Planck

Summary

Dominique Pagani returns several times, from 2015 to 2021, to a text by Planck that he says he read in a school anthology, without finding the exact reference1. In it Planck defines a physical law as a constant relation between measurable quantities, then asks whether physical laws exist: nothing guarantees that they will hold tomorrow, or that nature will not one day legislate otherwise23. For Dominique Pagani, this is a move from essence to existence4, and he finds in it Hume's critique5. He specifies that Planck does not preach scepticism: he broadened the field of knowledge, but laws hold as long as they work6. He also cites him as the founder of quantum theory, in the first years of the twentieth century, whose constant h is present in almost all of current physics; in his view, quantum physics truly exists since this constant was defined numerically7. Finally, he links him to the break that continues after Einstein.

1. 1#2 Benefits and harms of amnesia…23 Oct 2020 · 41:26
2. 2#1.3 Between crisis and war: philosophising?14 Sept 2015 · 1:16:26
3. 3#9.17 The geopolitical metaphor: Planck, Descartes, Clouscard17 Mar 2021 · 14:07
4. 4#2 Benefits and harms of amnesia…23 Oct 2020 · 38:27
5. 5#1.5 Between crisis and war: philosophising?10 Dec 2015 · 33:39
6. 6#9.17 The geopolitical metaphor: Planck, Descartes, Clouscard17 Mar 2021 · 24:58
7. 7#9.14 How can sciences of history be real?5 Feb 2021 · 1:34:01

Summary produced automatically from 14 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.