Lecture

Philosophy of Space and Time: Ontology and Dynamics

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In course

HUM-417: Philosophical perspectives on the exact sciences I

The course considers central themes in the philosophy of science. Starting from the debate between Leibniz and Newton about space and time, we move on to the transition from classical to quantum physics, the explanatory role of mathematics and philosophica ...

Description

This lecture explores the philosophical perspectives on space, time, and laws of nature. It delves into the concepts of primitive ontology, dynamical structure, absolute space, relationalism, structural realism, determinism, and action at a distance. The discussion includes the views of Newton, Leibniz, Mach, and contemporary interpretations by Huggett and Barbour. The debate between relationalism and substantivalism, the nature of time, and the implications of determinism are also examined, along with the historical context of action at a distance in physics.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Philosophy

Philosophy (love of wisdom in ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its own methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, like physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. But they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term.

Relational model

The relational model (RM) is an approach to managing data using a structure and language consistent with first-order predicate logic, first described in 1969 by English computer scientist Edgar F. Codd, where all data is represented in terms of tuples, grouped into relations. A database organized in terms of the relational model is a relational database.

Relational database

A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relational database systems are equipped with the option of using SQL (Structured Query Language) for querying and updating the database. The term "relational database" was first defined by E. F. Codd at IBM in 1970. Codd introduced the term in his research paper "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks".

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word nature is borrowed from the Old French nature and is derived from the Latin word natura, or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth".

Analytic philosophy

Analytic philosophy is a branch and tradition of philosophy using analysis, popular in the Western world and particularly the Anglosphere, which began around the turn of the 20th century in the contemporary era in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia, and continues today. Analytic philosophy is often contrasted with continental philosophy, coined as a catch-all term for other methods, prominent in Europe. Central figures in this historical development of analytic philosophy are Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G.

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