Maxwello elektromagnetizmo kontekstai: modelis, metafora ir tikrovė
Contexts of Maxwell’s Electromagnetism: Model, Metaphor and Reality

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses relations among model, metaphor and reality. The consideration of metaphor follows Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic guidelines and brings one to the terrain of the kinship between metaphors and models. Today’s narrow specialization clashes with the common-measure approaches of art and science which opened multi-dimensional “creative workshops”. When visiting the 19th century workshop of James Clerk Maxwell, one explores a spacious world of scientific research. From reflections on the mechanical model Maxwell used to explain electromagnetic phenomena, the assumptions of physical science, subtleties of the struggles and dissemination of ideas and the whole dialectic of theories emerge. The remains of works and the communications and life of Maxwell, his fellows, reviewers and opponents all testify to the links among models, metaphors and reality.

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