| Author | : David Merritt |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 285 |
| Release | : 2020-04-30 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 110849269X |
Outlining Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), this volume assesses its viability as the leading alternative to the standard cosmological model.
| Author | : David Merritt |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 285 |
| Release | : 2020-04-30 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 1108665683 |
Dark matter is a fundamental component of the standard cosmological model, but in spite of four decades of increasingly sensitive searches, no-one has yet detected a single dark-matter particle in the laboratory. An alternative cosmological paradigm exists: MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics). Observations explained in the standard model by postulating dark matter are described in MOND by proposing a modification of Newton's laws of motion. Both MOND and the standard model have had successes and failures – but only MOND has repeatedly predicted observational facts in advance of their discovery. In this volume, David Merritt outlines why such predictions are considered by many philosophers of science to be the 'gold standard' when it comes to judging a theory's validity. In a world where the standard model receives most attention, the author applies criteria from the philosophy of science to assess, in a systematic way, the viability of this alternative cosmological paradigm.
| Author | : Thomas Nagel |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 141 |
| Release | : 2012-11-22 |
| Genre | : Biography & Autobiography |
| ISBN | : 0199919755 |
The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.
| Author | : Khalil Chamcham |
| Publisher | : Cambridge University Press |
| Total Pages | : 527 |
| Release | : 2017-04-13 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 1107145392 |
This book addresses foundational questions raised by observational and theoretical progress in modern cosmology. As the foundational volume of an emerging academic discipline, experts from relevant fields lay out the fundamental problems of contemporary cosmology and explore the routes toward finding possible solutions, for a broad academic audience.
| Author | : Nora Mills Boyd |
| Publisher | : Springer Nature |
| Total Pages | : 330 |
| Release | : 2023-06-28 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 3031266188 |
This is an open access book. This book, the first edited collection of its kind, explores the recent emergence of philosophical research in astrophysics. It assembles a variety of original essays from scholars who are currently shaping this field, and it combines insightful overviews of the current state of play with novel, significant contributions. It therefore provides an ideal source for understanding the current debates in philosophy of astrophysics, and it offers new ideas for future cutting-edge research. The selection of essays offered in this book addresses methodological and metaphysical questions that target a wide range of topics, including dark matter, black holes, astrophysical observations and modelling. The book serves as the first standard resource in philosophy of astrophysics for all scholars who work in the field and want to expand or deepen their knowledge, but it also provides an accessible guide for all those philosophers and scientists who are interested in getting a first, basic understanding of the main issues in philosophy of astrophysics.
| Author | : Zuzana Parusniková |
| Publisher | : Springer Nature |
| Total Pages | : 363 |
| Release | : 2021-07-19 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 3030670368 |
Of all philosophers of the 20th century, few built more bridges between academic disciplines than Karl Popper. He contributed to a wide variety of fields in addition to the epistemology and the theory of scientific method for which he is best known. This book illustrates and evaluates the impact, both substantive and methodological, that Popper has had in the natural and mathematical sciences. The topics selected include quantum mechanics, evolutionary biology, cosmology, mathematical logic, statistics, and cognitive science. The approach is multidisciplinary, opening a dialogue across scientific disciplines and between scientists and philosophers.
| Author | : Allan Bloom |
| Publisher | : Simon and Schuster |
| Total Pages | : 403 |
| Release | : 2008-06-30 |
| Genre | : Social Science |
| ISBN | : 1439126267 |
The brilliant, controversial, bestselling critique of American culture that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times)—now featuring a new afterword by Andrew Ferguson in a twenty-fifth anniversary edition. In 1987, eminent political philosopher Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind, an appraisal of contemporary America that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times) and has not only been vindicated, but has also become more urgent today. In clear, spirited prose, Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites. Now, in this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, acclaimed author and journalist Andrew Ferguson contributes a new essay that describes why Bloom’s argument caused such a furor at publication and why our culture so deeply resists its truths today.
| Author | : Ashkan Tashvir |
| Publisher | : Engenesis Publications |
| Total Pages | : 257 |
| Release | : 2024-07-26 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 1922433195 |
How do you make sense of the world and everything in it? Imagine possessing the ability to delve into the depths of why you make sense of existence and everything in it as you do and then act accordingly. Would you be able to move past current limitations, actual or perceived? Could you identify new opportunities you hadn’t seen before? Would you understand yourself, others and the world in a more comprehensive and accurate way? In a world overflowing with information, rife with confusion and inauthenticities, and where quick fixes and superficial solutions are commonly favoured, the key to genuine comprehension and sustainable change lies deep beneath the surface. In METACONTENT, Ashkan Tashvir takes you on an insightful journey into the intricate multi-dimensional aspects of sense-making: how we interpret complex information and experiences to create meaning and navigate the world. Failing to adhere to a comprehensive sense-making process leads to further confusion, misunderstandings, suboptimal decisions, decision paralysis and missed opportunities, impacting your ability to lead a fulfilling and effective life. Tashvir not only synthesises a range of insights from science and philosophy but also introduces a disruptive metacontent discourse that dispels the myths, explores the profound depths of sense-making and reveals the intricate layers that shape our understanding of everything from material reality to abstract ideas and manufactured constructs and institutions. Discover the groundbreaking Nested Theory of Sense-making. Central to this book, Tashvir reveals his Nested Theory of Sense-making for the first time. This original concept provides a structured multilayered approach for navigating life’s complexities and transforming your analysis and decision-making abilities. METACONTENT follows Tashvir’s best-selling books BEING, HUMAN BEING and BECOMING – The Emergence of Being.
| Author | : Edward F. Kelly |
| Publisher | : Rowman & Littlefield |
| Total Pages | : 836 |
| Release | : 2010 |
| Genre | : Philosophy |
| ISBN | : 9781442202061 |
Current mainstream opinion in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind holds that all aspects of human mind and consciousness are generated by physical processes occurring in brains. Views of this sort have dominated recent scholarly publication. The present volume, however, demonstrates empirically that this reductive materialism is not only incomplete but false. The authors systematically marshal evidence for a variety of psychological phenomena that are extremely difficult, and in some cases clearly impossible, to account for in conventional physicalist terms. Topics addressed include phenomena of extreme psychophysical influence, memory, psychological automatisms and secondary personality, near-death experiences and allied phenomena, genius-level creativity, and 'mystical' states of consciousness both spontaneous and drug-induced. The authors further show that these rogue phenomena are more readily accommodated by an alternative 'transmission' or 'filter' theory of mind/brain relations advanced over a century ago by a largely forgotten genius, F. W. H. Myers, and developed further by his friend and colleague William James. This theory, moreover, ratifies the commonsense conception of human beings as causally effective conscious agents, and is fully compatible with leading-edge physics and neuroscience. The book should command the attention of all open-minded persons concerned with the still-unsolved mysteries of the mind.
