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Extracting Ontological Commitments from Experimental Practice
Get PDFIn opposition to traditional approaches in metaphysics of science, Entity Realism proposes to extract ontological commitments from experimental practice instead of abstract theories, using an inference from manipulability to existence that would be continuous with everyday inferences regarding ordinary objects. A problem is that most accounts of ordinary artefacts make them mind-dependent or language-dependent, and so not real by philosophical standards. Furthermore, the functional kinds of biology and chemistry are not necessarily compatible with mind-independence either. It follows that Entity Realism is better understood within a pragmatist or deflationary alternative to standard metaphysics. The approach is beneficial for responding to sceptical arguments
The strengths of social constructivism: A critical dialogue with Boghossian
Get PDFThis article has three purposes. First, it illustrates the strengths of social constructivism (SC) as a major thesis and its two interrelated corollaries: the “social dependency” thesis, the “communitarian” theory of meaning, and the “contingency” view of knowledge. Second, by underscoring these strengths, it will show how one can counter the anti-social critique of the kind Boghossian espouses, highlighting some genuine disagreements that cannot be resolved by appealing to the assumptions and resources that are at the heart of the matter in the first place. To this end, the following points will be discussed: (1) Boghossian misses the mark primarily by focusing his main critique not on “social dependency” but on a conceptually different doctrine, namely “relativism” (defined as the “social relativity” thesis); (2) he criticizes SC by presupposing the very “non-social” view of meaning that SC was originally proposed to attack; and (3) the logic of SC “debunks” the very epistemic system on which Boghossian relies by claiming that it is as dependent on “(historical) contingencies” as any other. Finally, some responses are offered to “rationalist” concerns, which are mainly concerned with the application of SC’s logic to its own arguments
Truth, Understanding, and Normativity in Scientific Models
Get PDFScientific models often contain assumptions known not to be true. Despite being false representations, models provide us with a key understanding of phenomena. What is more, the falsehoods that figure in models are in many cases central to them, and there is no available alternative to their use. If falsehoods play such an irreplaceable role in our understanding of phenomena, it would seem that truth is not a key concern of scientific modeling. In this paper, I assess the prospects and challenges of reconciling truth and understanding in scientific modeling. More specifically, I review a thesis recently emerging in the literature, what I shall call the Derivation Thesis (DT), according to which we use models to derive true information. First, I examine different versions of the thesis and develop what I take to be its most promising formulation (what I call the generalized DT). Second, I discuss a serious challenge to the generalized DT. I consider a thought experiment in which an unreliable astrological model gives true explanations by fluke. This scenario challenges the idea that models can provide genuine understanding by generating truths. In response, I argue that genuine scientific models also fulfill a specific normative role that epistemically lucky models lack (what I call the normative generalized DT). I test this hypothesis by analysing how the Ideal Gas Law advances scientific understanding of real gases
Schrödinger, Szilard, and the emergence of the EPR argument
Get PDFEinstein, Podolsky and Rosen’s “Can quantum mechanical description of reality be considered complete?”(1935) and Schrödinger’s “Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik” (1936) are commonly accepted as the seminal papers for the modern study of quantum mechanical entanglement. However, not much has been known about the prehistory of these papers. We were able to trace the development of both Einstein’s and Schrödinger’s thought, using Schrödinger’s correspondence and especially his extensive research notes. We especially found that they both got important input from Leo Szilard, who proposed in 1931 a thought experiment that is a direct precursor to the EPR experiment and a quantum mechanical state that is essentially identical to the EPR state
The Red Herring of Probability Raising
Get PDFTheorists of probabilistic causality viewed causation as probability raising relative to particular contexts. In contrast, more recent graphical theories do not specify whether a cause raises or lowers the probability of its effect as part of the causal representation, but enable one to infer such quantitative facts from the joint probability distribution and additional causal assumptions. This difference between the accounts may seem minor, but here I argue that the emphasis among probabilistic theorists on probability raising reflected their not having an adequate theory of confounding and thus of the relationship between causal and probabilistic claims. The graphical account of confounding clarifies why causal relationships need not be identified with particular probabilistic relationships in particular populations, and thus why many of the earlier debates about probability raising in retrospect no longer appear to reflect substantive philosophical differences
How should we understand that a map of information concept is created?
Get PDFThe definition of information concepts has been approached in various ways. Previous studies have classified these definitions into three categories: (1) reductionism, (2) antireductionism, and (3) non-reductionism. The map of information concepts developed by Luciano Floridi organizes information concepts in terms of (3) non-reductionism. However, the map is often criticized due to misunderstandings, since neither the specific method for constructing the map nor its structure is described in detail.
The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the map using the method of levels of abstraction (LoA) and to make its structure explicit. First, Section 2 reviews previous studies and organizes the definitions of information concepts based on the above classification scheme. Next, Section 3 explains the method of LoA and applies it to information concepts. As a result, it becomes clear that the map differs from the well-known DIKW pyramid in that each element is arranged by adding observables in order from higher to lower degrees of abstraction. This work allows us to demonstrate the relationship between the map and the method of LoA, and to re-evaluate Floridi's achievement
Does Quantum Gravity Happen at the Planck Scale?
Get PDFThe claim that at the so-called Planck scale our current physics breaks down and a new theory of quantum gravity is required is ubiquitous, but the evidence is shakier than the confidence of those assertions warrants. In this paper, I survey five arguments in favour of this claim - based on dimensional analysis, quantum black holes, generalised uncertainty principles, the nonrenormalisability of quantum gravity, and theories beyond the standard model - but find that none of them succeeds. The argument from nonrenormalisability is the most convincing, yet it requires the unwarranted assumption that the same constant of action occurs in every quantum field theory. Therefore, our theories don't (yet) predict that quantum gravity happens at the Planck scale
Generalized Aharonov-Bohm Effect: Its Derivation, Theoretical Implications and Experimental Tests
Get PDFThe Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect highlights the fundamental role of electromagnetic potentials in quantum mechanics. While extensively studied in the static case, the impact of a time-varying magnetic flux on the electron's phase shift remains an open and debated question. In this paper, we derive the AB phase shift for a time-dependent magnetic vector potential and show that it is proportional to the time average of enclosed magnetic flux. Our analysis reveals that the AB phase is continuously accumulated as the electron traverses its path, challenging the conventional view that it emerges instantaneously at the point of interference. This generalized AB effect may provide deeper insight into the role of gauge-dependent potentials in quantum mechanics and also suggest novel experimental tests using alternating or pulsed magnetic flux
Do infinite cardinals really exist?
Get PDFIf the philosophy of mathematics wants to be rigorous, the concept of infinity must stop being equivocal (both potential and actual) as it currently is. The conception of infinity as actual is responsible for all the paradoxes that compromise the very foundation of mathematics and is also the basis on which Cantor's argument is based on the non-countability of R, and the existence of infinite cardinals of different magnitude. Here we present proof that all infinite sets (in a potential sense) are countable and that there are no infinite cardinals.
This article presents a new argument against the existence of the Platonic world of ideas, the ontological basis for the actual infinity. This allows us to deny mathematical Platonism and adopt a non-subjective psychological realism that explains the effectiveness of mathematics in physics and that can go beyond the scope of mathematics
Decidable and Undecidable in Quantum Mechanics
Get PDFThis work shows that the ontic-epistemic dichotomy is insufficient to capture the different levels of ignorance and their implications for probability theories. It proposes an essentially epistemic interpretation of quantum mechanics, built on an operational basis firmly anchored to experimental data and scientific methods. This approach enables a rigorous treatment of numerical values obtained from experiments without resorting to unnecessary ontological or metaphysical assumptions