Physics and the Ideals of Human Reason

Physicists often idealize their field as remote from the ordinary affairs of life, but of course this is valid only in specific sense. Historians in recent times have tried to specify how the sciences, including physics, have not only contributed to shaping ideas and technologies, but draw from its resources, and not only material ones. Peter Galison has shown how Einstein's experience in a Swiss patent office linked up with elaborate, passionate negotiations over the terms of a political and technological standardization of clocks and of time. This lecture will consider episodes from the history of physics involving statistical tools and methods and drawing on historical experience, to reconstruct human reason. Is this a proper task for scientists? It is perhaps too easy to say no.