The unity of physics
What is the “unity of physics” and how far can it be accomplished? Before considering these questions let us look at a wider problem—the unification of all the sciences. This is itself a special case of an even wider question, the unification of all human knowledge, which I cannot dwell on here. The term “unification of the sciences” usually refers to a unification of the results obtained in the sciences; the problem of coordinating the scattered and immense body of specialized findings into a systematic whole is a real one and cannot be neglected. It includes a comparison of the methods and results of cosmology, geology, physics, biology, behavioral science, history and the social sciences in different ages. But first of all it implies a unification of scientific language. Some difficulties in science, even within a specialized discipline, arise because one cannot be sure whether two scientists speak about the same or different problems or whether they state the same or different opinions in their differ...