Faraday and the powers of matter : the role of principles, hypotheses, and the interpretation of experiment in the development of Faraday's field theory, as presented in his Experimental researches in electricity, 1830-1855

Thesis

Faraday's Experimental Researches in Electricity are the account of an active dialogue with nature; an attempt to achieve what Faraday himself described as an ever closer agreement between ‘natural truth and the conventional representation of it'. The object of the present study is to examine the basic concepts of the language in which this dialogue was carried out and to determine those assumptions made by Faraday indeveloping it inte a general and fundamental theory of the properties of matter: the field theory. I have sought answers to three main questions:

(1) How does Faraday progress from the observation of phenomena and the analysis of experimental data to the development of specific theories of electrical, chemical, and magnetic actionand, finally, to a general theory on which an apparently unobservable entity, the field, is posited as the causal basis of the properties of matter and of the laws of those properties?

(2) How does Faraday use the concept of an atom or ultimate particular, and why does he abandon this concept in favour of that of the field as the basis of the properties of all individuals, thereby subverting the atomic theory, the mechanical-corpuscular view of nature, and the related notions of materiality, existence, and explanation?

(3) How does Faraday justify the theoretical conclusions that he reaches at each of the main stages of his scientific career? In particular, how does he justify the claim that the field is a real entity in view of the fact that he has defined scientific knowledge as consisting only in direct perception and in empirically determined laws?

In order to answer the first of these questions I make an analysis of Faraday's use of certain descriptive terms and explanatory concepts, of the way in which these are refined or redefined in the light of both expected and unexpected experimental results, and of the role played by certain higher-order principles or postulates. I show that these principles specify Faraday's theoretical concepts (such as power, action, atomicity, polarity) and his meta-theoretical concepts (causation, existence, identity, explanation), and that they govern his interpretation of experience and, therefore, his evaluation of rival theories. Only when these principles have been identified can the second and third questions be answered, for I show that Faraday's theoretical conclusions and his attitude toward the theoretical utility of atoms or individuals as ultimate entities turn upon these beliefs about what is possible.

Continued in thesis ...

Authors: Gooding, DC

• Alternative title: Matter, force, and the field in the work of Faraday, Thomson, and Maxwell : 1830-80
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-m8d5bapxv
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: interpretation; Faraday; field theory; matter; Great Britain; experiments; Experimental researches in electricity; hypotheses; electricity; physicists; science
• Subjects: Science -- Experiments -- Technique; Physicists -- Great Britain; Science -- Methodology -- History; Science -- Experiments -- Philosophy; Faraday, Michael, 1791-1867. Experimental researches in electricity