The Analysis of Matter BY BERTRAND RUSSELL F.R.S. NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE Sc COMPANY, INC. LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. 1927 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY BILLING AND SONS, LTD., GUILDFORD AND ESHER [Pg v] CONTENTS PREFACE vii CHAPTER PAGE I. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM 1 PART I THE LOGICAL ANALYSIS OF PHYSICS II. PRE-RELATIVITY PHYSICS 13 III. ELECTRONS AND PROTONS 24 IV. THE THEORY OF QUANTA 30 V. THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY 48 VI. THE GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY 55 VII. THE METHOD OF TENSORS 63 VIII. GEODESICS 72 IX. INVARIANTS AND THEIR PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION 84 X. WEYL'S THEORY 95 XI. THE PRINCIPLE OF DIFFERENTIAL LAWS 101 XII. MEASUREMENT 109 XIII. MATTER AND SPACE 121 XIV. THE ABSTRACTNESS OF PHYSICS 130 PART II PHYSICS AND PERCEPTION XV. FROM PRIMITIVE PERCEPTION TO COMMON SENSE 141 XVI. FROM COMMON SENSE TO PHYSICS 156 XVII. WHAT IS AN EMPIRICAL SCIENCE? 169 XVIII. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF PARTICULAR MATTERS OF FACT 178 XIX. DATA, INFERENCES, HYPOTHESES, AND THEORIES 187 XX. THE CAUSAL THEORY OF PERCEPTION 197 XXI. PERCEPTION AND OBJECTIVITY 218 XXII. THE BELIEF IN GENERAL LAWS 229 XXIII. SUBSTANCE 238 XXIV. IMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURE IN SCIENTIFIC INFERENCE 249 XXV. PERCEPTION FROM THE STANDPOINT OF PHYSICS 257 XXVI. NON-MENTAL ANALOGUES TO PERCEPTION 265[Pg vi] PART III THE STRUCTURE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD XXVII. PARTICULARS AND EVENTS 275 XXVIII. THE CONSTRUCTION OF POINTS 290 XXIX. SPACE-TIME ORDER 303 XXX. CAUSAL LINES 313 XXXI. EXTRINSIC CAUSAL LAWS 324 XXXII. PHYSICAL AND PERCEPTUAL SPACE-TIME 333 XXXIII. PERIODICITY AND QUALITATIVE SERIES 343 XXXIV. TYPES OF PHYSICAL OCCURRENCES 355 XXXV. CAUSALITY AND INTERVAL 367 XXXVI. THE GENESIS OF SPACE-TIME 376 XXXVII. PHYSICS AND NEUTRAL MONISM 382 XXXVIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 394 INDEX 403 [Pg vii] PREFACE