scholarly journals Has Physics Theory Become Vacuous?

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-414
Author(s):  
Henry Bauer
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early Universe ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
First Person ◽  
Full Disclosure ◽  
Scientific Exploration ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Aesthetic Values

Modern science made its mark by gaining knowledge and understanding in a bottom-up manner: starting with observed phenomena and developing explanatory theories. From about the middle of the 20th century, however, reliance on accepted theories became increasingly dogmatic. One indication of increasing dogmatism was a failure to acknowledge phenomena for which no obvious explanation already existed—unidentified flying objects, unidentified creatures (Loch Ness Monsters, yetis, Bigfoot), parapsychological phenomena. Dissatisfaction with ignoring such phenomena led to the founding of the Society for Scientific Exploration as well as other, typically more topic-specialized, groups. A further indication of increasing dogmatism was the continuing adherence in many mainstream matters to explanations no longer consonant with accumulating evidence (Bauer, 2012a). Nevertheless, it continues to be widely believed that science is carried on, and should be carried on, as described by the scientific method: The validity of theories is judged by their adequacy in explaining observable facts. Lost in Math argues that theoretical physics is no longer a science in this sense, that it has become a playground of purely mathematical speculation, with judgments of potential validity made not by appeal to observables but to such aesthetic values or principles as elegance or beauty. The book is enormously informative, extremely well-written, highly recommendable. Honestly and with full disclosure, Sabine Hossenfelder describes in the first person her grappling with the dilemma that her profession, theoretical physics, appears to be determinedly wrong-headed, at an impasse, a dead end, going nowhere, for instance producing 193 models for the early universe and 500 theories to explain a spurious signal (p. 235).

scholarly journals The evolution of theoretical and practical basis of proceeding from beard tillage to beardless tillage and from surface tillage to no-tillage of Ukrainian soils since the middle of the first part of the 20th century up today

2018 ◽  
pp. 6-17
Author(s):  
І. Prymak ◽  
А. Panchenko ◽  
M. Voitovyk ◽  
V. Karpenko ◽  
S. Levandovska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Crop Rotations ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
First Person ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Deep Tillage ◽  
Biological Features ◽  
First Time ◽  
Research Institute

The evolutional way of developing of the theoretical and practical basis of main tillage since the middle of the first part of the 20th century up today is highlighted. Exaggerated ideologization of science, government monopoly of academician V.R. Williams from thirties to fifties years of the 20th century caused big losses in agrarian science, especially in farming and agriculture sciences. The disaster of Williams was caused by absolute priority of soil conditioning and universalization of developed by him grass rotation system of farming. Till fifties in crop farming arable tillage to the depth at least 20–22 cm dominated completely. The first person in the USSR to refuse from a plough was T.S. Maltsev who recommended to hold deep beardless tillage once in 4–5 years, and for the rest of the time to use surface one (up to 8 cm) or surface tillage (10–12 cm) with discs. After T.S. Maltsev works, the issues of differentiation of tilled soil layers under beardless and surface tillage became especially controversial. The final boost for the development of theoretical and practical basis of tillage minimization was soil protecting system suggested by the group of scientists of the former All-Soviet Union Research Institute of grain growing headed by O.І. Baraievyi. It was based on beardless tillage, sowing with stubbly seeding machines, flap and buffer planting, snow capture etc. Early adopters of a full refusal from beard tillage in Ukraine during 80–90ies years were І.Ye. Shcherbak, F.M. Morgun, M.K. Shykula, S.S. Antonets and their students and followers. Nowadays the majority of national scientists consider the differential different depth tillage as the most effective one during crop rotations, which includes alternation of different ways, events and means of soil tillage depending on ecological conditions, crops biological features, structure of crop acreage, fertilization systems and plants protection etc. In scientists opinion, the minimal tillage is available on 3 millions of hectare and no-tillage is available on 5,49 millions of hectare out of 30 millions of tilled soils in Ukraine. In thirties V.R. Williams and M.S. Sokolov criticized surface tillage. Academician M.M. Tulaykov who was openly against doctrines of V.R. Williams recommended surface tillage in dry regions which in his opinion had to protect tilled soil from wind formed processes. He claimed that surface tillage is economically suitable for poor husbandries and that dust storms are the result of a constant daily soil drifting caused by deep tillage. In forties an American farmer E. Folkner widely promoted surface tillage together with soil mulching with plant matters of green crops. The first person to refuse from beard tillage in the first part of the 20th century in the Soviet empire was T.S. Maltsev. He proved decisively the advantages of beardless tillage over beard one in Transurals. T.S. Maltsev suggested the whole range of tools for soil tillage developed by him, the main of which were cultrate pulverizers and a beardless plough. The necessity of tillage with plough was the main stereotype existing in the world tillage theory and practice till the fifties. Scientific inheritance of M.M. Tulaykov became one of the bases for reconsideration of the concept of V.R. Williams existing in Ukraine. He concluded that it was necessary to change beard tillage to surface one to the depth 10-12 cm under which root system of one-year-old plants would be decomposed in tight soil where anoxic conditions must dominate. And to cultivate bottom layers it was necessary to hold deep tillage with beardless ploughs once in 4–5 years. The first person to refuse from a plough in the USSR was T.S. Maltsev. He suggested using surface plowing with disc tillers and deep beardless tillage (40–50 cm) once in 4–5 years instead of tillage in crops rotation of Transural. In 1952 he made a beardless plough for the first time. The most controversial issue among the scientists of Ukraine was differentiation of the tilled layer and its effect on crop productivity under beardless and surface tillage. In sixties and seventies O.I. Baraiev and his colleagues from All Soviet Union Research Institute of grain farming headed by him developed for the first time a soil protective system based exceptionally on different depth beardless tillage in crop rotations, usage of stubbly seeding machines, subsurface cultivators, soil spikers, coulisse fallow, buffer planting etc. In Ukraine during eighties and nineties years a complete refusal from beard tillage in favor of beardless tillage was supported by І.Ye. Shcherbak, F.T. Morgun, M.K. Shykula, S.S. Antonets and other scientists and experts. High weed infestation of fields under such tillage was the main obstacle to its widespread usage. In the 21st century the majority of scientists recommend differential different depth main tillage which suggests different ways, events and means of its implementation in crop rotations depending on biological features of crop, soil and climate conditions, fertilizing systems, plant protection etc, 13 millions hectare of tilled soil is technologically suitable for minimum tillage in Ukraine, and the rest 5,5 million hectare do not even need tillage at all. Key words: tillage, soil, evolution, plough, subsurface cultivator, erosion, minimization, differentiation.

Mediums and Science in Early 20th Century Europe

Nuncius ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-136
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Leporiere
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Methodology ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Instruments ◽  
Psychical Research ◽  
Physical Medium ◽  
Epistemological Views

Abstract This paper investigates and contextualizes the contribution made by the Italian physiologist Filippo Bottazzi (1867–1941) to research on mediumistic phenomena in Europe at the beginning of the 1900s, focusing on his investigation of the claims of Eusapia Palladino’s powers, a well-known Italian physical medium who inspired the “conversion” of Cesare Lombroso. Bottazzi’s work, conducted between 1906 and 1909, is compared to that of colleagues in Italy and elsewhere and analysed in the light of the scientific methodology that he used in his research as a physiologist. This paper will review the events that led Bottazzi to take an interest in mediumship, and analyse how he designed and conducted his experiments and the conclusions that he drew from them. Particular attention will be focused on the methods and the scientific instruments that he used in his psychical research, which were in keeping with his Positivist epistemological views, as is shown by an essay on the scientific method that he wrote in the same period.

scholarly journals “New” unexpected ontological and epistemological developments that move the foundations of modern science.

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-56
Author(s):  
Claudia Liliana Perlo
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Profound Change ◽  
Intimate Connection ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Theoretical Reflection

Context. In this article, we present a theoretical corpus built with developments from different disciplines, in which we bring together concepts, theories and “new” scientific perspectives developed during the 20th century. It is a work of deep theoretical reflection in the field of research methodology. Problem. The purpose of this work is to contribute to the overcoming of the disciplinary reductionism and assuming the complexity that today requires the construction of a science of the whole. Method This article has been developed through a deep interdisciplinary literature review. Result. These ontological and epistemological developments mark a profound change of course on modern science, questioning the fundamental principles that previously gave its sustention. Also, we consider that these developments are founding principles of life, so we seek to put them in relation to the reader’s everyday life, in intimate connection with everything that affects him and at the same time it is affected by him. Implication. The paper concludes with the challenge of the human quest of unraveling essential finds for the evolution of life that would help us to preserve and empower our existence.

Was Galileo Right and the Catholic Church Wrong?

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Steven L. Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Deductive Reasoning ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Way ◽  
The Catholic Church

Galileo is an iconic founder of modern science, but his career and his contributions were far more complex than his reputation. He, too, championed a scientific method, but his thinking differed greatly from Bacon’s and Descartes’. Galileo’s method was based on Archimedes’ combination of experiment, mathematics, and deduction. This method allowed Galileo to claim certain knowledge of reality derived from mathematical accounts of natural phenomena. But he also claimed certain knowledge of reality derived directly from observation, as in his assertion that the Earth moved around the sun. While Galileo’s predictions were sometimes correct, he had no criterion for distinguishing between correct and incorrect inferences or for connecting his mathematical deductive reasoning about phenomena to the way they really were.

scholarly journals A crise dos fundamentos das ciências modernas: Uma leitura a partir de Edmund Husserl

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Rogério Miranda de Almeida ◽  
Irineu Letenski
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Edmund Husserl ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Logical Investigations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Positivism

Estas reflexões têm como objetivo principal analisar a crise dos fundamentos das ciências modernas na perspectiva de Edmund Husserl. Com efeito, na primeira metade do século XX, o autor das Investigações lógicas levanta o brado em torno da existência de uma crise científica e, ao mesmo tempo, procura diagnosticar as causas e remediar os males que acarretaram tal crise. Mais precisamente, o pensamento husserliano tem como ponto de partida a crítica aos limites e à possibilidade do conhecimento proposto pelas filosofias de Descartes e de Kant. Mas Husserl ataca igualmente o espírito reducionista do positivismo científico – com o desenvolvimento e a sofisticação de suas técnicas – assim como a imposição não menos reducionista do historicismo que, ao afastarem o “sujeito do mundo”, romperam suas “relações primigênias”, espoliando assim o papel do sujeito na construção do conhecimento.Abstract: These reflections aim principally at analyzing the crisis of the modern science foundations from Edmund Husserl’s perspective. Indeed, at the first half of the 20th century, the author of Logical Investigations points vehemently out to the existence of a scientific crisis and tries, at the same time, to diagnose the causes and to show a solution to the disadvantages that brought about such a crisis. More precisely, the Husserlian thought has as its starting point the critique against the limits and the possibilities of knowledge proposed by the philosophies of Descartes and Kant. However, Husserl also attacks the reducing spirit of scientific positivism – together with the development and sophistication of its techniques – as well as the no less reducing and imposing historicism. Both trends have not only removed the “world subject”, but also disrupted its “primeval relations” having, thus, deprived the role of the subject in the construction of knowledge.Keywords: Husserl, crisis, sciences, subject, knowledge.  

scholarly journals Civilizational Approach and the Need of Its Revision under the New Historical Conditions

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Rimma I. Sokolova
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
The West ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
The Social

The article discusses the civilizational approach which was formed in the 20th century and has become one of the main research approaches both in Russia and in the Western countries. The author presents a brief overview of the main milestones in the development of civilizational theory and its main representatives in Russia and the West. It is shown that in Russia, the importance of the civilizational approach is caused by the “change of epochs” that occurred after the 1990s and demanded to consider the civilization principles in the social sciences and in the socio-political structure of the country. A brief description of the civilizational theory in the West, which has its own characteristics, not only demonstrates the universality of this scientific method but also reveals both its positive and negative aspects that were identified by the researchers. Although the Russian and Western scholars focus on the specifics of their own situations, they agree that in order to overcome the limitations of the civilizational approach, it is necessary to supplement it with other methods of scientific analysis. Since this article deals with the problems faced by Russia, the author presents the arguments of the Russian researchers, who suggest supplementing the civilizational analysis with the logic of sense, formations, geopolitical, ideological and worldview research approaches. It should be noted that the logic of sense approach is the latest achievement of the philosophical thought and a kind of scientific discovery (authored by A.V. Smirnov). It is concluded that all the supplementing methods find their meaning and place in relation to each other only within the framework of a holistic interdisciplinary approach, which provides a theoretical understanding of a larger set of problems that the country is facing today.

scholarly journals Nobel Prize Level Scientific Discoveries of a Heir of Zaporizhian Cossacks

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-138
Author(s):  
F. V. Motsnyi
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Characteristic Temperature ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Alpha Particles ◽  
Theoretical Physics ◽  
Honorary Doctor ◽  
History Of ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

In this work, three fundamental discoveries of the Ukraine-born Prof. George A. Gamow are presented from a single scientific and methodological point of view. Each of them is truly worth of the Nobel Prize – the most prestigious recognition of achievements of a scientist. We trace the emergence of G. Gamow as one of the most outstanding scientists of the twentieth century – encyclopaedist, theoretical physicist by heart, astrophysicist and biophysicist, talented and brilliant popularizer of science, whose works are readable in one go, as well as the author of unforgettable pranks and jokes. Gamow was a Fellow of the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Astronomical Union, the American Physical Society, an honorary doctor of countless universities. Although his name is little known in Ukraine, the history of science would be incomplete without him. From an early age G. Gamow has shown a great interest in scientific research, using a microscope to look for erythrocytes and a telescope to observe the Halley comet. He graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Leningrad State University, where he followed classes of Professor O. Friedman, founder of the evolutionary cosmology. He has undergone training at the University of Goettingen, the center of theoretical physics at the time, worked for Nobel Prize winners Professors E. Rutherford and N. Bohr. At the age of 28, G. Gamow, by the recommendation of academician V. Vernadskyi, became the member of the Academy of Sciences of USSR, the youngest member in the entire history of its existence. Throughout his life, G. Gamow was interested in the fundamental scientific problems and made numerous world-class discoveries that are written by golden letters in the treasury of the human civilization. He has found explanation to the E. Rutherford’s experiments with alpha particles (tunnelling effect); introduced the empirical formula of Geiger – Nettoll, connecting the energy of alpha particles to the half-life of radioactive nuclei. G. Gamow is one of the pioneers of the liquid-drop model of a nucleus, and the application of nuclear physics to the evolution of stars. He proposed a fantastic hypothesis about the early universe, suggesting it being not only super dense but also very hot. He also built the Big Bang theory, which led to the existence of relic radiation (space microwave background) with the characteristic temperature of 5–7 degrees above the absolute zero, detected by methods of radio astronomy. He proposed a triplet model of the genetic code - the alphabet of life with three-letter words, experimentally proven by X-ray structural studies of DNA and empirically established rules of E. Chargaff. These discoveries have greatly contributed not only to the development of the modern science, but to the industrial and economic expansion of humanity.

scholarly journals El otro, nosotros y yo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul-Henri Giraud
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Octavio Paz ◽  
First Person ◽  
Dramatic Rise ◽  
The Face

Mexico saw a dramatic rise in violence during the first two decades of the 20th century. While mass media news (tabloid papers, television, internet) fed its audience what Octavio Paz called “the same dish of blood” day after day, these outbreaks of violence found a more internalised and subjective echo in works of poetry. Yet, how can one speak in the first person in the face of horror? What does it mean for poetry to say ‘I’ or indeed ‘we’ in these circumstances, at the risk of veering into civic and patriotic reflections? This article examines the challenges raised by these questions through the works of four contemporary Mexican poets.

scholarly journals Montevideo Crisscrossed. Two Novels by Mario Benedetti: The Truce and Thanks for the Fire

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 28-46
Author(s):  
Pedro Serrano
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The Military ◽  
Aesthetic Values ◽  
Critical Perspectives

This essay is a rereading of two novels by Mario Benedetti published first in Montevideo in the 1960’s and subsequently in Mexico around the 1970’s, receiving changing receptions over the years. Both have Montevideo as their setting, but the topographical perspectives and writing strategies are different. It traces the networks of writers, publishers and readers in Latin America developed during the 20th century and their obliteration by the military regimes in the 1970’s. Reviewing the fluctuating moods in Benedetti’s later reception, this essay compares opposite sets of aesthetic values developed during the second half of the last century, which are taken for granted even today, studying their initial hypotheses and showing how literary works are distorted by prejudiced sets of critical perspectives that pigeonhole works and authors in boxes established in advance.

Buddhism and Science in the Perspective of Intercultural Philosophy

2021 ◽  
pp. 168-178
Author(s):  
Vlada S. Belimova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Dalai Lama ◽  
Equal Status ◽  
Language Of Science ◽  
Consciousness Studies ◽  
Intercultural Philosophy

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the dialogue between Tibetan Buddhism and Western science which began in the second half of the 20th century on the ini­tiative of the 14th Dalai Lama and is actively developing today. The paper pro­vides examples of the interaction between the Western (as well as Russian) scien­tists and the leader of the Tibetan Buddhists and Buddhist monks, especially in the field of consciousness studies. During this dialogue some new areas of possible interaction have emerged which involved both – Western scientific method, the Buddhist traditional forms of meditation and philosophy of mind. For all its participants, it becomes obvious that a common philosophical platform is needed to better understand each other and to develop further on their mutu­ally beneficial cooperation. Contemporary philosophers involved in this dialogi­cal process offer a number of approaches to serve this purpose. The article dis­cusses philosophical approaches of Alan Wallace (empiricism), Michel Bitbol (transcendental phenomenological epistemology), and advocates of intercul­tural philosophy (Jay Garfield, Mark Siderits, Victoria Lysenko). It is the inter­cultural approach, the basis of which is the equal status of all participants (the concept of “polylogue”), and their shared good knowledge of the language of science along with concepts elaborated in both – Western and Buddhist philo­sophical traditions, is presented in this paper as the most promising methodologi­cal foundation for the interaction of “multicultural rationalities”.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document