Andrew Lo (MIT Sloan School) and Mark Mueller (MIT Sloan School and MIT Center for Theoretical Physics), "Warning: Physics Envy May be Hazardous to Your Wealth!" published in the Journal of Investment Management, Volume 8, Number 2, Second Quarter 2010 [2]