| Question posted on April 25, 2013; 2 responses |
| Is length an intrinsic property or is it something which is only relative to other lengths? Is an inch an inch? Or is it simply a relation between other (length) phenomena?... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on April 25, 2013; 1 response |
| In theory of relativity all relations are derived based on one observer in a moving frame relative to another frame. How statistically relevant it is to make conclusions based on just one observer? Who told it is valid?... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on April 25, 2013; 1 response |
| Are equations like F=MA or e=mc squared metaphysical statements about energy and force or are they empirical observations about regularly occurring correlations?... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on November 8, 2012; 1 response |
| What is the philosopher's response to the anthropic principle?
(which, if I recall correctly, states that the universe "had to" evolve in a certain manner, otherwise we would not be here to ask these questions about it!) Is it dismissed... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on October 25, 2012; 1 response |
| Is Kant's project of reconciling freedom with an apparently deterministic nature still relevant given how Quantum mechanics does not (as I understand it) see nature as a deterministic totality?... |
| Philosophers, Physics |
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| Question posted on October 11, 2012; 1 response |
| Help me know if I have the Big bang theory down correctly. It consists of the following ideas.
1. The big bang theory is usually or often seen as a naturalistic hypothesis where only physical reality is truly real.
2. The... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on September 6, 2012; 1 response |
| Take the case of a box sitting on a table. In an introductory physics course, we'd say that there are two forces acting on the box: the force of gravity, pulling it down; and a normal force of precisely equal... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on June 21, 2012; 1 response |
| Cartesian dualism relies upon two substances, body and mind, which are totally distinguished by their properties. While the characteristic nature of body is Extendedness, the mind is known with its capability of thinking.
So, Cartesian Dualism is founded on these two... |
| Mind, Physics |
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| Question posted on April 12, 2012; 3 responses |
| Do the developments in quantum mechanics (i.e. the best we can do on a very micro level is give probability distributions), really have anything to say about free will? It might mean that determinism isn't true (although there could be... |
| Freedom, Physics |
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| Question posted on February 2, 2012; 1 response |
| Is 20°C twice as hot as 10°C?
Now, I know that the phenomenon (heat) described by 20°C is by no means twice as intense as is that described by 10°C. Yet 20 is also undoubtedly twice the size of 10,... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on November 23, 2011; 1 response |
| I consider myself a (metaphysical) materialist or, to use the synonymous term that is more fashionable nowadays, physicalist, and I'm familiar with the academic literature on contemporary materialism/physicalism. But in no paper or book did I find really satisfying, fully... |
| Physics, Science |
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| Question posted on September 1, 2011; 1 response |
| Could there (is it conceivable/possible) be an alternate reality/universe (a rich complex universe) which was such that mathematics could not provide any (or say very little) description of it?... |
| Mathematics, Physics |
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| Question posted on June 25, 2011; 1 response |
| Most of our modern conceptions of math defined in terms of a universe in which there are only three dimensions. In some advanced math classes, I have learned to generalize my math skills to any number of variables- which means... |
| Mathematics, Physics |
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| Question posted on May 4, 2011; 1 response |
| Henry Stapp (a physicist at Berkeley) in his book The Mindful Universe states:
"Let there be no doubt about this point. The original form of quantum theory is subjective, in the sense that it is forthrightly about relationships among conscious human... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on February 9, 2011; 1 response |
| Is there a philosophical reason to postulate the existence of entities without parts? It seems like everything in our experience is complex and has various pieces and parts or can be reduced to a more fundamental entity given scientific... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on November 17, 2010; 1 response |
| We know that when we see Alpha Centauri with the naked eye we are seeing light that left that star over 4 years ago when Bush was still President. Other stars are obviously much farther away and we’re looking... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on November 11, 2010; 1 response |
| My question is about quantum theory and the afterlife. In the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, even if I die in *this* branch of the multiverse then "I" will still exist in some parallel universes. If we subscribe to... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on October 27, 2010; 1 response |
| Stephen Hawking has claimed in his new book that "...philosophy is dead...(it) has not kept up with the developments in science, particularly physics". What do philosophers think of this claim? ... |
| Philosophy, Physics |
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| Question posted on October 14, 2010; 1 response |
| If causality is a category of perception as Kant claims why are so many scientists unfazed intellectually by the claim that the Big Bang theory must be an incomplete theory of the universe because the existence of the big bang... |
| Physics |
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| Question posted on October 14, 2010; 1 response |
| Theists often claim that it is impossible that the universe just randomly "sprang into existence" out of nothing, for no reason. M-theory posits a cosmological world-view in which an infinite number of universes are continually coming into and going out... |
| Physics, Religion |
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