Mathematical Metaphor Research Articles

Symmetry and Entropy: Mathematical Metaphors in the Work of Levi-Strauss [and Comments and Reply

Evaluation de l'apport de la theorie structuraliste de C. Levi-Strauss qui s'inscrit dans la preoccupation croissante pour les mathematiques, la physique et la biologie dans la premiere moitie du siecle. Son effort pour combiner l'approche structurelle a la theorisation du desordre et du changement est un aspect essentiel de sa demarche. Suivi de divers commentaires et d'une reponse de l'A.

William Thomson's dynamical theory: An insight into a scientist's thinking

Summary William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, played a major role in the nineteenth century in changing scientific theory from the statical view, associated with imponderables, to the dynamical view which conceived of energy as a separate and convertible entity. Thomson's conversion from the statical to the dynamical view of nature was due to the influence of experimentalists, Michael Faraday and James Prescott Joule. It was Thomson's use of mathematical metaphor that enabled him to interpret on a theoretical level the physical explanation given by Faraday and Joule.