Abstract
SIR JAMES JEANS'S recent book, “Physics and Philosophy”, has once more raised the question of the bearing of the 'new physics' upon the philosophical doctrines of metaphysical materialism and human free will. It is not a little odd that at a time when some philosophers are beginning to wonder whether it makes sense to say that materialism is true (or that it is false), and whether, therefore, it makes sense to say that idealism is true (or that it is false), some eminent physicists and mathematicians are asserting that the new physics provides arguments that are very strong, even if not conclusive, in favour of establishing the truth of metaphysical idealism. Thus, for example, Sir James Jeans concludes : “Modern physics is not altogether antagonistic to an objective idealism like that of Hegel”*. He further contends that the new physics has an important bearing upon the problem of free will.
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STEBBING, L. PHYSICS, MATERIALISM, AND FREE WILL. Nature 151, 686–687 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151686a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151686a0