Ideas of Michael Faraday, by Theme

[British, 1791 - 1867, Chemist and physicist at the Royal Institution, London.]

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27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / b. Fields
Faraday's single field of variable forces introduces a criterion of Unity into what is ultimate
     Full Idea: In Faraday lines of force picture the directional structure of powers,...so the fundamental entity is a single, unified field. ...A new criterion of the ultimate has stepped in: Unity. The universal field is still the final explanation, but not invariant.
     From: report of Michael Faraday (Experimental Researches in Electricity [1859]) by Harré,R./Madden,E.H. - Causal Powers 9.II.B
     A reaction: Almost Parmenides, except that the field is not invariant. But that was always the ancient objection to the One - that it offered no explanation of change.