ABSTRACT
The revolution in modern physics has been hailed as a triumph for the ‘no nonsense’ philosophical approach of’positivism’ and Operationalism’, but there have also been much-publicized claims that modern physics is a vindication of such diverse theories as ‘subjective idealism’, ‘dialectical materialism’, ‘panpsychism’, and ‘Buddhist metaphysics’. Common sense also treats people as conscious agents, possessing beliefs and desires, and capable of acting freely. The elastic and adaptable metaphysical scheme known as dialectical materialism attempts to overcome some of these difficulties. Notwithstanding the criticisms of the empiricists, the world picture implicit in classical physics is commonly taken to be that of mechanistic materialism. Logical positivism was a philosophical movement whose development was broadly contemporary with the revolution in modern physics.
