On Determinism, Causality, and Free Will: Contribution from Physics

Determinism, causality, chance, free will and divine providence form a class of interlaced problems lying in three domains: philosophy, theology, and physics. Recent article by Dariusz Łukasiewicz in Roczniki Filozoficzne (no. 3, 2020) is a great example. Classical physics, that of Newton and Laplace, may lead to deism: God created the world, but then it goes like a mechanical clock. Quantum mechanics brought some “hope” for a rather naïve theology: God acts in gaps between quanta of indetermination. Obviously, any strict determinism jeopardizes the existence of free will. Yes, but only if human mind follows the laws of physics and only if nothing exists outside the physical limits of space and time. We argue that human action lies in-between two worlds: “earth” and “heavens” using the language of Genesis. In that immaterial world, outside time and space constraints, there is no place for the chain of deterministic events. We discuss, in turn, that the principle of causality, a superior law even in physics, reigns also in the non-material world. Though, determinism in the material universe and causality in both worlds seem to be sufficient conditions, to eliminate “chaotic”, or probabilistic causes from human (and divine) action.

امام غزالی اور سلسلہ علت و معلول کی حقیقت

The issue of causality remained one of the heatedly debated issues in the early centuries of Islam. The fundamental question faced by Muslim theologians was whether cause and effect havea self-sustained relationship or each event in the universe is continuously governed by the Will of God? If the former is the case, then how are miracles possible? If latter, why do we observe regularity in events? The impossibility of miracles could not be accommodated by Muslim theologians because miraclesareregarded as one of the primary means of establishing the truth of prophethood. This article explains the critique levelled by Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī in his famous book Tahāfut al Falāsifah on the position of Muslim philosophers about causality. Al-Ghazālī’s primary concern was to show that the cause-and-effect relationship is neither necessary nor sufficient; what we call “cause-and-effect relationship” is an opinion based on the observation of one event happening after the other. In his opinion, we never observe “cause,” rather we only observe two events. In recent past, some Muslim thinkers have accused al-Ghazālī of diverting Muslims away from scientific endeavour by criticising the principle of causality. Others confused al-Ghazālī’s critique of causality with David Hume’sposition. The article attemptsto bring forth the flaws behind these views.

THE USE OF A WAVELET TRANSFORMATION FOR REMOVAL OF THE NOISE COMPONENT FROM THE VIBRO SIGNAL

The article investigates the use of wavelets to remove noise from the measuring vibration signal. It is determined that wavelets are well adapted for signal analysis, for which the principle of causality is important: wavelets preserve the direction of time and do not create parasitic interference between the past and the future. Criteria for selecting an analytical wavelet have been developed, depending on what information should be extracted from the signal and the need to more fully identify and emphasize certain properties of the analyzed signal. It is proposed to use Daubechies wavelets to process the vibration signal data. The simulation of vibration signal filtering from noise with the normal distribution law is performed in the MATCAD package. It is proved that the method of wavelet transform allows to solve the problem of filtering the vibration signal from noise when processing vibration signals obtained by autonomous recording devices in conditions of increased interference from the environment. The obtained results evidence to the prospects of the developed method and its advantages in comparison with the hardware solution of the filtering problem.

Metaphysical principles of causality and normativity in philosophy of education

The article is devoted to the metaphysical foundations of the philosophy of education, which are considered as sources of modeling the image of the future person, as well as the commission of certain actions. It investigates the evolution of these principles during the human civilization development. The principle of causality, considered as a fundamental ontological characteristic of being, suggests that a person can realize his desire for freedom only by subordinating his life to a universal objective law. Every phenomenon is seen in a causal perspective as a consequence of some cause and at the same time as the cause of some other effect.

More Theories, Good and Different: Reflections on the G. A. Dvoenosova’s Monograph on the Theory of Document in the Paradigm of Interdisciplinary Knowledge

G. A. Dvoenosova’s monograph is an attempt at theoretical rethinking of the phenomenon of document in the context of synergistic paradigm. It presents a full-scale structural and functional analysis of document. Based on the principle of causality, the laws of origin and evolution of document have been revealed, the role of document as a system-forming factor has been studied. These questions occupy several chapters in the monograph, where the phenomenon of document is examined in detail from different angles. Document is an interdisciplinary concept included in the dictionaries of many sciences: social, informational, humanitarian, technical, etc. This complicates its study and theoretical comprehension, since each scientific discipline forms its own view of the phenomenon, sets its own accents, and offers its own methods and approaches to its study. Being a classical document expert by education and vocation, G. A. Dvoenosova has made an attempt to integrate the existing knowledge on document into a unified theory based on synergetic toolkit and offered it to the scientific community. The author of the presented monograph is fluent in her material, using a variety of approaches to its interpretation (philosophical, informational, managerial, etc.). Her monograph is characterized by deep historiographic study of its main subjects and by its polemical orientation. Using different research optics, the author reveals the phenomenological nature of document, its systemic characteristics, allowing it to connect space and time, to organize society and structure its information flows. I would like to dwell on the definition of document as materialized memory of humanity. Evaluating the presented theory as an undoubted scientific achievement, it is important to emphasize that synergetic theory of document takes into account and integrates various achievements in the field of theoretical understanding of document as seen in classical document management, communication and information theories of document.

Denial of Causality by Hume and Answer of Commentators of Transcendent Wisdom of Mulla Sadra

Hume divides all propositions into two parts: the relations of ideas and matters of fact. He considers the first part certain and matters of fact that makes us aware of the future and can take us beyond sensory perception are uncertain. He believes all reasoning about matters of fact is based on the relation of cause and effect and the principle of uniformity of nature. Based on his especial epistemology, argues that the principle of causality is a mental habit and the principle of uniformity of nature is matter of facts must be proved by experience that its proof and argument is probable that leads to a circle and ultimately expresses his skepticism. Commentators of transcendent wisdom based on the intuitive knowledge of the soul in its own works and actions, proved the idea of causality. They have discussed the unity of sensory and sensible theory, along with the principle of self-evident of causality that these theories only explain the origin of the concept of causality and its generality. However, the main question is how can causality be attributed to objective instances? In response, we have discussed the combination and sum of reason and sense using the experimental method.

ANALYSIS OF THE EQUATIONS OF STATE FOR NEUTRON STARS

In this work we consider various equations of state of neutron star matter, which include from the point of neutron drops formation to supra nuclear densities. Particular attention is paid to the nucleon – nucleon interaction since, in addition to the kinetic energies of the particles, the interactions among nucleons play a key role. Moreover, we investigate the properties of super-dense matter with diverse sets of particles such as electrons, protons, and the contribution of various particles-carriers of interaction. In order to achieve these goals, different potentials were considered, which are in a good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, we find the energy of the system by using a variety of multi-particle methods, including the interaction of nucleons. Thanks to this information, thermodynamic parameters such as pressure, energy density and the speed of sound in the star are calculated. We compared similar equations of state of matter so that we could demonstrate the difference from each other. The Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff system of equations has been solved numerically to construct mass-central density, radius-central density and mass-radius relations using different equations of state. In conclusion, the latest observational constraints on the equation of state are taken into account and we show that the observational data require that the equation of state be stiff, despite the fact that all stiff equations of state violate the principle of causality at high central densities, unlike soft ones.

An alternative response to the off-shell quantum fluctuations: a step forward in resolution of the Casimir puzzle

The spatially nonlocal response functions are proposed which nearly coincide with the commonly used local response for electromagnetic fields and fluctuations on the mass shell, but differ significantly for the off-shell fluctuating field. It is shown that the fundamental Lifshitz theory using the suggested response functions comes to an agreement with the measurement data for the Casimir force without neglecting the dissipation of free electrons. We demonstrate that reflectances of the on-shell electromagnetic waves calculated using the nonlocal and commonly employed local responses differ only slightly. The Kramers–Kronig relations for nonlocal response functions possessing the first- and second-order poles at zero frequency are derived, i.e., the proposed response satisfies the principle of causality. An application of these results to resolution of the Casimir puzzle, which lies in the fact that the Lifshitz theory is experimentally consistent only with discarded dissipation, is discussed.