On the Philosophical Foundations of Physics: An Experimentalists Perspective

Since I first became enthralled with physics as a teenager, I’ve been intrigued by the philosophical aspects of the discipline. As I approached the end of my career as an experimental physicist and observational astronomer (I’m now retired), I decided to return to these philosophical matters, some of which were still perturbing me, to see if I could finally make enough sense of them to quiet my discomfort. I’ve more or less succeeded in this quest in large part, I believe, because of my experimentalist background and a concomitant proclivity for pragmatic explanation. My purpose in this essay is to sketch a pragmatic worldview with which one might be able to approach fundamental philosophical and interpretational problems. You might ask how I can possibly expect to say anything meaningful in the less than 50 pages of the present essay? On the other hand, it might be an advantage to avoid the depth and precision that would limit flexibility in dealing with the philosophical conundrums I seek to resolve. In any case, I here offer my thoughts on the philosophical foundations of physics.