Concept
Classical physics
Overview
Classical physics consists of scientific theories in the field of physics that are non-quantum or both non-quantum and non-relativistic, depending on the context. In historical discussions, classical physics refers to pre-1900 physics, while modern physics refers to post-1900 physics, which incorporates elements of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. However, relativity is based on classical field theory rather than quantum field theory, and is often categorized as a part of "classical physics".
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Broadly speaking, traditional physics has collapsed into two portions, truisms and geography. There are, however, newer portions of physics, such as the theory of quanta, which do not come under this head, but appear to give genuine knowledge of laws reached by experiment. The world which the theory of relativity presents to our imagination is not so much a world of “things” in “motion” as a world of _events_.
Bertrand Russell, The A B C of Relativity
States what Classical physics is.
But, regarding merely the present constitution of the science, the only auxiliary quantities habitually introduced in the place of the primitive quantities in the _Transcendental Analysis_ are what are called, 1⁰, _infinitely small_ elements, the _differentials_ (of different orders) of those quantities, if we regard this analysis in the manner of LEIBNITZ; or, 2⁰, the _fluxions_, the limits of the ratios of the…
Auguste Comte, The philosophy of mathematics
States what Classical physics is; the author is tied to Classical physics in the knowledge graph.
Everything in relativity-theory goes (in a sense) from next to next; there are no direct relations between distant events, such as distance in time or space. And of course there are no forces acting at a distance; in fact, except as a convenient fiction, there are no “forces” at all.
Bertrand Russell, Philosophy
States what Classical physics is.
Philosophers who discussed Classical physics
Related ideas
- Luminiferous aether
- Molecule
- Classical mechanics
- Maxwell's equations
- Physics
- Quantum mechanics
- Quantum field theory
- Thermodynamics
- Theory of relativity
- Newton's laws of motion
- Dover Publications
- Atom
Place in the tradition
Part of Philosophy of biology.