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Submitted October 3, 2023
Published 2023-10-31

Artículos de investigación y ensayos filosóficos

No. 3 (2023): Analítica

SEMANTICS OF GALILEO’S GRAVITY (THOUGHT) EXPERIMENTS


DOI https://doi.org/10.48204/2805-1815.4310

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References
DOI: 10.48204/2805-1815.4310

Published: 2023-10-31

How to Cite

Hertogh, C. P. (2023) “SEMANTICS OF GALILEO’S GRAVITY (THOUGHT) EXPERIMENTS ”, Analítica, (3), pp. 39–63. doi: 10.48204/2805-1815.4310.

Abstract

Galileo Galilei's Gravity TE Falling Bodies may be analyzed as a (series of) elementary ideal Trial and        Error TE (thought experiments) analogous to experiments (E) in science. We consider these TE from classical induction the basic TE of natural sciences. As to bridge the (hermeneutical) gap between E and TE in Galileo and its comments of Aristotle, we introduce two types of TE, Experience TE, and Experiment TE.

The Falling Bodies TE appear in 1638 Dialogues concerning Two New Sciences, and they have recently been updated by Apollo 15's The Hammer and The Feather, a falling experiment conducted on the surface of the moon (Scott, 1971). In recent TE literature it is remarked that they have long been mistaken for a real experiment (Galileo throwing two objects from Tower of Pisa), and it is currently analyzed as a counter-Aristotelian TE of Compound or Strapped Bodies (Gendler, 1996/2000;  Brown 1991a, 1991b; Sorensen, 1992; Brown & Fehige, 2019).

 

In the logical deep analyses we show with help of mathematical predicate logic (1) that the transitive Aristotelian falling theory is replaced by the simpler for symmetrical Galilean gravity theory (as in the  second case all objects fall independent of their masses with the same speed relative to gravitation constant of the heavenly body under investigation) and (2) that in accordance with, e.g., Carnapian assumptions inductive and deductive protocols may be considered complementary, that is, translatable  into each other, which may explain how Trial and Error TE may be interpreted as Ideal(ized) Experiments.

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