16 Result(s)
within
English
History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics
History of Science
Philosophy of Science
Chapter
2023 - 2023
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Chapter
Inductive Inferences on Galactic Redshift, Understood Materially
A two-fold challenge faces any account of inductive inference. It must provide means to discern which are the good inductive inferences or which relations capture correctly the strength of inductive support. I...
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When Does a Boltzmannian Equilibrium Exist?
We present a definition of equilibrium for Boltzmannian statistical mechanics based on the long-run fraction of time a system spends in a state. We then formulate and prove an existence theorem which provides ...
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Scientific Understanding in Astronomical Models from Eudoxus to Kepler
In the following essay I present a narrative of the development of astronomical models from Eudoxus to Kepler, as a case-study that vindicates an insightful and influential recent account of the concept of sci...
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Roberto Torretti’s Philosophy of Science
In this chapter, we provide an analysis of Torretti’s main views in the general philosophy of science. I shall examine his Kantian take on objectivity (Sect. 2.2), the creative understanding thesis (Sect. 2.3), h...
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Non-reflexive Logics and Their Metaphysics: A Critical Appraisal
Non-reflexive logics are systems of logic in which the reflexive law of identity is restricted or violated. The most well-known of such systems are Schrödinger logics and quasi-set theory; both are related wit...
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Effective Field Theories: A Case Study for Torretti’s Perspective on Kantian Objectivity
Those enlightened philosophers of physics acknowledging some manner of descent from Kant’s ‘Copernican Revolution’ have long found encouragement and inspiration in the writings of Roberto Torretti. In this tri...
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The Case of Phonons: Explanatory or Ontological Priority
Recent discussions about the microstructure of materials generally focus on the ontological aspects of the molecular structure. However, there are many types of substances that cannot be studied by means of th...
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Mathematical Fictionalism Revisited
Mathematical fictionalism is the view according to which mathematical objects are ultimately fictions, and, thus, need not be taken to exist. This includes fictional objects, whose existence is typically not a...
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Intertheoretic Reduction in Physics Beyond the Nagelian Model
In this chapter, I defend a pluralistic approach to intertheoretic reduction, in which reduction is not understood in terms of a single philosophical “generalized model”, but rather as a family of models that ...
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Boltzmannian Non-Equilibrium and Local Variables
Boltzmannian statistical mechanics (BSM) partitions a system’s space of micro-states into cells and refers to these cells as ‘macro-states’. One of these cells is singled out as the equilibrium macro-state whi...
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Editor’s Introduction: Celebrating Roberto Torretti
This volume collects previously unpublished contributions to the philosophy of science. What brings them together is a twofold goal: first and foremost, celebrating the name of Roberto Torretti, whose works in...
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Reinterpreting Crucial Experiments
Crucial experiments have been largely neglected by philosophers of science. The main reason for this predicament is that Duhem’s criticism of that kind of experiment has been accepted as sound and definitive. ...
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Du Châtelet on Absolute and Relative Motion
In this chapter, we argue that Du Châtelet’s account of motion is an important contribution to the history of the absolute versus relative motion debate. The arguments we lay out have two main strands. First, ...
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Typicality of Dynamics and Laws of Nature
Certain results, most famously in classical statistical mechanics and complex systems, but also in quantum mechanics and high-energy physics, yield a coarse-grained stable statistical pattern in the long run. ...
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A Kantian-Rooted Pluralist Realism for Science
After the preeminence of logical positivism/empiricism during the most part of twentieth century, during the last decades many authors began to recognize the relevance of the Kantian thought for present-day ph...
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Functionalism as a Species of Reduction
This is the first of four papers prompted by a recent literature about a doctrine dubbed spacetime functionalism. This paper gives our general framework for discussing functionalism. Following Lewis, we take it a...
