{"product_id":"the-physics-of-philosophy-eric-de-leonardis-9798180366320","title":"The Physics of Philosophy: How the Sciences of Nature Have Reshaped Thought","description":"Sometimes the laboratory teaches the philosopher.\u003cp\u003ePhilosophy is not embarrassed by physics. It is, however, periodically reshaped by it. When Newton wrote down the \u003ci\u003ePrincipia\u003c\/i\u003e, when Darwin published the \u003ci\u003eOrigin\u003c\/i\u003e, when Clausius defined entropy, when Einstein redrew simultaneity, when Bohr and Heisenberg quarrelled with Einstein over the meaning of the quantum theory --- a piece of furniture in the philosopher's house moved. Sometimes a small piece. Sometimes the floor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Physics of Philosophy\u003c\/b\u003e traces, theme by theme, the philosophical reshaping that the sciences of nature have provoked. Newton's mechanics gave Kant his categories; thermodynamics gave Bergson his quarrel with the clock; relativity gave Ortega's perspectivism a mathematical spine; quantum mechanics gave Bohr his complementarity and the idea that an observer cannot be safely edited out; cosmology forced \"creation\" out of theology and into the seminar room without resolving anything; information theory asked whether bits, not atoms, are the basement of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author writes as a Catholic intellectual who insists on staying objective: equidistant between scientific reason and the perspective of faith, never claiming that one is superior to the other. Believers and sceptics will both find themselves taken seriously. Three voices recur as quiet companions across the chapters: Fulton J. Sheen for the patient observation that empiricism is itself a metaphysical thesis; Thomas Aquinas for the analogy of being and the structure of secondary causes; and G. K. Chesterton for the paradox that clarifies. The didactic warmth owes a debt to Giovannino Guareschi at the level of style --- concrete images, plain speech --- not of setting. Lemaître's caution --- \"do not confuse the Big Bang with the philosophical or theological notion of creation\" --- is the spirit of the whole book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the second of two twin volumes; the first, \u003ci\u003eThe Philosophy of Physics\u003c\/i\u003e, walks the same road in the opposite direction --- from the philosophical assumptions hidden in physics back to physics. The two books echo one another; they can be read in either order.\u003c\/p\u003eInside the book\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Newtonian metaphysics and Kant's Copernican revolution.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Darwinian turn: from natural theology to the sciences of mind, with the design argument and its critics each given full voice.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe arrow of time, from Clausius to the block universe and back.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe end of physical absolutes (special and general relativity), with a careful note that what is relativised is the geometry of simultaneity, not morality.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQuantum epistemology and what it means for \"the observer.\"\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eComplexity, mind, and the hard problem of consciousness.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCosmology and creation, treated with equidistance and Lemaître's warning kept in view.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eInformation as ontology and the digital-physics conjecture.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe ethics of the sciences and the limits of expert knowledge.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor readers\u003c\/b\u003e who want philosophy that has done its physics homework.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor students\u003c\/b\u003e in either field who want to see how their two worlds touch.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor believers and sceptics alike\u003c\/b\u003e who want a writer they can trust to be fair to both sides.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Eric de Leonardis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798180366320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/06\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.38d","brand":"Eric de Leonardis","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":50665705341183,"sku":"9798180366320","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-physics-of-philosophy-eric-de-leonardis-9798180366320","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}