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SUMMARY:Frogs in space: physiological research into metric relationships a
 nd laws of nature - Lydia Patton (Virginia Tech)
DTSTART:20170525T143000Z
DTEND:20170525T160000Z
UID:TALK72303@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Marta Halina
DESCRIPTION:A surprising amount of research into theories of space and tim
 e in the nineteenth century involved experiments done on frogs' reactions 
 to stimuli. William James and Hugo Munsterberg performed classic such expe
 riments\, but there was a much broader group involved. Those who cited the
  research and used it in their discussions of spatial relationships\, and 
 of the relationship between physiological and metric space\, include Henri
  Poincaré and Ernst Mach. Hermann von Helmholtz used experiments on frogs
  to establish a number of his most important results\, including the claim
  that sensations are not propagated instantaneously but take time to propa
 gate along a nerve. Helmholtz used other experiments on frogs to argue aga
 inst the existence of a vital force\, a key element of his proof of the co
 nservation of force (energy)\, and a turning point in nineteenth-century p
 hysiology and medicine. Frogs mediated between the physiological and the m
 etric: in theories of space and movement\, and in theories of metabolism\,
  energy and sensation. The formulation of well-known scientific laws durin
 g this time sprang from physiological as well as physical reasoning\, and 
 the domain of application of those laws extended to living bodies as well 
 as to inert physical masses. Philosophers who argued that spatiotemporal r
 elationships are fundamental to all sciences\, like Cassirer and arguably 
 Poincaré\, were drawing on this history in part. The history of amphibiou
 s research forms part of the background to accounts of scientific law\, li
 ke Wigner's and Mach's\, that draw on evolution\, perception and conscious
 ness\, including Wigner's controversial argument that consciousness collap
 ses the wave function.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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