New answers tagged philosophy-of-science
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Are we too quick to assume that the most recent evidence is inevitably the strongest?
Recency bias is a well-known and ubiquetous cognitive bias. It is mostly unrelated to the N-ray fiasco, which was a case of confirmation bias and priming in the context of bad experiment design. The ...
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Order/disorder and complexity
Classically, the world was thought to divide into a binary of orderly-and-simple (squares, circles, Greek architecture) and chaotic-and-complex (the ocean, the weather, war). But we now have a more ...
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What are the philosophical solutions to "ship of Theseus" problem of identity?
The phrase 'the ship of Theseus' is inherently vague, as is the phrase 'the same ship'. Whether something is 'the same ship' or not, depends on what you intended to mean by the term 'the same ship'. ...
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What are the philosophical solutions to "ship of Theseus" problem of identity?
First of all, we must accept that everything changes over time. So trying to solve the identity problem by reference to the material aspect of the thing does not lead us anywhere.
The only candidate ...
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What are the philosophical solutions to "ship of Theseus" problem of identity?
A thorough analysis and a model of the Theseus ship paradox were presented in an article by Dinis:
Dinis, Bruno. Equality and near-equality in a nonstandard world. Log. Log. Philos. 32 (2023), no. ...
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What are the philosophical solutions to "ship of Theseus" problem of identity?
The ship of me probably does not contain a single atom that it contained when I was born. Does that matter? Do atoms have identity? If not, then one is the same as another. My consciousness has been ...
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Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate randomness in quantum mechanics?
I will answer this as philosophical question. It seems to me that the MWI violates the principle of parsimony because it introduces unnecessary complexity. If it does not resolve the issue that it ...
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Does Quantum Entanglement Disprove the Principle of Locality?
It doesn't violate locality as entanglement happens because the eyes of YHVH sees it. This is the source of entanglement.
The notions of particles changing at a distance is a misguided notion in ...
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Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate randomness in quantum mechanics?
No, the populist idea of MWI does not eliminate randomness- it just spreads it across multiple universes. According to MWI, if you were to repeatedly toss a quantum dice, there would be some worlds, ...
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Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate randomness in quantum mechanics?
This is just a variant of "why am I me and not someone else?". It doesn't matter whether you and the someone else are in the same room, or so far from each other that their observable ...
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Accepted
Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate randomness in quantum mechanics?
The crucial advantage of MWI is not that it eliminates randomness, but that it eliminates the complexity of "wavefunction collapse."
The Copenhagen interpretation needs to explain when the ...
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Does Multi-World Interpretation really eliminate randomness in quantum mechanics?
To my understanding, it's exactly the other way around. Since that "randomness" was not so random at the end, God (as an underlying principle of the phenomena) was not playing dice. So in ...
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Is science possible in a world where a god acts?
Science is only possible in a world where GOD acts -- there simply is no other source of order to the laws of physics.
However, since YHVH is ancient, these acts occur rarely. So this allows science ...
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Does Quantum Entanglement Disprove the Principle of Locality?
The top answer here simply defines locality to mean not allowing super luminal signaling. But that is not the traditional definition of locality. The fact that there is a joint wave function that ...
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Is there an alternative to the scientific method?
Science is a human endeavour, which, like all human endeavours is flawed. By definition then, it can be improved. Kuhn wrote about paradigm shift in science. Paradigm shift is necessary because of ...
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What is the relation between idealism and science?
Idealism - at it's most general form - is a class of nonconventional (relative to mainstream science) views, that a system is something more that the sum of its parts. It comes in many flavors and ...
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
One way to approach the scrutability issue is by appealing to the role of encoding-vs.-exemplifying in one modern characterization of abstract objects. If we say that an object is abstract when it has ...
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In what way can theism and science co-exist?
Weren't something like 99% of all scientists historically religious and/or believers?
And if science was in actual fact produced by religious folks, how could one argue that religion is contradictory ...
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In what way can theism and science co-exist?
In the sense that they cannot agree on a reasonable conception of the universe, they cannot. As for people who say they are scientists who believe in God, I think that this is a psychological question....
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
I may be struggling to appreciate nuances of your suggestion, but it seems to me that even in the treatment of macroscopic phenomena physicists tend to abstract general relationships and identify them ...
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
According to your quote from SEP there are several different
attempts to distinguish abstract objects from concrete objects.
You define “abstract := scrutable” (= open to being understood),
and you ...
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
Are you asking about fundamental particles? Perhaps they are functions rather than objects? Why cannot they be concrete objects? Or a composite? I am afraid that the intent of your question is unclear ...
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Are atomic particles abstract objects?
A very detailed analysis of what you are asking (in fact the whole book is about this) is written by one of the protagonists - Heisenberg - in his book "Physics and Philosophy". Just a quote ...
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What does Hume think about Occam's razor?
Is there an agreed wording of the definition? If not, I prefer to call it the principle of parsimony. It is a philosophical tool. I do not know what Hume believed.
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Way to find a middle ground between functionalism and "panpsychism"?
I do not know. But it is a good question. My understanding is that functionalism refers to minds. Panpsychism proposes consciousness at the universal and fundamental levels. Panpsychism is not ...
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Is science based on David Hume's "A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence"?
The short answer is yes. Hume is correct. I would recommend Karl Popper on the philosophy of science. He proposed that scientific hypotheses should be falsifiable, not verifiable. This diverges from ...
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Is it theoretically possible to create Universe in the lab?
No, it couldn't be created in a lab because it would be too big to fit.
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Is it theoretically possible to create Universe in the lab?
Why a lab? Why not in your bedroom, or at the theatre while failing to be engrossed by the latest fashionable production of Yawning, sorry, Waiting for Godot? I don't know, off-hand, how the Universe ...
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Is science based on David Hume's "A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence"?
If you're interested in how science in general has changed, Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a must read. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Wikipedia. In it, the term "...
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What does Hume think about Occam's razor?
What does Hume think about Occam’s Razor?
This timely article might be helpful: "The Philosophy of Security Risk Assessments," By Mark Ashford (13 November 2023); from https://www.asisonline....
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Does Hume propose that causes might actually just be explained by coincidence?
Coincidence has a number of meanings. One expresses the idea of being at a common place in time and/or space. Another expresses the idea of an accidental or unrelated correspondence, or even a fluke. ...
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Is there any proof on whether technological development never ends?
Even if technological development ends there will always be the need for technology because birth is suffering, ageing is suffering and death is suffering. All beings who take birth are in need of ...
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Is there any proof on whether technological development never ends?
... History of physics 140 years ago ...
At the end of the 19th century, physics had evolved to the point at
which classical mechanics could cope with highly complex problems...
So profound were ...
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Is there any proof on whether technological development never ends?
There is no reason to assume that the future will be like the past or better than the past. The future may be far worse than anything we've seen so far. Climate change is going to hit us pretty badly ...
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Hume says we can't determine a causal connections between objects. Why separate the system into objects at all?
I think your summary of Hume's view, regardless of how valid it is, undervalues our scientific understanding. We don't simply say the ball drops and bounces, we have ideas such as the curvature of ...
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Hume says we can't determine a causal connections between objects. Why separate the system into objects at all?
I agree with your summary of Hume's perspective of the principle of
causality.
The philosopher Karl Popper dealt with the problem under the name
“problem of induction”, i.e. how to justify a general ...
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Does the unobserved past exist in a super position
It's an intriguing idea but sadly it isn't really compatible with current mainstream physics. You might have picked up the idea of an 'observer' from accounts of quantum theory, in some of which '...
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Can panpsychism be scientifically tested?
Panpsychism proposes that the fundamental stuff of the universe is matter-consciousness. So it is not metaphysical. Nothing stands behind this fundamental stuff. See Chalmers and Goff, for example. In ...
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Does knowledge of the scientific context aid consideration of philosophical questions?
It is not so much that "knowledge of the scientific context aids consideration of philosophical questions" but more to the point, the knowledge of the scientific context is necessary to make ...
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Accepted
Does knowledge of the scientific context aid consideration of philosophical questions?
Sure- if you want to make sense of any kind of issue it is important to know something about it. However, if you are asking whether it makes sense to summarise the science in an area before posing a ...
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Does knowledge of the scientific context aid consideration of philosophical questions?
Yes but not always. Science provides the glimpse of the actual nature of macro and micro phenomena and helps philosophy in understanding what reality actually is.For example- On the scale of quantum ...
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Accepted
Does the possibility of incommensurable degrees of explanatory complexity hypothetically undermine appeals to Occam's razor?
You have a lot going on, so I'm going to tackle what I see as the pith of the issue, and where the leverage in analysis lies.
Now, is it possible that a manifestation of scientific incommensurability ...
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Why do philosophical questions arise?
Philosophical questions always arise because people were led to an intellectual rut by the superficially apparent state of things, which upon closer inspection turns out to be untenable. Some (random)...
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Why do philosophical questions arise?
I'm almost certain that it emerges from the differences perpectives, althrough it seems superficial, somethings are more simples than others, this is the main reason, logically it have many others, ...
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Falsifiability of Assumptions
@Bumble gave a great answer on in what sense we can and cannot falsify statistical hypotheses (i.e., things that only become certain in the infinite limit).
I'd like to add a meta-consideration that @...
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Falsifiability of Assumptions
The reason that science is based on falsifiability rather than verifiability is that a hypothesis or theory must be tested not confirmed. A null hypothesis is often contrary to the expectation from ...
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Are we lost in the details?
I think it's easy to claim someone is missing the big picture. I think it might be you.
Note: speaking only for biology here.
We see this complaint a lot, in science - people look at the title of a ...
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Are we lost in the details?
Is this fragmentation of meaning now an obstacle into going forward? Are we in need of a "big picture"? Do we have to make a reconciliation of some kind?
It doesn't appear to be an obstacle. ...
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Are we lost in the details?
What do you imagine a "big picture" to look like?
We can start by asserting that every part of those ancient "respective characteristics, properties and personalities" was entirely ...
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Is necessary existence a property?
If it is then why?
My dog exists.
The Unicorn doesn't.
So, existence is a property of my dog, but it is not of the Unicorn.
doesn't it follow that necessary existence is also not a property?
The ...
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