Miracles and Violations of Laws of Nature

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
Daniel Saudek
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
General Notion ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Reverse Implication ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties

The aim of this article is to spell out the relationship between miracles and violations of laws of nature. I argue that the former do not necessarily entail the latter, even in the case of the type of miraculous event which cannot be brought about by natural operations alone. The idea that they do is based on a deterministic assumption which is too often overlooked. The article also explores the reverse implication, i.e. the question whether violations of laws of nature entail miracles. It turns out that there are conceptual difficulties in defining what sort of events would qualify as such violations in the first place, but that a more general notion of God’s action contravening nature is viable. However, there are theological reasons against the assumption that God ever acts in this way.

“Philosophy, Therefore, Is within Yourself”

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-187
Author(s):  
Elad Carmel
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Human Reason ◽  
Advanced Form ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

The connection that Hobbes makes between reason, method, and science renders reason a faculty that is not only natural but also acquired and even somewhat exclusive. This idea might pose a serious problem to Hobbes’s political theory, as it relies heavily on the successful use of reason. This problem is demonstrated in Hobbes’s account of the laws of nature, for which some equality in human reason is clearly needed, but Hobbes is not explicit about the relationship between that and the more advanced form of reason that eventually leads to science. This article suggests that Hobbes’s account of reason is developmental. The seed of natural reason is common to everyone, and is sufficient for the establishment of the commonwealth. Thereafter, peace and leisure provide the necessary conditions for developing the rational skill, that is, fulfilling the human potential for rationality. Consequently, under the right circumstances, knowledge and science are expected to progress dramatically for the benefit of society, an open-ended vision which Hobbes nevertheless leaves implicit. Following Hobbes’s account of reason and philosophy closely can therefore show that he might have had great hopes for humankind, and that in this sense he was a key member of an English Enlightenment.

scholarly journals Scientific Practice and the Epistemology of Governing Laws

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
TYLER HILDEBRAND
Keyword(s):  
British Journal ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Natural Properties ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Epistemic Access ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article is concerned with the relationship between scientific practice and the metaphysics of laws of nature and natural properties. I begin by examining an argument by Michael Townsen Hicks and Jonathan Schaffer (‘Derivative Properties in Fundamental Laws,’ British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2017) that an important feature of scientific practice—namely, that scientists sometimes invoke non-fundamental properties in fundamental laws—is incompatible with metaphysical theories according to which laws govern. I respond to their argument by developing an epistemology for governing laws that is grounded in scientific practice. This epistemology is of general interest for non-Humean theories of laws, for it helps to explain our epistemic access to non-Humean theoretical entities such as governing laws or fundamental powers.

Toward a virtue account of science

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob Warren Wright
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Knowledge Model ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Scientific Goal ◽  
Zero Force Evolutionary Law ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This dissertation argues for a virtue account of science in which foundational scientific goals are achieved by scientists' employment of virtuous tools and practices. Chapter 1 discusses contemporary literature on the nature and success of biology, especially the realism/antirealism debate within biology. This chapter also provides background into the debate surrounding explanation and understanding. Chapter 2 challenges the idea that successful biology requires appeals to laws of nature by arguing that some foundational scientific goals best realized by unlawful tools and practices. This result provides a criterion for determining whether a discipline is more scientific than another another; disciplines are more or less scientific to the extent that they are able to achieve foundational scientific goals. Chapter 3 examines a test case for the result in Chapter 2 by analyzing McShea and Brandon's [2010] Zero Force Evolutionary Law (ZFEL). I show that the ZFEL's failure as a law does not impact its usefulness to scientists, who are able to use the ZFEL to achieve a number of important, foundational goals. Chapter 4 provides a strategy for determining foundational scientific goals by examining the debate surrounding the relationship between understanding and explanation. By analyzing Khalifa's [2013a] Explanatory Knowledge Model of Understanding, I demonstrate that understanding is not a species of explanation and is thus a foundational scientific goal. It is a goal that scientists aim at, has intrinsic benefit, and is not reducible to other scientific goals. Finally, Chapter 5 presents an outline of the virtue account. On this account, science is successful to the extent it regularly achieves foundational scientific goals. Science does so by employing virtuous tools and practices--those tools and practices that regularly allow for the achievement of foundational goals. The chapter concludes by examining several benefits of this view and considering future avenues for research.

8. Damages, Compensation, and Responsibility

Tort Law ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Steele
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Tort Law ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Human Rights Act ◽  
Human Rights Act 1998 ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties ◽  
Academic Debate

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter deals with remedies, particularly monetary remedies, and remedial issues in relation to torts. Before discussing compensation and responsibility, it first considers the heads of loss for which damages in tort may be awarded, and some serious conceptual difficulties involved with this. It then looks at the potential for non-compensatory awards and the challenge to tort law represented by the growth of damages under the Human Rights Act 1998. It also assesses recent developments with respect to the assessment and delivery of damages, the funding of litigation, and the relationship between tort damages and welfare support.

scholarly journals Scientific Representation, Causality and Induction in L. Wittgenstein’s Tractatus

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Eduardo Simões
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Scientific Representation ◽  
Geometric Representation ◽  
Logical Basis ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Proper Context

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the Wittgenstein Tractatus deals with themes related to the laws of nature, as well as with the metatheoretical principles of science. More specifically, our intention is to expose the notions of scientific representation linked to principles such as those of causality and induction. As a starting point, we propose that the notion of non-precedence of one scientific theory over another is of Hertzian inspiration, which argues that “one image may be more suitable for one purpose, another for another” (HERTZ, 1956, p. 3). As an unfolding of this notion, the systems of geometric representation of Hertz and Boltzmann will serve the Tractatus in order to demonstrate that laws, like the law of causality, as form and not content, only represent the network (any method) that, after all, is optional. On the other hand, metatheoretical principles such as induction have no logical basis and their effect, in the wake of what Hume thought, is only psychological. Like the other themes of the Tractatus, its Philosophy of Science cannot be understood outside a broader context, which is the proper context to the criticism of language. Therefore, what is presented here intends not to be divorced from the relationship between logic, language and science, since, in our view, these are the three pillars of support of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

scholarly journals Criticism of solipsism in the contexts of many-world models

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
I.A. Karpenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Theory ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Many Worlds ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Theory Of Everything ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

The article analyzes the problem of the relationship between consciousness and physical reality in the context of some multi-world models. It is shown that the adoption of many- worlds models imposes certain restrictions on the criteria of scientific theory, as well as on the concept of what is considered a “theory of everything”. Based on the original criticism of solipsism and the properties of the second law of thermodynamics, it is proved that consciousness can be considered as a derivative of the fundamental principles (laws of nature) of the physical reality in which it operates. From this follows the conclusion, considering the adoption of the many-worlds hypothesis, that different types of consciousness should correspond to different worlds (with different sets of basic principles). Conclusions are also made about the role and status of mathematics in the considered hypothetical conditions, and the possibility of creating a “theory of everything” is questioned.

scholarly journals Un puente entre sujeto y objeto. El humor en la poesía de José Watanabe

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Ryusuke Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Mantis Religiosa ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Relationship

RESUMEN: Este artículo es un análisis de tres poemas por José Watanabe: «La mantis religiosa», «Fábula» y «Camello». El enfoque está en examinar la relación entre sujeto y objeto dentro de los poemas, partiendo del tema del humor según los planteamientos de Simon Critchley. Esto conduce a una refl exión sobre la condición del ser humano y su relación con las leyes de la naturaleza.ABSTRACT: This article is an analysis of three poems by José Watanabe: “La mantis religiosa”, “Fábula”, and “Camello”. The main point is to examine the relationship between subject and object within the poems, taking into consideration humor as a central theme. The concept and understanding of humor are based on the ideas of philosopher Simon Critchley. The analysis is conducive to a refl ection on the condition of being human and his/her relations to the laws of nature.

Maps and Political Power: A Cultural Interpretation of the Maps in The Gazetteer of Jiankang Prefecture

1999 ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Bangbo Hu
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
Political Power ◽  
General Notion ◽  
Cultural Interpretation ◽  
Cultural Images ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Selection Of

Historians of cartography have recently expressed a greater interest in the relationship between maps and culture and society. This paper examines how political power is reflected in the maps in a Chinese gazetteer from 1261, The Gazetteer of Jiankang Prefecture (Jiankang zhi). It shows how political power influenced the production process of the gazetteer and how this power is reflected in the selection of maps and images. Political power controlled the entire production process of the gazetteer and its maps. According to the local governor’s instructions, Zhou Yinghe, the major author of the gazetteer, proposed four principles on how to compile the gazetteer. These principles clearly reveal control by the government in the compiling process. The emperor’s power was evidently emphasized in these maps through map selection, cartographic design, and symbolization. This paper supports the general notion that maps are not only geographical representations of the spatial world but can also be viewed as cultural images that reflect the societies in which they are produced.

Conceptual Difficulties of Standard Quantum Mechanics and the Role of Noise in Overcoming Them

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (03) ◽  
pp. 1640007 ◽  
Author(s):  
GianCarlo Ghirardi
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Dynamics ◽  
Superposition Principle ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Standard Theory ◽  
Standard Quantum ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Linear Nature ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties

We briefly review the difficulties of the standard version of quantum mechanics in accounting for all kinds of physical processes (in particular both the micro and the macroscopic ones) and we argue that to overcome such difficulties one has to give up the superposition principle, i.e., to break the linear nature of the theory. We then show that the simple introduction of terms violating the linearity of the deterministic evolution of the standard theory has physically unacceptable consequences. Taking this into account we are led to modify the quantum dynamics by adding to Schrödinger’s equation, besides nonlinear terms, a coupling with an appropriate noise. We show that, with such a move, one can work out a theory which is internally consistent and it allows to account, in a quite simple and physically appealing way, for natural processes including the measurements and the classical behavior of macroscopic bodies. On the basis of our analysis, we are led to conclude that the consideration of the noise represents a crucial element for understanding the laws of nature.

God as Creator of Natural Laws: On the Relation of the Absolute and the Contingent World

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Müller
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Philosophical Perspective ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Rational Theology ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ultimate Ground

SummaryIn his essay on rational theology Holm Tetens broaches the issue of God’s role as creator and additionally addresses the relationship of the absolute to the contingent world in a philosophical perspective. By making this a topic, the question arises as to whether or not God’s creative activities are limited by the laws of nature. According to Tetens, God as the infinite self-conscious subject must not just considered as free from all restrictions concerning his creative activities, but rather, characterized as the absolute, he must be thought of as the ultimate ground of all beings, and therefore also as the creator of natural laws. In this article I will give a brief sketch of how this task could be tackled in philosophical terms. In doing so I will both pick up some of Tetens’ main intentions and concepts and try to explore them in some detail, as well as attempt to link them with the principle of determinacy as the main characteristic of the absolute.

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