Space and Geometry in the Light of Physiological, Psychological and Physical Inquiry

Download or read book Space and Geometry in the Light of Physiological, Psychological and Physical Inquiry written by Ernst Mach and published by Open Court Classics. This book was released on 1906 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1906. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... SPACE AND GEOMETRY FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PHYSICAL INQUIRY.1 Our notions of space are rooted in our physiological organism. Geometric concepts are the product of the idealization of physical experiences of space. Systems of geometry, finally, originate in the logical classification of the conceptual materials so obtained. All three factors have left their indubitable traces in modern geometry. Epistemological inquiries regarding space and geometry accordingly concern the physiologist, the psychologist, the physicist, the mathematician, the philosopher, and the logician alike, and they can be gradually carried to their definitive solution only by the consideration of the widely disparate points of view which are here offered. Awakening in early youth to full consciousness, we find ourselves in possession of the notion of a space surrounding and encompassing our body, in which space move divers bodies, now altering and now retaining their size and shape. It is impossible for us to ascertain how this notion has been begotten. Only the most thoroughgoing analysis of experiments purposefully and methodically performed has enabled us to conjecture that inborn idiosyncracies of the body have cooperated to this end with simple and crude experiences of a purely physical character. Sensational And Locative Qualties. An object seen or touched is distinguished not only by a sensational quality (as "red," "rough," "cold," etc.), but also by a locative quality (as "to the left," "above," "before," etc.). The sensational quality may remain the same, while the locative quality continuously changes; that is, the same sensuous object may move in space. Phenomena of this kind being again and again induced by physico-physilogical circumstances, it is found that however ...