About

MOTIVATION

The Foundational Research Institute (FORI) Physics Division was designed to disseminate and foster scientific knowledge in the field of physics. 

FORI Physics Divison GOALS:

• To disseminate scientific knowledge and provide the public with a deeper understanding of how science is done.
• To present alternative and innovative ideas to catalyze the progress in physics.
• To discuss and provide a space for the discovery of new fundamental principles with the potential to transform the current views.
• To support and encourage the traditional way of doing physics by reincorporating the philosophical analysis into physics.

FORI physics bases its goals in the following statements: 

• According the Karl Popper scientific knowledge is nothing but the refinement of vulgar knowledge. Scientific knowledge finds its power in a scientific theory which is a logical structure aimed at explaining a body of experimental observations based on some fundamental assumptions (axioms or principles) and concepts that in general may emerge from either direct observations of physical phenomena or metaphysical sources. Regardless of their nature, principles and concepts must be arranged in a logical construct avoiding internal inconsistencies. In a scientific theory not only a qualitative description of the phenomenon suffices but also a quantitative one,  therefore theories should be written in the language of mathematics.
• The previous statements also implicitly demand that a scientist should not accept an experimental or theoretical result without a critical assessment. 

• When several theories, based on different principles, explain the same phenomena the physicist should decide among them on the following criteria:
• Which one is the most reasonable, plausible or credible not only on the view of the experts but of society as well?
• What theory explains most physical phenomena with the minimum of assumptions? What's the simplest and most general theory?
• What theory makes new physical predictions that can be reasonably tested by direct experimentation.
• A physicist should always be opened to different alternative approaches
• When there is only one theory, that theory should be held until a new rival theory emerges. Then the reassessment process repeats. 

FORI Physics considers as fundamental for the progress of physics the compelling work of Thomas Kuhn "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions". Here he stated that the progress of science undergoes several stages, namely: 1) A period of crisis when empirical evidence accumulates and starts to seriously challenge the prevailing paradigm; 2) a period of confusion when new theoretical approaches with different foundations start to emerge and the experimental evidence continue to pile up; at this stage the vast majority of physicists shows resistance to accept the new proposals and try to prevail the current paradigm; 3) the period when a small section of physicists has realized the flaws in the prevailing assumptions and start to construct the new foundations; at the end of this period a new serious rival theory has ripened; 4) the revolution sets in when the new approach is strongly promoted; 5) once the new theory is generally accepted, the community of scientists work "peacefully" exploring its applications and limits (normal science). As time goes by new experiments appear and the process starts over.

AIM AND SCOPE

The philosophy followed in this project is scientific criticism advanced by Karl Popper. FORI Physics deals with open questions in physics and provides a space for fields of physics that are considered unconventional by the mainstream of physics and therefore not supported by traditional funding institutions.

As such FORI  Physics is committed to publish works on several topics in physics with the highest standards in science. Based on scientific criticism, FORI Physics is compelled to publish critics, comments, research articles and essays on physics which would be vital and crucial for the progress of this science. In FORI Physics we believe physics in the interface between the second and third period above. The experimental evidence accumulated so far is enough to challenge the prevailing paradigm, as well, a series of new approaches have been put forward so far. Therefore, it is the commitment of FORI Physics to support scientific knowledge to fully achieve the third period.

Copyright 2012, FORI  Physics Division.