Roland Omnes is a professor of physics at the University of Paris. Like many physicists and astronomers of our time, he is concerned about the interpretations of science among the general public, particularly as science becomes increasingly specialized and difficult for non-mathematically and non-scientifically trained persons to understand. There are many areas of misunderstanding in the general conception of physics, with the cutting-edge theories developing out of the strands of relativity and quantum physics that even physicists themselves have trouble understanding and explaining.
Omnes does a good job in the first half of the text tracing an historical development of physics from the earliest, pre-Socratic times in ancient Greece, a time when philosophy and science were not readily separable (a time that is re-emerging in many ways) through to the triumph of science, with physics in the forefront, as a worldview acceptable to Enlightenment thinkers, general academia, and the public at large. The first several chapters each take a turn at this broad topic - a chapter on classical logic comes first, looking in much the way a geometrist might the underlying postulate and axioms of later thought. Omnes then discusses classical physics and astronomy , leading up from the Greeks to Kepler, Newton, and finally Maxwell and his electro-magnetism theories.
The third chapter looks at the historical development of classical mathematics, and the fourth at the philosophy of knowledge, not exclusively but primarily in epistemological terms. Figures such as Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant are discussed here. The history of mathematics and epistemology has a profound if understated effect on later scientific development.
The second primary section deals with what Omnes terms `the fracture'. In discussing the processes of formal mathematics, logic, and physics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he brings up the trouble-spots - Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, varying philosophies in mathematics, relativistic challenges to classical physics models, and the increasing problem of epistemology in the processes of mathematics and science. To what extent are concerns about interpretation valid? Omnes discusses the importance of interpretation as justified for three reasons - that quantum mechanics `could not be more obscure' (and thus in need of interpretative illumination); the idea of who (or what) the observer is, is no longer clear in modern thinking; and, the issues of probability must be reconciled to the reality of existence.
The third primary section is the heart of Omnes' argument. Going beyond the `traditional' quantum theory, he introduces the idea of consistent histories. Omnes argues strongly for a common sense approach (citing John Bell, among others); physics is about physicality, and reality is that which emerges from the structure of the laws of physics and mathematics, a construct Omnes opts to call in a term laced with theological overtones, the Logos. However, this logical construct, deriving from the general laws of nature, cannot be free from the influence of probability.
The final section of the book looks at key questions and topics - how can we define science? What is the proper methodology for science, mathematics and the theory of knowledge in terms how we can know things in a probability-laced, quantum age? How does common sense play a factor in the way things progress from here?
Omnes puts the current state as being able to summarized in three points: logic is part of the world of matter, not a subject merely of our consciousness; that we have enough knowledge now to understand the laws of reality in a common sense manner; and finally, that we can acknowledge the ultimate separation of theory from reality. Beginning in this way, Omnes presents a tentative theory of knowledge destined to influence scientists and philosophers in the future.
Omnes presents his discussion with a minimum of mathematical equations, preferring once again to incorporate his common sense approach even to his own writing. Those who are knowledgeable in the hard sciences and mathematics will find this book intriguing; those without such a background will still find this a useful and sometimes inspiring text.
