Evolving Conceptions of Time in the Light of Scientific Discoveries
This interdisciplinary study explores the evolution of our understanding of time through scientific discoveries, focusing on three themes: cosmology, stasis vs. flux, and symmetry vs. asymmetry. It advocates for a dynamic perspective on time, emphasizing how physical criteria shape our views on its nature.
This book is the first all-encompassing exploration of the role of demons inphilosophical and scientific thought experiments. Part III introduces Maxwell's Demon, who - by contrast - experiences a world that is probabilistic and indeterministic. The book investigates what these Demons - and others - can and cannot tell us about our world.
This book explores how groundbreaking scientific discoveries lead to significant shifts in philosophy, illustrated through the teachings of Copernicus, Darwin, and Freud. It examines the profound connections between science and philosophical thought.
The biography explores Karl R. Popper's profound influence as a 20th-century philosopher and public intellectual. It delves into his extensive contributions across various fields, including natural and social sciences, political philosophy, and philosophy of mind. Highlighting his critical method, the narrative emphasizes his commitment to objectivity, rationality, and liberal democracy, while opposing irrationalism and authoritarianism. Drawing from diverse sources and interviews, the book presents a nuanced view of Popper's intellectual journey and his lasting impact on contemporary thought.
How do major scientific discoveries reshape their originators’, and our own, sense of reality and concept of the physical world? The Scientist as Philosopher explores the interaction between physics and philosophy. Clearly written and well illustrated, the book first places the scientist-philosophers in the limelight as we learn how their great scientific discoveries forced them to reconsider the time-honored notions with which science had described the natural world. Then, the book explains that what we understand by nature and science have undergone fundamental conceptual changes as a result of the discoveries of electromagnetism, thermodynamics and atomic structure. Even more dramatically, the quantum theory and special theory of relativity questioned traditional assumptions about causation and the passage of time. The author concludes that the dance between science and philosophy is an evolutionary process, which will keep them forever entwined.
Die Arbeit untersucht die argumentative Entwicklung der philosophischen Auffassungen zur Analytizität und Notwendigkeit, zum Universalienproblem und zur Frage, was empirisches Wissen darstellt. Die Zeitspanne der Untersuchung erstreckt sich vom 17. Jahrhundert bis zu den Diskussionen der letzten Jahre. Das Augenmerk liegt auf der Struktur und Schichtung der Argumentations- stränge: die Beiträge zur Analytizität, Notwendigkeit und zur Universalienfrage rekurrieren auf epistemologische Modelle, die durch historisch veränderbare Definitionen des empirischen Wissens bereitgestellt werden.