Scientific Models in Optics
From Metaphor to Metonymy and Back
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4456054 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stuart Peterfreund (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 59 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5037 • E-ISSN: 1086-3222 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2709953 |
| PMID | 11623392 |
| OpenAlex | W2314796313 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
In his recent and very fine account, The Rise of the Wave Theory ofLight (1989), Jed Z. Buchwald ascribes the triumph of the wave theory advanced by proponents such as Thomas Young and Augustin Jean Fresnel over the emission theory that preceded it to the fact that, from the 1 830s on, the sine qua non of a theory's explanatory power became its ability to yield quantitative results.' Buchwald's argument seems sound enough, and yet it does not take the measure fully of another related and simultaneous change that he discusses: the movement from a selectionist conception of light as a ray phenomenon to an undularist conception of light as a wave phenomenon. For even relatively late selectionists such as David Brewster and John Herschel, writing in 1831 and 1827 respectively, Light consists of spatially discrete physical 'rays'.... [T]he ray possesses an identity as a physical object and so can be singled out and counted. Rays may be gathered in sets or 'bundles'..., and the elements of a bundle may share certain properties.2
Linguistics · Metaphor · Metaphor and metonymy · Metonymy · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
| Citations per year | 0.04 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2000 - 2000 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |