ФИЗИКАЛИЗМ

Physicalism

A conception in logical positivism, elaborated by Carnap, Neurath, and others, that every descriptive term in science can be translated into the language of physics. Propositions which cannot be translated are regarded as devoid of scientific meaning. The problem of the unity of all scientific knowledge and of its objective truth is thus replaced by the search of a common, or, to be more exact, a single language of science.

Instead of analysing the objective connection of different sciences and their unity, physicalists seek to translate specific kinds of existing knowledge into the language of physics and, on this basis, achieve their unification. This is a kind of revival by neo-positivism of the mechanistic principle of reducibility. But in this the logical positivists failed and subsequently many of them broke with 'orthodox' Physicalism.

Физикализм

Одна из концепций неопозитивизма, состоящая в требовании перевода предложений конкретных наук на язык физики - «физикалий» (основные представители - О. Нейрат, Р. Карнап). Ф. был основой неопозитивистской идеи унификации всех наук на базе универсального языка; все попытки реализации её оказались неудачными. См. Неопозитивизм и лит. при этой статье.