scholarly journals Kant on the Fundamental Forces of Matter: Why Attraction and Repulsion?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Stephen Howard
Keyword(s):  
Reduction Method ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Philosophy Of Nature ◽  
Simple Question ◽  
Metaphysical Tradition ◽  
Fundamental Forces

Abstract This article addresses a simple question that has rarely been asked of Kant’s philosophy of nature: why are attraction and repulsion the two fundamental forces of matter? Where proposals can be found in the literature, they are divergent. I provide a new answer, which has strong support from the historical context: Kant pursues a modified version of what I call the ‘reduction method’ that was much debated in the German metaphysical tradition. To this, Kant crucially adds his critical doctrine of regulative ideas, revealing an overlooked way that the Appendix to the Critique informs his philosophy of nature.

scholarly journals DNA curvature and flexibility in vitro and in vivo

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin P. Peters ◽  
L. James Maher
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Dna Curvature ◽  
Polymer Model ◽  
Exciting Field ◽  
Chain Polymer ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Active Research ◽  
Fundamental Forces

AbstractIt has been more than 50 years since the elucidation of the structure of double-helical DNA. Despite active research and progress in DNA biology and biochemistry, much remains to be learned in the field of DNA biophysics. Predicting the sequence-dependent curvature and flexibility of DNA is difficult. Applicability of the conventional worm-like chain polymer model of DNA has been challenged. The fundamental forces responsible for the remarkable resistance of DNA to bending and twisting remain controversial. The apparent ‘softening’ of DNA measured in vivo in the presence of kinking proteins and superhelical strain is incompletely understood. New methods and insights are being applied to these problems. This review places current work on DNA biophysics in historical context and illustrates the ongoing interplay between theory and experiment in this exciting field.

The Muʿtazilite Movement (II)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophical Anthropology ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The State ◽  
Philosophy Of Nature ◽  
Divine Attributes ◽  
Philosophical System ◽  
The Individual

This chapter examines the theology of the early Muʿtazilites. First we consider the state of the sources in which their positions are preserved, the individual figures involved, and their historical context. We indicate the relation of Muʿtazilites to their contemporaries, orthodox and heretical, and enumerate the central tenets of their theology. Then we consider the outstanding features of early Muʿtazilite theology in practice, beginning with its grounding in the philosophy of nature and the various physical theories associated with the school, together with speculation concerning their provenance. Finally we examine various aspects of the philosophical system in detail, including the divine attributes, the nature of God, philosophical anthropology, and free will.

Kant's Revolutionary Theory of Modality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uygar Abacı
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Ontological Argument ◽  
Prevailing Paradigm ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Metaphysical Tradition ◽  
Philosophical Project ◽  
Critical Turn ◽  
Traditional Paradigm ◽  
Ways Of Being

This book offers a comprehensive study of Kant’s views on modal notions of possibility, actuality or existence, and necessity. It aims to locate Kant’s views on these notions in their broader historical context, establish their continuity and transformation across Kant’s precritical and critical texts, and determine their role in the substance as well as the development of Kant’s philosophical project. It makes two overarching claims. First, Kant’s precritical views on modality, which appear in the context of his attempts to revise the ontological argument and are critical of the tradition only from within its prevailing paradigm of modality, develop into a revolutionary theory of modality in his critical period, radicalizing his critique of the ontotheological and rationalist metaphysical tradition. While the traditional paradigm construes modal notions as fundamental ontological predicates, expressing different modes or ways of being of things, Kant’s theory consists in redefining them as subjective and relational features of our discursivity, expressing different modes in which our conceptual representations of objects are related to our cognitive faculty. Second, this revolutionary theory of modality does not only become a crucial component of Kant’s critical epistemology and his radical critique of rationalist metaphysics, but it is in fact directly constitutive of the critical turn itself, as Kant originally formulates the latter in terms of a shift from an ontological to an epistemological approach to the question of possibility. Thus, tracing the development of Kant’s understanding of modality comes to fruition in an alternative reading of Kant’s overall philosophical development.

Hume's Scepticism Revisited

Philosophy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-602
Author(s):  
Zuzana Parusniková
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Happy Life ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Metaphysical Tradition ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Universal Order ◽  
Individual Human

AbstractI shall situate Hume's scepticism within a broader philosophical and historical context. Firstly, I shall consider the place of Hume's thought within the early modern break with the almost millennium long metaphysical tradition, a break initiated by Descartes. The framework of being structured by a universal order was replaced by the individual human mind that broke free from any higher authority and became an autonomous cognitive agent. Subsequently, the ontological self-evidence of the world or the possibility of adequate knowledge came under sceptical attack. Hume firmly belongs to this discourse and can be seen as the most consistent exponent of this early modern sceptical line. In this light, the ‘New Hume’ claim that Hume was an ontological realist will be shown to be misplaced in principle. Secondly, the strong influence of Pyrrhonism on Hume's philosophy will be considered, together with his concept of mitigated scepticism. The Pyrrhonian legacy is especially noticeable in Hume's acceptance of the weakness of reason and in his emphasis on the instructive role of philosophy – instead of attempting to make it the foundation of science it becomes a guide to a balanced, happy life. In this respect, Hume stands outside the early modern mainstream in philosophy.

Amyloid β-peptide and Alzheimer's disease

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Allsop ◽  
Jennifer Mayes
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Senile Plaques ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Amyloid Β Peptide ◽  
Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Aβ Amyloid ◽  
Amyloid Cascade

One of the hallmarks of AD (Alzheimer's disease) is the formation of senile plaques in the brain, which contain fibrils composed of Aβ (amyloid β-peptide). According to the ‘amyloid cascade’ hypothesis, the aggregation of Aβ initiates a sequence of events leading to the formation of neurofibrillary tangles, neurodegeneration, and on to the main symptom of dementia. However, emphasis has now shifted away from fibrillar forms of Aβ and towards smaller and more soluble ‘oligomers’ as the main culprit in AD. The present chapter commences with a brief introduction to the disease and its current treatment, and then focuses on the formation of Aβ from the APP (amyloid precursor protein), the genetics of early-onset AD, which has provided strong support for the amyloid cascade hypothesis, and then on the development of new drugs aimed at reducing the load of cerebral Aβ, which is still the main hope for providing a more effective treatment for AD in the future.

Instrumental and Ideological Union Commitment: Longitudinal Assessment of Construct Validity

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Sjöberg ◽  
Magnus Sverke
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Internal Consistency Reliability ◽  
Measurement Model ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Longitudinal Assessment ◽  
Union Commitment ◽  
Union Participation

Summary: Previous research has identified instrumentality and ideology as important aspects of member attachment to labor unions. The present study evaluated the construct validity of a scale designed to reflect the two dimensions of instrumental and ideological union commitment using a sample of 1170 Swedish blue-collar union members. Longitudinal data were used to test seven propositions referring to the dimensionality, internal consistency reliability, and temporal stability of the scale as well as postulated group differences in union participation to which the scale should be sensitive. Support for the hypothesized factor structure of the scale and for adequate reliabilities of the dimensions was obtained and was also replicated 18 months later. Tests for equality of measurement model parameters and test-retest correlations indicated support for the temporal stability of the scale. In addition, the results were consistent with most of the predicted differences between groups characterized by different patterns of change/stability in union participation status. The study provides strong support for the construct validity of the scale and indicates that it can be used in future theory testing on instrumental and ideological union commitment.

Psychology as a Profession and a Science

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ype H. Poortinga ◽  
Ingrid Lunt
Keyword(s):  
European Association ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Professional Psychologists

The European Association of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) was created in 1981 as the European Association of Professional Psychologists’ Associations (EFPPA). We show that Shakespeare’s dictum “What’s in a name?” does not apply here and that the loss of the “first P” (the adjectival “professional”) was resisted for almost two decades and experienced by many as a serious loss. We recount some of the deliberations preceding the change and place these in a broader historical context by drawing parallels with similar developments elsewhere. Much of the argument will refer to an underlying controversy between psychology as a science and the practice of psychology, a controversy that is stronger than in most other sciences, but nevertheless needs to be resolved.

The Time Course of the Aversive Conflict Signal

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Fritz ◽  
Gesine Dreisbach
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Short Soas ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Presentation Time ◽  
Psychological Evidence ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Direct Investigation

The idea that conflicts are aversive signals recently has gained strong support by both physiological as well as psychological evidence. However, the time course of the aversive signal has not been subject to direct investigation. In the present study, participants had to judge the valence of neutral German words after being primed with conflict or non-conflict Stroop stimuli in three experiments with varying SOA (200 ms, 400 ms, 800 ms) and varying prime presentation time. Conflict priming effects (i.e., increased frequencies of negative judgments after conflict as compared to non-conflict primes) were found for SOAs of 200 ms and 400 ms, but absent (or even reversed) with a SOA of 800 ms. These results imply that the aversiveness of conflicts is evaluated automatically with short SOAs, but is actively counteracted with prolonged prime presentation.

Historical Context for Psychology, Moral Context for Historians

1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (11) ◽  
pp. 990-991
Author(s):  
Isaac Prilleltensky
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Moral Context
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