Discourse On Method By Natalie Wolchover

In a 2015 article with Quanta Magazine, Natalie Wolchover characterizes theoretical physics as a field lacking in empirical evidence and questions if its theories can be trusted without empirical backing. According to René Descartes’ treatise on rationalism, Descartes would argue that such theories can be accepted without empirical evidence because of the roles of mathematics and the scientific method in the development of ideas in theoretical physics, which provides a partially satisfactory answer to the problem that Wolchover introduces. A unique characteristic of theoretical physics is its heavy use of mathematical rather than experimental proofs. Under Cartesian philosophy, this feature does not automatically invalidate any of the field’s theories. Descartes considers mathematics to be “clear and distinct”, or incapable of being doubted, due to its objectivity (4, 11). In fact, Descartes considers mathematics to be ideal enough to include in his method; he “borrow[s]

In the Discourse on Method, Descartes questions the accuracy of sensory information and introduces the idea that sensory information can be false (18-19). The information used to support hypotheses in experimental physics is collected from laboratories in the form of measurements and calculations based on said measurements and would therefore be designated as sensory information by Descartes. Since much of this observable information is not applicable to theoretical physics, this sector of physics avoids the possibility of using evidence rooted in the proposed deception of the human mind by the senses, and, as a result, would be considered superior to experimental physics by