Q&A: Physics as a Result of Logic
Physics as a Result of Logic
Question
In the last lesson in the “Faith” series, you referred to the claim that physics is a result of mathematics as an unreasonable approach.
However, in your approach to the problem of evil in the world, you suggest that God created the best possible universe. In other words, the laws of physics are the result of a (mathematical?) optimization problem.
Why, in your view, is such an approach reasonable, unlike the first approach?
Answer
The model is as follows: the Holy One, blessed be He, has a set of goals, and now He is looking for the optimal way to achieve them. That way is entirely mathematical. Does that mean that all of physics is mathematics? Absolutely not. The mathematics is only in the path from the goals to the means. In order to know God’s goals (that is, the laws of nature), one must make observations, and this cannot be known through conceptual analysis alone.
Discussion on Answer
Good luck with that.
So, you agree that physics is a logical analysis of a priori claims, but on the practical level it isn’t feasible to discover it that way?
If you can know God’s goals a priori, then good luck.
By the same token, you can say that physics is a logical analysis of the laws of nature. If you can know them a priori, then indeed physics is a priori.
And this tautology too is a priori, and even analytic.
In short, the discussion has been exhausted.
Ultimately, God’s goals too are a priori. And the laws of physics are the result of mathematical analysis of them.
That is, it’s not far-fetched that when God determined the laws of physics, He used only considerations of common sense and logic.
Today, when we try to trace His reasoning, we need to perform experiments. But on the other hand—is it really so far-fetched that we might discover physics in its “original” form? That is, find the set of a priori assumptions according to which physics was determined.