Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology

Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology PDF Author: Gary L. Herstein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783937202952
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity links the metrical structure of the cosmic order (or "cosmology") to the contingent distributions of matter and energy throughout the universe, one of the chief areas of investigation in astrophysics. However, presently we have system of uniform relations whereby we can make our cosmological measurements intelligible. This book addresses "the measurement problem of cosmology," using both historical ideas (such as A.N. Whitehead's work in the 1920s) and contemporary evidence and theories. Gary L. Herstein is assistant professor of philosophy at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. His areas of research are the philosophy of Whitehead and the theory of measurement.

Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology

Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology PDF Author: Gary L. Herstein
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783937202952
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book Here

Book Description
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity links the metrical structure of the cosmic order (or "cosmology") to the contingent distributions of matter and energy throughout the universe, one of the chief areas of investigation in astrophysics. However, presently we have system of uniform relations whereby we can make our cosmological measurements intelligible. This book addresses "the measurement problem of cosmology," using both historical ideas (such as A.N. Whitehead's work in the 1920s) and contemporary evidence and theories. Gary L. Herstein is assistant professor of philosophy at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. His areas of research are the philosophy of Whitehead and the theory of measurement.

Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology

Whitehead and the Measurement Problem of Cosmology PDF Author: Gary L. Herstein
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110328267
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity links the metrical structure of the cosmic order (or "cosmology") to the contingent distributions of matter and energy throughout the universe, one of the chief areas of investigation in astrophysics. However, presently we have neither devised nor discovered system of uniform relations whereby we can make our cosmological measurements intelligible. This is "the measurement problem of cosmology." Using both historical ideas (such as A.N. Whitehead's work in the 1920s) and contemporary evidence and theories, argue that the measurement problem has neither been fully understood nor rightly interpreted. With better grasp of this problem, such as am attempting to provide, the prospects for solution look brighter.

The Quantum of Explanation

The Quantum of Explanation PDF Author: Randall E. Auxier
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351792474
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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Book Description
The Quantum of Explanation advances a bold new theory of how explanation ought to be understood in philosophical and cosmological inquiries. Using a complete interpretation of Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophical and mathematical writings and an interpretive structure that is essentially new, Auxier and Herstein argue that Whitehead has never been properly understood, nor has the depth and breadth of his contribution to the human search for knowledge been assimilated by his successors. This important book effectively applies Whitehead’s philosophy to problems in the interpretation of science, empirical knowledge, and nature. It develops a new account of philosophical naturalism that will contribute to the current naturalism debate in both Analytic and Continental philosophy. Auxier and Herstein also draw attention to some of the most important differences between the process theology tradition and Whitehead’s thought, arguing in favor of a Whiteheadian naturalism that is more or less independent of theological concerns. This book offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to Whitehead’s philosophy and is an essential resource for students and scholars interested in American philosophy, the philosophy of mathematics and physics, and issues associated with naturalism, explanation and radical empiricism.

The Epochal Nature of Process in Whitehead's Metaphysics

The Epochal Nature of Process in Whitehead's Metaphysics PDF Author: F. Bradford Wallack
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780873954044
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
"While my book attempts to reflect the full range of scholarly debate, I have also attempted to make it useful to anyone interested in Whitehead. To this end, I have introduced the Whiteheadian terms one by one, explaining each in the light of my interpretation, and I have used examples wherever possible. I try to show that Whitehead intended his philosophy have a place in our lives by reshaping our common conceptions, and that he did not intend it to be relegated to purely abstract or esoteric application." -- F. Bradford Wallack The twentieth century has seen the greatest innovations in philosophical cosmology since Newton and Descartes, and Alfred North Whitehead was the first and greatest of the philosophers to work out these innovations in systematic ways. In a book that will be controversial in the philosophical community, F. Bradford Wallack argues that interpretations widely accepted by Whiteheadians need revaluation because these interpretations are based on materialist and substantialist assumptions that Whitehead sought to replace. Specifically, she proposes a thorough revision of accepted interpretations of Whitehead's concept of the actual entity. Wallack then elucidates Whitehead's ideas in order of their increasing dependence upon other basic Whiteheadian terms to complete the study of Whiteheadian time and to clarify its purpose within the cosmology of Process and Reality. Whitehead's philosophy then emerges as more intelligible and cohesive than is generally believed.

The Measure of the Universe

The Measure of the Universe PDF Author: John David North
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780486665177
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description


Studies in Whitehead's Cosmology

Studies in Whitehead's Cosmology PDF Author: M. K. Haldar
Publisher: Delhi : Atma Ram
ISBN:
Category : Cosmology
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description


The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology

The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology PDF Author: Wolfgang Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Wolfgang Smith, drawing upon a rare combination of expertise in mathematical physics, philosophy and traditional metaphysics, has written extensively on interdisciplinary problems relating to these respective domains. The present book has evolved out of a key ontological recognition consonant with time-honored metaphysical doctrine. In keeping with a realist view of cognitive sense perception, it rejects the Cartesian dichotomy of res extensa and res cogitans, and obviates what Whitehead referred to as the fallacy of bifurcation. In an earlier book (The Quantum Enigma, 1995) the author established two facts: first, that a consistent non-bifurcationist interpretation of physics can be formulated; and second, that this eliminates at one stroke the various forms of "quantum paradox" resulting from superposition and the so-called collapse of the state vector. The crucial ingredient of the new approach, mandated by the aforesaid recognition, is an ontological distinction between the physical domain, accessed via measurement, and the corporeal, accessed by way of cognitive sense perception. In the present book the author extends this metaphysically-based interpretation from fundamental physics to contemporary cosmology. With the aid of a few additional conceptions consonant, say, with the Thomistic doctrine-such as the concept of what he terms "the extrapolated universe," or the notion of "vertical causation" relating to intelligent design-he treats a broad range of issues from a unified metaphysical point of view. Not surprisingly, his conclusions tent to be radically at odds with the prevailing interpretations of scientific data, regardless of whether these are based upon naturalistic or scientistically theistic presuppositions. The author's approach may thus be characterized as the third alternative: the sole option, it appears, consistent with the Aristotelian and Platonist traditions, and with the wisdom of Christianity, as delineated especially in the Patristic writings.

Process and Reality

Process and Reality PDF Author: Alfred North Whitehead
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cosmography
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description


Physics of the World-Soul

Physics of the World-Soul PDF Author: Matthew T Segall
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780359177585
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Whitehead was among the first initiates into the 20th century's new cosmological story. This book bring's Whitehead's philosophy of organism into conversation with several components of contemporary scientific cosmology-including relativistic, quantum, evolutionary, and complexity theories-in order to both exemplify the inadequacy of the traditional materialistic-mechanistic metaphysical interpretation of them, and to display the relevance of Whitehead's cosmological scheme to the transdisciplinary project of integrating these theories and their data with the presuppositions of human civilization. This data is nearly crying aloud for a cosmologically ensouled interpretation, one in which, for example, physics and chemistry are no longer considered to be descriptions of the meaningless motion of molecules to which biology is ultimately reducible, but rather themselves become studies of living organization at ecological scales other than the biological.

The Notion of Time in the Cosmology of A. N. Whitehead

The Notion of Time in the Cosmology of A. N. Whitehead PDF Author: Donald F. Lewis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description