The Ultimate Speculation

Speculation ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 216-261
Author(s):  
Peter Achinstein
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
The World ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

Some scientists and philosophers claim that a “Theory of Everything” (TOE) exists and that scientists should find it. Such a theory will explain everything on the basis of fundamental laws and fundamental constituents of the universe to which everything else is reducible. This chapter clarifies what a TOE is supposed to be and do, and examines arguments in favor of the idea that there is a TOE and it should be found. These arguments involve claims from the history of science, claims about what science presupposes, claims about unification in science, and others. In response, this chapter shows not only that these arguments fail to establish their claims, but also that they fail to establish the desirability of a TOE. Contrary to what TOE enthusiasts insist, the intelligibility of the world does not depend on finding a TOE and using it to explain what scientists want and need to explain. Intelligibility is a local and contextual matter.

The World of the Atom

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Fox
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Specific Element ◽  
Atomic Theory ◽  
Subatomic Particles ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Complex Matter ◽  
The Universe

The story of radiation is the story of the atom and of subatomic particles. I should warn you that I love this story because it is one of the most fascinating and compelling stories in the history of science, it involves a cast of brilliant scientists, and it changed the world. So I get enthused and want to go into too much detail—at least that is what my students think. But to really understand the story, it will be necessary to learn some complicated and apparently nonsensical ideas in physics. I will try to keep the technical details to a minimum, but if you really want to understand what radiation is and where it comes from, stick with me as we explore the story. I hope you will be fascinated, too. The beginnings of the story go back to Indian and Greek philosophers who postulated that the universe consisted of space and indivisible particles that could combine to form more complex matter. The term átomos, meaning uncuttable or indivisible, was coined by the Greek philosopher Democritus in the fourth century B.C.E . While this was purely a philosophical speculation, it was a remarkable insight. More than a thousand years later, science and experimentation began to uncover just what this meant. John Dalton is credited with being the father of modern atomic theory in chemistry. In 1803 he developed the idea that elements consist of atoms, that different atoms have different weights, and that the atoms of a specific element are all alike but are different from those of other elements. He also proposed that atoms can combine in specific proportions to make up compounds or molecules. But are atoms really indivisible, and if not, what are they made of? Nearly a hundred years after Dalton, this question began to be answered in a burst of experiments and insights at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, starting with the discovery of radiation.

scholarly journals Synet på natur og historie hos Grundtvig og Løgstrup

1994 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-106
Author(s):  
Hans Henningsen
Keyword(s):  
Sense Perception ◽  
Historical View ◽  
Self Recognition ◽  
The World ◽  
Art Forms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Historical Life

The View of Nature and History in Grundtvig and LøgstrupBy Hans HenningsenGrundtvig’s and K.E. Løgstrup’s thoughts move in two different dimensions, but with the same intention of demonstrating that it was not the capacity of man to create culture that first gave significance to the world. But where Grundtvig speaks about history, Løgstrup speaks about »phenomena«, »nature«, and »universe«.While Grundtvig was largely unaffected by Kant, the latter - with his concepts of the selfexistent subject and the idea of the faculty of cognition as productive - became a challenge to Løgstrup. Kant heralds an era whose relationship with the universe is characterized as a »marginal existence«. Our culture became an emancipatory culture which was all to the good, but the era lost its sense of the .pre-cultural. structures in which life is »encased«.The era has also emancipated itself from Grundtvig’s historical view. But a history on the premisses of relativism is no history. Or, in Løgstrup’s words, there is no other history than the history of what is essential in life. Therefore, in reality, Løgstrup’s phenomenological and philosophical endeavours become a defence of history. Grundtvig’s view of nature was determined by his radical prioritization of history. He prefers to view nature as part of the historical life of man, which again determines his use of nature images. In Grundtvig there is no religious interpretation of any experience or perception of nature in spite of the fact that everything in the Creation is to be understood as images of the eternal.In Løgstrup there is no such cautions attitude towards nature. Here nature and sense perception are liberating, but as is the case with Grundtvig, nature is seen as the foundation of man’s life, as immediate experience.Grundtvig’s radical prioritization of history colours his view of art. The Creation itself is the greatest work of art; part of it is the upbringing through which all history must be the object of the individual’s own experience. Among the art forms, poetry ranks highest, with the song above all other forms, while Grundtvig only uses disparaging words about painting and sculpture because these art forms are wordless and preclude changes. Løgstrup, however, attaches much greater importance to sense perception and self-recognition through art.These contrasts may be regarded as what Løgstrup calls uniting opposites; it must be remembered, however, that such disparities cannot be harmonized so as to disappear, but are uniting precisely by virtue of the tension that exists between them. The actual existence of the contrasts does not preclude the possibility that in a wider sense the two views may be contained within the same framework and express a common intention.

scholarly journals Pierre Monbeig and the Formation of Geography in Brazil (1925-1957): Geohistory of Knowledge, Intellectual History and the Insertion of Brazilian Geography into the World-Science

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Alves de Lira
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
World Science ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
The World ◽  
University Professor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Context

This paper aims to present the exemplarity of an intellectual meeting between a French intellectual, trained in history and geography at the Sorbonne, France (before spending time in Spain during the beginning of his doctorate), and the “Brazilian terrain”. From his training to his work as a university professor in Brazil, what I want to characterize is a transnational intellectual context in the domain of the history of science, using geographical reasoning as a reference. However, before becoming aware of these intellectual processes, it should be said that at the base of this context lies the Brazilian space. This kind of reasoning as a proposed methodology is named here the geohistory of knowledge. In this paper, I seek to present this methodology and its theoretical and empirical results, focusing on how the construction of contextualization can be related to space.

scholarly journals Theophany in the Old Testament and its Interpretation in Aramaic Translations (The Concept of the Divine Word in the Targum)

2007 ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Dmytro V. Tsolin
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Material World ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
History Of ◽  
Repeated Use ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Experienced Researcher

Every reader of the Old Testament, both experienced researcher and newcomer, cannot fail to pay attention to one peculiarity in the presentation of the idea of ​​God: it is a harmonious (and, at times, amazing) combination of transcendence and immanence. The History of the Creation of the World (Genesis 1: 1 - 2: 3), which begins the first book of the Strictly Testament - Genesis - is an example of an exquisite prose genre with elements of epic poetry. In it, the Creator of the Universe appears to the Almighty, the Wise, and the All-Powerful, standing above the created world: Only one word of it evokes the material world from nothingness. This is emphasized by the repeated use of the formulas אלהים וימר / wa-yyo'mer 'ělohîm ("And Elohim said ...") and ויהי־כן / wa-yəhî khēn ("And so it became"). This use of two narrative constructs at the beginning and at the end of messages about the creative activities of God clearly emphasizes the idea of ​​reconciling the divine Word and being. God is shown here to be transcendental.

GHAZALI'S PHILOSOPHY OF REALITY, IMPORTANCE AND PURPOSE OF RELIGION

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Rasheed
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

"The history of religion is as old as the world itself. That is why from Hazrat Adam to date, we find no age without divine guidance.Guidance is necessary for all human beings as the Creator of the universe, Almighty Allah addressed the first human couple while sending it to this earth:"We said," Get down from here, all of you. So, whenever 'the guidance' from ME comes to you; and whoever follows MY' guidance', they do not have to fear and they do not have to regret".Meaning: "Gm here; ate you down all frond if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve". It means the success of Allah's vicegerents, human beings, depends on their following the laws given by the creator of this world.

Cosmos: The Universe Translated

2018 ◽  
pp. 187-232
Author(s):  
Alison E. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Original Work ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Scientific Thought ◽  
Physical Description ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrestrial Life ◽  
Fourth Volume ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe

This chapter is devoted to Humboldt’s last, great work Cosmos. This multi-volume ‘Sketch of a Physical Description of the World’ ranged encyclopaedically from the darkest corners of space to the smallest forms of terrestrial life, describing the larger systems at work in the natural world. But, as British reviewers were swift to query, where was God in Humboldt’s mapping of the universe? Appearing on the market in 1846, just a year after Robert Chambers’ controversial Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, Humboldt’s Cosmos unavoidably underwent close scrutiny. Hitherto overlooked correspondence between Humboldt and Edward Sabine shows how the Sabines deliberately reoriented the second volume of the English translation for Longman/Murray explicitly to include references to the ‘Creator’ and thus restore Humboldt’s reputation. The fourth volume of the Longman edition on terrestrial magnetism – Edward Sabine’s specialism – included additions endorsed by Humboldt which made Sabine appear as co-writer alongside the great Prussian scientist, and Cosmos a more obviously ‘English’ product. Otté, who produced the rival translation for Bohn, was initially under pressure herself to generate ‘original’ work that differed from its rival, producing a version of a work that would remain central to scientific thought well up to the end of the nineteenth century.

Not to Amuse My Readers Any Longer

2019 ◽  
pp. 205-218
Author(s):  
Scott Huler
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This chapter retraces Huler’s thoughts about Lawson’s book, including Lawson’s collection of plants and insects that benefitted the history of science. Huler does not fail to mention his admiration for Lawson’s voyage with the Indians and their tradition. Lawson provides his opinion of slaves and considers Indians the freest People in the World. Lastly, Huler makes his last stop in Grifton listening to lectures and learning of traditional crafts. Huler closes his book with thoughts about Lawson’s death and reminiscences about the beauty of nature.

Unreasoned Care

2019 ◽  
pp. 152-184
Author(s):  
Karen Bray
Keyword(s):  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Productive Model

“Unreasoned Care” returns us to God through a sojourn with Foucault’s archives. This chapter queerly attends to how the Process God as Eros of the Universe might open us to a non-redemptive or counter-salvific and yet ethically attentive theology that sticks with the mad we’ve condemned, confined, and left unredeemed. Reading with Lynne Huffer’s re-engagement with Foucault’s History of Madness, this chapter argues for an ethics of care for the ghosts of those an emphasis on reason, straightness, saneness, health, and wealth have ransomed for the rise of the productive model citizen. Placing Foucault and Whitehead into conversation offers us a theo-ethic of grave attending to those ransomed for our redemption. Such an encounter helps us to acknowledge the past that has caused the world to be thus, and to salvage dreams of a world that can be otherwise.

The World Code

2008 ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
Azamat Abdoullaev
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
Formal Ontology ◽  
Knowledge Domain ◽  
The Real ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The World ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Universe

Formalizing the world in rigorous mathematical terms is no less significant than its fundamental understanding and modeling in terms of ontological constructs. Like black and white, opposite sexes or polarity signs, ontology and mathematics stand complementary to each other, making up the unique and unequaled knowledge domain or knowledge base, which involves two parts: • Ontological (real) mathematics, which defines the real significance for the mathematical entities, so studying the real status of mathematical objects, functions, and relationships in terms of ontological categories and rules. • Mathematical (formal) ontology, which defines the mathematical structures of the real world features, so concerned with a meaningful representation of the universe in terms of mathematical language. The combination of ontology and mathematics and substantial knowledge of sciences is likely the only one true road to reality understanding, modeling and representation. Ontology on its own can’t specify the fabric, design, architecture, and the laws of the universe. Nor theoretical physics with its conceptual tools and models: general relativity, quantum physics, Lagrangians, Hamiltonians, conservation laws, symmetry groups, quantum field theory, string and M theory, twistor theory, loop quantum gravity, the big bang, the standard model, or theory of everything material. Nor mathematics alone with its abstract tools, complex number calculus, differential calculus, differential geometry, analytical continuation, higher algebras, Fourier series and hyperfunctions is the real path to reality (Penrose, 2005).

Empedocles (c.495–c.435 BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Good Deal ◽  
Comparative Morphology ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Sense Perception ◽  
Animal Sacrifice ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Clear Relation

Empedocles, born in the Sicilian city of Acragas (modern Agrigento), was a major Greek philosopher of the Presocratic period. Numerous fragments survive from his two major works, poems in epic verse known later in antiquity as On Nature and Purifications. On Nature sets out a vision of reality as a theatre of ceaseless change, whose invariable pattern consists in the repetition of the two processes of harmonization into unity followed by dissolution into plurality. The force unifying the four elements from which all else is created – earth, air, fire and water – is called Love, and Strife is the force dissolving them once again into plurality. The cycle is most apparent in the rhythms of plant and animal life, but Empedocles’ main objective is to tell the history of the universe itself as an exemplification of the pattern. The basic structure of the world is the outcome of disruption of a total blending of the elements into main masses which eventually develop into the earth, the sea, the air and the fiery heaven. Life, however, emerged not from separation but by mixture of elements, and Empedocles elaborates an account of the evolution of living forms of increasing complexity and capacity for survival, culminating in the creation of species as they are at present. There followed a detailed treatment of a whole range of biological phenomena, from reproduction to the comparative morphology of the parts of animals and the physiology of sense perception and thinking. The idea of a cycle involving the fracture and restoration of harmony bears a clear relation to the Pythagorean belief in the cycle of reincarnations which the guilty soul must undergo before it can recover heavenly bliss. Empedocles avows his allegiance to this belief, and identifies the primal sin requiring the punishment of reincarnation as an act of bloodshed committed through ‘trust in raving strife’. Purifications accordingly attacked the practice of animal sacrifice, and proclaimed prohibition against killing animals to be a law of nature. Empedocles’ four elements survived as the basis of physics for 2,000 years. Aristotle was fascinated by On Nature; his biology probably owes a good deal to its comparative morphology. Empedocles’ cosmic cycle attracted the interest of the early Stoics. Lucretius found in him the model of a philosophical poet. Philosophical attacks on animal sacrifice made later in antiquity appealed to him as an authority.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document