Maxwell’s Dynamical Philosophy: An Early Solution to the Problem of a Discrepancy between Particles and Waves

Salvo D’Agostino

University of Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.

DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2014.33012                

Abstract

J. C. Maxwell contributed to an important philosophy of science, the so-called Dynamical Philosophy and Dynamical Approach to his theories. He meant it by a Dynamical Approach a theory of motions of the moving particle that could dispense with the detailed mechanism of motion. In order to develop this type of approach, he applied a modified form of Lagrange's equations in his 1865 essay “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” and in his master opus “A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism”. But an attentive historical research has also realized that he used an analogous approach in his contribution to a kinetic theory of gases, the well known statistical law of velocities.

Keywords

Particles and Waves, J. C. Maxwell

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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