scholarly journals Varieties of dispositional essentialism about natural laws

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salim Hirèche
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Laws ◽  
Relative Position ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Important Task ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The World ◽  
Dispositional Essentialism ◽  
Modal Force ◽  
Internal Comparison

AbstractAn important task for metaphysicians and philosophers of science is to account for laws of nature – in particular, how they distinguish themselves from ‘mere’ regularities, and the modal force they are endowed with, ‘natural necessity’. Dispositional essentialism about laws (for short: ‘essentialism’) is roughly the view that laws distinguish themselves by being grounded in the essences of natural entities (e.g. kinds, properties). This paper does not primarily concern how essentialism compares to its main rivals – Humeanism and Armstrongeanism. Rather, it distinguishes and comparatively assesses various brands of essentialism – which mainly differ as to where exactly they take laws to find their essentialist sources (e.g. in particular entities, like electrons, or in larger pluralities of entities, or in the world as a whole), and what they take to be the targets of laws, namely what they apply to. Yet, this internal comparison is not unrelated to the more general debate about laws: the main criteria with which I compare these essentialist views concern how they can deal with some of the main objections faced by essentialism in general (the modal status it typically attributes to laws, which some think is too strong; and its alleged incapacity to account for the most 'general' laws, like conservation laws), and how they can keep what is arguably the main intuitive advantage of essentialism over its rivals (the fact that, on this view, things “govern themselves”). Thus, the paper also concerns the relative position of essentialism in the larger debate about laws – ultimately bringing support to it.

The Idea of a World Order

2018 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-224
Author(s):  
Danie Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
World Order ◽  
Physical Aspect ◽  
Medieval Philosophy ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One

Dooyeweerd was struck by the fact that different systems of philosophy expressly oriented their philosophic thought to the idea of a divine world order. The dialectic of form and matter permeated both Greek and medieval philosophy. The distinction between natural laws and laws of nature is highlighted with reference to Descartes and Beeckman. A key distinction for an understanding of the order of the world is given in the difference between modal laws and type laws. In order to substantiate this claim, an explication of the nature of the order for the world has to explore elements derived from the four most basic modes of explanation: number (the one and the many), space (universality), the kinematic (constancy), and the physical aspect (change). These points of entry serve theoretical thought with terms that may either be employed in a conceptual way or in a concept-transcending way. The influence of nominalism on the thought of Dooyeweerd is analyzed in some more detail.

Language, conventionality of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Essential Feature ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The World

When we say that smoke means fire or that those spots mean measles, we are noting how the presence of one thing indicates the presence of another. For these natural relationships to continue, it is enough that the laws of nature remain the same. The connection between the two states is strictly causal. By contrast when we say, ‘In English, "gold" means this stuff’, pointing at some metal, we are insisting on an arbitrary connection between a piece of language and part of the world. We might have used another word, as other languages do, or have used this word for something else. But, for a word to have the literal meaning it does in a language, this arbitrary connection must be sustained on subsequent occasions of use. What is needed to sustain the connection is an intention on our part, not just the continued operation of natural laws. Of course, some connections between words and things are based on natural relations; there is, for example, onomatopoeia. However, few words have this feature. For the majority of words it is quite arbitrary that they have the meanings they do, and this has led many to suppose that the regularities needed to sustain the connections between words and what they stand for are conventional rather than causal. But there are also those who deny that convention is an essential feature of language.

Against Necessitarianism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer McKitrick
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The World ◽  
Dispositional Properties

The laws of nature are at most physically necessary, and they are not metaphysically necessary. Dispositional Essentialists claim that if natural laws derive from powers, then the laws of nature are metaphysically necessary. But the idea that properties have dispositional essences does not entail necessitarianism for several reasons. There might be no laws of nature. The laws might have exceptions, or be probabilistic. There are non-dispositional properties that could figure in contingent laws. The world might have contained different properties. Finally, even if a property has a dispositional essence, it might have had a slightly different causal profile. Furthermore, the Necessitarian’s views are less revisionary than they initially seem.

scholarly journals Symmetries in the Mathematical and Physical Description of Nature

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (`11) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Andreas Gimsa
Keyword(s):  
Angular Momentum ◽  
Conservation Laws ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Conservation Of Energy ◽  
Physical Description ◽  
The World ◽  
System Characteristics

Symmetries play an essential role in nature. Symmetrical structures are generally perceived as beautiful. Mathematicians and also physicists even regard symmetries in the equations for the mathematical and physical description of the world as an indication of their correctness. The British mathematician Godfrey Harold Hardy [1.] writes: "The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's must be beautiful; the ideas like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.“ A very interesting example of symmetries in physics has been provided by Emmy Noether, who found that certain system characteristics are preserved during changes (transformations). Emmy Noether derived the propositions of conservation of energy, momentum and angular momentum from the invariance (immutability) of the laws of nature during transformation of time, place and direction. These symmetries and their conservation laws form the foundation of physics. In this publication, further essential symmetries are to be investigated, which relate in particular to the symmetry of energy and information and their effects.

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge - Edward O. Wilson New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998, 332 pp. US$26.00. ISBN 0-679-45077-7. Alfred A. Knopf, 201 E. 50th St., New York, NY 10022, USA.

1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-341
Author(s):  
Joseph Losco
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Population Genetics ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
Unity Of Knowledge

PrécisEdward O. Wilson continues an argument begun in earlier works that all branches of knowledge are converging around basic fundamental laws of nature discovered through the scientific method. He eclipses earlier calls to bridge the gaps between evolutionary biology and philosophy, for example, by an appeal to involve the arts as well as the humanities in this “jumping together” of the various branches of human knowledge. Wilson draws upon his work in population genetics, entomology, and ethology to propose ways in which science can inform and transform current debates in philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics. He maintains that the sciences, humanities, and arts, properly understood, contribute to the “conviction, far deeper than a mere working proposition, that the world is orderly and can be explained by a small number of natural laws.”

The concepts of Ayurveda and Pāli Literature in connection to Psychotherapy

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kolarkar Rajesh Shivajirao ◽  
Kolarkar Rajashree Rajesh
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Ultimate Truth ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
The World ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Buddha

The perfect balance of Mind and body is considered as complete health in Pāli literature as well as in Ayurveda. Pāli literature and Ayurveda have their own identity as most ancient and traditional system of medicine in India.The universal teachings of the Buddha are the most precious legacy ancient India gave to the world. The teachings are a practical code of conduct, a way of purity and of gracious living. There is a scientific study of the truth pertaining to mind and matter, and the ultimate truth beyond. In fact, the Buddha should be more appropriately known as a super-scientist who studied the entire laws of nature governing the Universe, by direct personal experience. The Buddha's rational teachings are clearly explained in the Eight-fold Noble Path, divided in three divisions of Sīla (morality), Samādhi (mastery over the mind), Paññā i.e. ‘Pragya' (purification of the mind, by developing insight). In Ayurveda Psychotherapy can be done by Satvavajaya Chikitsa and good conduct. Aim is to augment the Satva Guna in order to correct the imbalance in state of Rajas (Passion) and Tamas (Inertia). Sattvavajaya as psychotherapy, is the mental restraint, or a "mind control" as referred by Caraka, as well as Vagbhata is achieved Dnyan (education), Vidnyan (training in developing skill), Dhairya (development of coping mechanism), Smruti (memory enhancement), Samadhi (concentration of mind). According to WHO, Mental disorders are the common problem. The burden of mental disorders continues to grow with significant impacts on health and major social, human rights and economic consequences in all countries of the world.

Defending the Difference

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

Refraction and recognition

Target ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainier Grutman
Keyword(s):  
Relative Position ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Minority Writers ◽  
Multilingual Literature

Texts foregrounding different languages pose unusual challenges for translators and translation scholars alike. This article seeks to provide some insights into what happens to multilingual literature in translation. First, Antoine Berman’s writings on translation are used to reframe questions of semantic loss in terms of the ideological underpinnings of translation as a cultural practice. This leads to a wider consideration of contextual aspects involved in the “refraction” of foreign languages, such as the translating literature’s relative position in the “World Republic of Letters” (Casanova). Drawing on a Canadian case-study (Marie-Claire Blais in English translation), it is suggested that asymmetrical relations between dominating and dominated literatures need not be negative per se, but can lead to the recognition of minority writers.

The Role of Cognitive Patterns in Modelling Reality by Means of Natural Language (The Case Study of the English Cognitive Pattern “Cleanness / Dirtiness”)

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-81
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Savitskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Cognitive Patterns ◽  
Cognitive Pattern ◽  
The World ◽  
Internal Comparison

In the field of cognitive linguistics it is accepted that, before developing its capacity for abstract and theoretical thought, the human mind went through the stage of reflecting reality through concrete images and thus has inherited old cognitive patterns. Even abstract notions of the modern civilization are based on traditional concrete images, and it is all fixed in natural language units. By way of illustration, the author analyzes the cognitive pattern “сleanness / dirtiness” as a constituent part of the English linguoculture, looking at the whole range of its verbal realization and demonstrating its influence on language-based thinking and modeling of reality. Comparing meanings of language units with their inner forms enabled the author to establish the connection between abstract notions and concrete images within cognitive patterns. Using the method of internal comparison and applying the results of etymological reconstruction of language units’ inner form made it possible to see how the world is viewed by representatives of the English linguoculture. Apparently, in the English linguoculture images of cleanness / dirtiness symbolize mainly two thematic areas: that of morality and that of renewal. Since every ethnic group has its own axiological dominants (key values) that determine the expressiveness of verbal invectives, one can draw the conclusion that people perceive and comprehend world fragments through the prism of mental stereo-types fixed in the inner form of language units. Sometimes, in relation to specific language units, a conflict arises between the inner form which retains traditional thinking and a meaning that reflects modern reality. Still, linguoculture is a constantly evolving entity, and its de-velopment entails breaking established stereotypes and creating new ones. Linguistically, the victory of the new over the old is manifested in the “dying out” of the verbal support for pre-vious cognitive patterns, which leads to “reprogramming” (“recoding”) of linguoculture rep-resentatives’ mentality.

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