Inferences about Structure

2021 ◽  
pp. 52-85
Author(s):  
Jill North
Keyword(s):  
Special Relativity ◽  
Time Reversal ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
General Idea ◽  
Dynamical Structure ◽  
Coordinate Systems ◽  
Matching Structure ◽  
Newton’S Laws ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
The Way

This chapter locates a few rules that govern our inferences about structure in physics, three in particular: inferring structure from the laws, minimizing structure, and matching structure. The chapter illustrates these rules by means of familiar inferences that rely on them. These inferences concern a variety of physical theories, from Aristotle’s physics and Newton’s laws to time reversal invariant laws and special relativity. The discussion contrasts these epistemic rules with other guiding principles in the literature. Along the way, the general idea of the structure presupposed by the laws, a theory’s dynamical structure, is elucidated. The chapter ends with a discussion of the extent to which coordinate systems and the form of an equation can tell us about the nature of physical reality.

Classical Mechanics

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-127
Author(s):  
Jill North
Keyword(s):  
Classical Mechanics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Underlying Structure ◽  
Dynamical Structure ◽  
Newtonian Mechanics ◽  
Coordinate Systems ◽  
Natural Coordinate ◽  
The Way

This chapter applies our reasoning about structure in physics to two formulations of classical mechanics, Lagrangian and Newtonian mechanics, that are generally taken to be completely equivalent. It argues that these two formulations differ in both the type and amount of structure presupposed by their dynamical laws, as revealed by the invariances of the equations representing the laws as well as the theories’ statespace structures. This suggests that these are not fully equivalent theories: they differ in dynamical structure. There are also various metaphysical differences between them. The chapter goes on to argue that the minimize-structure rule tells us to choose one over the other. Along the way, the idea that preferred or natural coordinate systems indicate underlying structure is discussed.

The Equivalence Principle

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Wittman
Keyword(s):  
General Relativity ◽  
Special Relativity ◽  
Equivalence Principle ◽  
Time Dilation ◽  
Gravitational Redshift ◽  
Coordinate Systems ◽  
Spacetime Metric

The equivalence principle is an important thinking tool to bootstrap our thinking from the inertial coordinate systems of special relativity to the more complex coordinate systems that must be used in the presence of gravity (general relativity). The equivalence principle posits that at a given event gravity accelerates everything equally, so gravity is equivalent to an accelerating coordinate system.This conjecture is well supported by precise experiments, so we explore the consequences in depth: gravity curves the trajectory of light as it does other projectiles; the effects of gravity disappear in a freely falling laboratory; and gravitymakes time runmore slowly in the basement than in the attic—a gravitational form of time dilation. We show how this is observable via gravitational redshift. Subsequent chapters will build on this to show how the spacetime metric varies with location.

scholarly journals The reality of fiction in a literary world: on an excerpt from Stanisław Lem’s Solaris

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
Y. Domanskii
Keyword(s):  
Physical Reality ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Fictional World ◽  
Actual Reality ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Using an excerpt from Stanisław Lem’s Solaris, this article explores the idea that, in a literary text, a fictional world and the world of physical reality may interact to form such a reality that can paradoxically turn out to be more real than what we believe to be the actual reality. It is also shown that the fictional world realized in a literary text may bring the reader to certain conclusions about the world in which he or she lives. Thus, even if literature is in­capable of affecting reality, it can change the way the latter is perceived. A fictional world is not just a reality — it is a reality of a higher order.

scholarly journals Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Microbial Sciences—the Texas Perspective

mBio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo G. Torres ◽  
Maria Elena Bottazzi ◽  
Floyd L. Wormley
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Professional Roles ◽  
Scientific Careers ◽  
Effective Science ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Equity And Inclusion ◽  
The Way

The way that diversity, equity, and inclusion impact scientific careers varies for everyone, but it is evident that institutions providing an environment where being different or having differences creates a sense of being welcomed, supported, and valued are beneficial to the scientific community at large. In this commentary, three short stories from Texas-based microbiologists are used to depict (i) the importance of bringing the guiding principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion within their professional roles, (ii) the need to apply and translate those principles to support and enable successful scientific careers among peers and trainees, and (iii) the impact of effective science communication to increase the understanding of microbial environments among the community at large.

scholarly journals Social Networks, a Populated Picture

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (02) ◽  
pp. C04
Author(s):  
Fabio Fornasari
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Way

Man, by his very nature, puts things between himself and the environment, turning the latter into a place, a space. He arranges the environment around him on multiple levels, by projecting parts of himself and shaping the frontiers and the horizons that surround, define and represent him. This was learnt a long time ago, but a trace and a memory remain in the way man acts: when mapping reality (both physical reality and the reality explored through digital means), we observe it and find a way through it by adopting behaviours that have always been similar. What has changed in this mapping is the ability to recognise, especially the ability to interpret maps and creatively work them.

Introduction to Kracauer: Abstraction, Redemption and Modernity1

2020 ◽  
pp. 180-190
Author(s):  
Ian Aitken
Keyword(s):  
Physical Reality ◽  
Siegfried Kracauer ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Modern Condition ◽  
The Way

This chapter provides an analysis of the key ideas of Siegfried Kracauer, covering his key concepts of abstraction, redemption and distraction, and his account of the modern condition, the role of conceptual reason within modernity, the subordination of intuition within modernity, and the way that film may contribute to the ‘redemption of physical reality.

Guiding Principles for Quality Professional Practice Dissertations

2016 ◽  
pp. 133-145
Author(s):  
Kara Dawson ◽  
Swapna Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Educational Technology ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
University Of Florida ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Problems Of Practice ◽  
The University ◽  
The Way

In this chapter the authors share the guiding principles for professional practice dissertations developed and studied within their online EdD in Educational Technology at the University of Florida. While these guiding principles were developed approximately four years before the call for chapters for this book was released, they align nicely with at least three pertinent themes that frame this book (i.e. the importance of addressing critical problems of practice, applying research rigor involving real theory and inquiry and demonstrating impact of research). The authors make explicit connections between their guiding principles and these themes and provide examples of how the themes have played out in dissertations completed in their program. The authors then provide implications for others seeking to structure (or restructure) the way dissertations are conceptualized in their professional practice problems.

Blasius of Parma (d. 1416)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziella Federici Vescovini
Keyword(s):  
Physical Science ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Human Ability ◽  
Human Intellect ◽  
Immortality Of The Soul ◽  
Quantitative Account ◽  
The Way

Blasius of Parma was an important Italian philosopher, mathematician and astrologer who popularized the achievements of Oxford logic and Parisian physics in Italy. He questioned the Aristotelian foundations of medieval physical science, mechanics, astronomy and optics, thus helping to open the way to the mathematics, optics and statics of modern times. His teaching influenced the artists of the Florentine Renaissance in their rediscovery of linear perspective, and his discussion of proportions influenced the Paduan mathematicians up to the time of Galileo. He presented an atomist and quantitative account of physical reality, and a materialist account of the human intellect. His consequent denial of the immortality of the soul won him the title of ‘diabolical doctor’ (doctor diabolicus). His position on the human ability to avoid astrological determinism was equivocal. Though his work was scholastic in style, he enjoyed good relations with such Italian humanists as Vittorino da Feltre, whose request for lessons in mathematics he refused. In Florence, he took part in conversations between humanists and scholastics.

The Characteristics of Certain Resisting Surfaces and Screws

1916 ◽  
Vol 20 (77) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
G. H. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
General Idea ◽  
General Character ◽  
Lateral Stability ◽  
Wind Gusts ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Way

In the stability investigations which the late Captain Ferber published in the Revue d'Artillerie, the sustaining and other surfaces of an aeroplane were in certain cases taken to be represented, for dynamical purposes, by a system of three plane resisting laminæ fixed mutually at right angles. Unfortunately, however, such a system cannot in general be made equivalent to a collection of surfaces, such as those of an aeroplane, with the result that Captain Ferber's investigation failed to give the correct conditions of lateral stability. At the same time, Ferber's system of three orthogonal planes is so convenient, especially for forming a general idea of the effects of wind gusts on an aeroplane, that it is desirable to investigate conditions and limitations under which such a representation is valid. The desirability of a further investigation of the forces and couples acting on a system of resisting surfaces of a general character was foreshadowed in “Stability in Aviation,” and a more detailed discussion of the problem has now become necessary in order to prepare the way for further studies in the rigid dynamics of the motions of aeroplanes or of systems resembling them.

Agreement, attraction and architectural opportunism

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUAN CARLOS ACUÑA-FARIÑA
Keyword(s):  
General Idea ◽  
Semantic Interference ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Morphological Component ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Adequate Measurement ◽  
The Way

The purpose of this paper is to examine psycholinguistic work on attraction with a view to enriching our knowledge of the grammar of agreement. Following Franck et al. (2006), I assume that the different theories of agreement should relate to the way speakers err when they implement agreement operations. As an aberrant computation of the mind, attraction is interesting due to its frequency: in English experiments 13% of complex NPs (i.e. NPs which consist of two or more constituent NPs) establish incorrect agreement with the verb (as in *the key to the cabinets are in the kitchen; Eberhard, Cooper Cutting & Bock 2005). This is what makes it a magnet for both linguistic and psycholinguistic research. Here I examine the main findings and models in the psycholinguistic literature, and how they relate to existing theories of agreement in grammar. It will be argued that agreement cannot be properly understood unless models incorporate an adequate measurement of the size of the morphological component of every language studied, as agreement operations are continuously sensitive to this. The general idea, which I extend from Berg (1998) and Acuña-Fariña (2009) is that a strong morphosyntactic component blocks (rather than facilitates) semantic interference, and that languages opportunistically use more or less semantics in establishing agreement ties depending not only on morphological richness but also on the direction of encoding.

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