scholarly journals Should Special Science Laws Be Written into the Semantics of Counterfactuals?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-108
Author(s):  
Daniel Dohrn
Keyword(s):  
Counterfactual Dependence ◽  
Special Science ◽  
Thermodynamic Process ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics

Abstract Adam Elga has presented an anti-thermodynamic process as a counterexample to Lewis’s default semantics for counterfactuals. The outstanding reaction of Jonathan Schaffer and Boris Kment is revisionary. It sacrifices Lewis’s aim of defining causation in terms of counterfactual dependence. Lewis himself suggested an alternative: «counter-entropic funnybusiness» should make for dissimilarity. But how is this alternative to be spelled out? I discuss a recent proposal: include special science laws, among them the laws of thermodynamics. Although the proposal fails, it serves to uncover the limits of Elga’s example.

scholarly journals Hamiltonian Thermodynamics

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-580
Author(s):  
S.A. Rashkovskiy ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Hamiltonian Systems ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Helmholtz Free Energy ◽  
Random Processes ◽  
Carnot Cycle ◽  
Thermodynamic Process ◽  
Thermodynamic Cycles ◽  
Thermodynamic State ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics

It is believed that thermodynamic laws are associated with random processes occurring in the system and, therefore, deterministic mechanical systems cannot be described within the framework of the thermodynamic approach. In this paper, we show that thermodynamics (or, more precisely, a thermodynamically-like description) can be constructed even for deterministic Hamiltonian systems, for example, systems with only one degree of freedom. We show that for such systems it is possible to introduce analogs of thermal energy, temperature, entropy, Helmholtz free energy, etc., which are related to each other by the usual thermodynamic relations. For the Hamiltonian systems considered, the first and second laws of thermodynamics are rigorously derived, which have the same form as in ordinary (molecular) thermodynamics. It is shown that for Hamiltonian systems it is possible to introduce the concepts of a thermodynamic state, a thermodynamic process, and thermodynamic cycles, in particular, the Carnot cycle, which are described by the same relations as their usual thermodynamic analogs.

First and second laws of thermodynamics: relationship, “inconsistency”, hidden effects

2020 ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
A. M. Savchenko ◽  
Yu. V. Konovalov ◽  
A. V. Laushkin
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Internal Energy ◽  
Second Law Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Second Law ◽  
Entropy Of Mixing ◽  
Ideal Mixing ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship of the first and second laws of thermodynamics based on their energy nature is considered. It is noted that the processes described by the second law of thermodynamics often take place hidden within the system, which makes it difficult to detect them. Nevertheless, even with ideal mixing, an increase in the internal energy of the system occurs, numerically equal to an increase in free energy. The largest contribution to the change in the value of free energy is made by the entropy of mixing, which has energy significance. The entropy of mixing can do the job, which is confirmed in particular by osmotic processes.

Processes and Responses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Rau
Keyword(s):  
Heat Engine ◽  
Cyclic Process ◽  
Free Enthalpy ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Thermodynamic Potentials ◽  
Grand Potential ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Cyclic Processes ◽  
Energy Exchanges ◽  
Thermodynamic Processes

Thermodynamic processes involve energy exchanges in the forms of work, heat, or particles. Such exchanges might be reversible or irreversible, and they might be controlled by barriers or reservoirs. A cyclic process takes a system through several states and eventually back to its initial state; it may convert heat into work (engine) or vice versa (heat pump). This chapter defines work and heat mathematically and investigates their respective properties, in particular their impact on entropy. It discusses the roles of barriers and reservoirs and introduces cyclic processes. Basic constraints imposed by the laws of thermodynamics are considered, in particular on the efficiency of a heat engine. The chapter also introduces the thermodynamic potentials: free energy, enthalpy, free enthalpy, and grand potential. These are used to describe energy exchanges and equilibrium in the presence of reservoirs. Finally, this chapter considers thermodynamic coefficients which characterize the response of a system to heating, compression, and other external actions.

A solution of the time paradox of physics

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grit Kalies
Keyword(s):  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
Quantum Level ◽  
Energy Equivalence ◽  
Time Arrow ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Time Concepts ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
The One ◽  
Matter Energy

AbstractQuantum mechanics for describing the behavior of microscopic entities and thermodynamics for describing macroscopic systems exhibit separate time concepts. Whereas many theories of modern physics interpret processes as reversible, in thermodynamics, an expression for irreversibility and the so-called time arrow has been developed: the increase of entropy. The divergence between complete reversibility on the one hand and irreversibility on the other is called the paradox of time. Since more than hundred years many efforts have been devoted to unify the time concepts. So far, the efforts were not successful. In this paper a solution is proposed on the basis of matter-energy equivalence with an energetic distinction between matter and mass. By refraining from interpretations predominant in modern theoretical physics, the first and second laws of thermodynamics can be extended to fundamental laws of nature, which are also valid at quantum level.

scholarly journals A political ontology for Europe: Roberto Esposito’s instituent paradigm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Fulco
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Political Ontology ◽  
The Third ◽  
European Crisis ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe aim of my article is to relate Roberto Esposito’s reflections on Europe to his more recent proposal of instituent thought. I will try to do so by focusing on three theoretical cornerstones of Esposito’s thought: the first concerns the evidence of a link between Europe, philosophy and politics. The second is deconstructive: it highlights the inadequacy of the answers of the most important contemporary ontological-political paradigms to the European crisis, as well as the impossibility of interpreting this crisis through theoretical-political categories such as sovereignty. The third relates more directly to the proposal of a new political ontology, which Esposito defines as instituent thought. Esposito’s discussion of political theology is the central theoretical nucleus of this study. This discussion will focus, in particular, on the category of negation, from which any political ontology that is based on pure affirmativeness or absolute negation is criticized. In his opinion, philosophical theories developed on the basis of these assumptions have proved to be incomplete or ineffective in relation to the current European and global philosophical and political crisis. Esposito therefore perceives the urgent need to propose a line of thought that is neither negatively destituent (post-Heideggerian), nor affirmatively constituent (post-Deleuzian, post-Spinozian), but instituent (neo-Machiavellian), capable of thinking about order through conflict (the affirmative through the negative). Provided that we do not think of the institution statically–in a conservative sense–but dynamically, as constant instituting in which conflict can become an instrument of a politics increasingly inspired by justice.

scholarly journals Dynamic Equilibrium Equations in Unified Mechanics Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-80
Author(s):  
Noushad Bin Jamal Bin Jamal M ◽  
Hsiao Wei Lee ◽  
Chebolu Lakshmana Rao ◽  
Cemal Basaran
Keyword(s):  
Energy Loss ◽  
Entropy Generation ◽  
Equilibrium Equation ◽  
Dynamic Equilibrium ◽  
Free Vibration Analysis ◽  
Newtonian Mechanics ◽  
Equilibrium Equations ◽  
Time Coordinate ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics

Traditionally dynamic analysis is done using Newton’s universal laws of the equation of motion. According to the laws of Newtonian mechanics, the x, y, z, space-time coordinate system does not include a term for energy loss, an empirical damping term “C” is used in the dynamic equilibrium equation. Energy loss in any system is governed by the laws of thermodynamics. Unified Mechanics Theory (UMT) unifies the universal laws of motion of Newton and the laws of thermodynamics at ab-initio level. As a result, the energy loss [entropy generation] is automatically included in the laws of the Unified Mechanics Theory (UMT). Using unified mechanics theory, the dynamic equilibrium equation is derived and presented. One-dimensional free vibration analysis with frictional dissipation is used to compare the results of the proposed model with that of a Newtonian mechanics equation. For the proposed entropy generation equation in the system, the trend of predictions is comparable with the reported experimental results and Newtonian mechanics-based predictions.

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