Particle Metaphysics

Author : Brigitte Falkenburg
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3540337326
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Particle Metaphysics written by Brigitte Falkenburg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-03-21 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are the particles of modern physics "real" or are they virtual entities, their existence deduced merely by abstract theories? This book examines the continuing debate regarding the inner constitution of matter by exploring the particle concept in physics. It investigates if the particles of particle physics are real or not. Readers interested in the "true meaning" of such physical concepts will find this book informative and thought provoking.

Author : Peter J. Lewis
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190618795
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Quantum Ontology written by Peter J. Lewis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphysicians should pay attention to quantum mechanics. Why? Not because it provides definitive answers to many metaphysical questions-the theory itself is remarkably silent on the nature of the physical world, and the various interpretations of the theory on offer present conflicting ontological pictures. Rather, quantum mechanics is essential to the metaphysician because it reshapes standard metaphysical debates and opens up unforeseen new metaphysical possibilities. Even if quantum mechanics provides few clear answers, there are good reasons to think that any adequate understanding of the quantum world will result in a radical reshaping of our classical world-view in some way or other. Whatever the world is like at the atomic scale, it is almost certainly not the swarm of particles pushed around by forces that is often presupposed. This book guides readers through the theory of quantum mechanics and its implications for metaphysics in a clear and accessible way. The theory and its various interpretations are presented with a minimum of technicality. The consequences of these interpretations for metaphysical debates concerning realism, indeterminacy, causation, determinism, holism, and individuality (among other topics) are explored in detail, stressing the novel form that the debates take given the empirical facts in the quantum domain. While quantum mechanics may not deliver unconditional pronouncements on these issues, the range of possibilities consistent with our knowledge of the empirical world is relatively small-and each possibility is metaphysically revisionary in some way. This book will appeal to researchers, students, and anybody else interested in how science informs our world-view.

Author : R. Campbell
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 113750238X
Total Pages : 333 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Metaphysics of Emergence written by R. Campbell and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-04-16 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that a plausible account of emergence requires replacing the traditional assumption that what primarily exists are particular entities with generic processes. Traversing contemporary physics and issues of identity over time, it then proceeds to develop a metaphysical taxonomy of emergent entities and of the character of human life.

Author : Matthias Egg
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110354403
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scientific Realism in Particle Physics written by Matthias Egg and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-08-19 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Particle physics studies highly complex processes which cannot be directly observed. Scientific realism claims that we are nevertheless warranted in believing that these processes really occur and that the objects involved in them really exist. This book defends a version of scientific realism, called causal realism, in the context of particle physics. The first part of the book introduces the central theses and arguments in the recent philosophical debate on scientific realism and discusses entity realism, which is the most important precursor of causal realism. It also argues against the view that the very debate on scientific realism is not worth pursuing at all. In the second part, causal realism is developed and the key distinction between two kinds of warrant for scientific claims is clarified. This distinction proves its usefulness in a case study analyzing the discovery of the neutrino. It is also shown to be effective against an influential kind of pessimism, according to which even our best present theories are likely to be replaced some day by radically distinct alternatives. The final part discusses some specific challenges posed to realism by quantum physics, such as non-locality, delayed choice and the absence of particles in relativistic quantum theories.

Author : Robert W. Clowes
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030726444
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Mind-Technology Problem written by Robert W. Clowes and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited book deepens the engagement between 21st century philosophy of mind and the emerging technologies which are transforming our environment. Many new technologies appear to have important implications for the human mind, the nature of our cognition, our sense of identity and even perhaps what we think human beings are. They prompt questions such as: Would an uploaded mind be 'me'? Does our reliance on smart phones, or wearable gadgets enhance or diminish the human mind? and: How does our deep reliance upon ambient artificial intelligence change the shape of the human mind? Readers will discover the best philosophical analysis of what current and near future 21st technology means for the metaphysics of mind. Important questions are addressed on matters relating to the extended mind and the distributed self. Expert authors explore the role that the ubiquitous smart phone might have in creating new forms of self-knowledge. They consider machine consciousness, brain enhancement and smart ambient technology, and what they can tell us about phenomenal consciousness. While ideas of artificial general intelligence, cognitive enhancements and the smart environment are widely commented on, serious analysis of their philosophical implications is only getting started. These contributions from top scholars are therefore very timely, and are of particular relevance to students and scholars of the philosophy of mind, philosophy of technology, computer science and psychology.

Author : Brent D. Slife
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000521931
Total Pages : 757 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology written by Brent D. Slife and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-12-28 with total page 757 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology is a compilation of works by leading scholars in theoretical and philosophical psychology that offers critical analyses of, and alternatives to, current theories and philosophies typically taken for granted in mainstream psychology. Within their chapters, the expert authors briefly describe accepted theories and philosophies before explaining their problems and exploring fresh, new ideas for practice and research. These alternative ideas offer thought-provoking ways of reinterpreting many aspects of human existence often studied by psychologists. Organized into five sections, the volume covers the discipline of psychology in general, various subdisciplines (e.g., positive psychology and human development), concepts of self and identity as well as research and practice. Together the chapters present a set of alternative ideas that have the potential to take the field of psychology in fruitful directions not anticipated in more traditional theory and research. This handbook will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of the theory, assumptions, and history of psychology.

Author : Christian Moevs
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195372581
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Metaphysics of Dante's Comedy written by Christian Moevs and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-13 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moevs offers a treatment of the metaphysical picture that grounds and motivates 'The Divine Comedy', and the relation between those metaphysics and Dante's poetics. He arrives at the conclusion that Dante believed that all of what we perceive as reality is in fact a creation or projection of conscious being.

Author : Diederik Aerts
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9811283605
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Probing The Meaning Of Quantum Mechanics: Probability, Metaphysics, Explanation And Measurement written by Diederik Aerts and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2023-09-21 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum theory is perhaps our best confirmed theory for a description of the physical properties of nature. On top of demonstrating great empirical effectiveness, many technological developments in the 20th century (such as the interpretation of the periodic table of elements, CD players, holograms, and quantum state teleportation) were only made possible with Quantum theory.Despite its success in the past decades, even today it still remains without a universally accepted interpretation.This book provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the question; 'What is Quantum Mechanics talking about?', a question which continues to be one of the most fascinating and important questions in science.Using an interdisciplinary approach to foundational problems in Quantum Mechanics (QM), ranging from philosophical questions about the interpretation of QM to technical problems in quantum computation, this book explores quantum mechanics from different perspectives (physical, logical, philosophical and mathematical), by researchers from Europe, North America, and South America.

Author : Christoph Durt
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262549255
Total Pages : 451 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Embodiment, Enaction, and Culture written by Christoph Durt and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first interdisciplinary investigation of the cultural context of enactive embodiment, offering perspectives that range from the neurophilosophical to the anthropological. Recent accounts of cognition attempt to overcome the limitations of traditional cognitive science by reconceiving cognition as enactive and the cognizer as an embodied being who is embedded in biological, psychological, and cultural contexts. Cultural forms of sense-making constitute the shared world, which in turn is the origin and place of cognition. This volume is the first interdisciplinary collection on the cultural context of embodiment, offering perspectives that range from the neurophilosophical to the anthropological. The book brings together new contributions by some of the most renowned scholars in the field and the latest results from up-and-coming researchers. The contributors explore conceptual foundations, drawing on work by Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre, and respond to recent critiques. They consider whether there is something in the self that precedes intersubjectivity and inquire into the relation between culture and consciousness, the nature of shared meaning and social understanding, the social dimension of shame, and the nature of joint affordances. They apply the notion of radical enactive cognition to evolutionary anthropology, and examine the concept of the body in relation to culture in light of studies in such fields as phenomenology, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and psychopathology. Through such investigations, the book breaks ground for the study of the interplay of embodiment, enaction, and culture. Contributors Mark Bickhard, Ingar Brinck, Anna Ciaunica, Hanne De Jaegher, Nicolas de Warren, Ezequiel Di Paolo, Christoph Durt, John Z. Elias, Joerg Fingerhut, Aikaterini Fotopoulou, Thomas Fuchs, Shaun Gallagher, Vittorio Gallese, Duilio Garofoli, Katrin Heimann, Peter Henningsen, Daniel D. Hutto, Laurence J. Kirmayer, Alba Montes Sánchez, Dermot Moran, Maxwell J. D. Ramstead, Matthew Ratcliffe, Vasudevi Reddy, Zuzanna Rucińska, Alessandro Salice, Glenda Satne, Heribert Sattel, Christian Tewes, Dan Zahavi

Author : Raul Hakli
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319531336
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sociality and Normativity for Robots written by Raul Hakli and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers eleven philosophical investigations into our future relations with social robots--robots that are specially designed to engage and connect with human beings. The contributors present cutting edge research that examines whether, and on which terms, robots can become members of human societies. Can our relations to robots be said to be "social"? Can robots enter into normative relationships with human beings? How will human social relations change when we interact with robots at work and at home? The authors of this volume explore these questions from the perspective of philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, and robotics. The first three chapters offer a taxonomy for the classification of simulated social interactions, investigate whether human social interactions with robots can be genuine, and discuss the significance of social relations for the formation of human individuality. Subsequent chapters clarify whether robots could be said to actually follow social norms, whether they could live up to the social meaning of care in caregiving professions, and how we will need to program robots so that they can negotiate the conventions of human social space and collaborate with humans. Can we perform joint actions with robots, where both sides need to honour commitments, and how will such new commitments and practices change our regional cultures? The authors connect research in social robotics and empirical studies in Human-Robot Interaction to recent debates in social ontology, social cognition, as well as ethics and philosophy of technology. The book is a response to the challenge that social robotics presents for our traditional conceptions of social interaction, which presuppose such essential capacities as consciousness, intentionality, agency, and normative understanding. The authors develop insightful answers along new interdisciplinary pathways in "robophilosophy," a new research area that will help us to shape the "robot revolution," the distinctive technological change of the beginning 21st century.