Hans Reichenbach
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CAUSATION Chapter 4 Humean Reductionism
CAUSATION Chapter 4 Humean Reductionism – Analyses in Terms of Nomological Conditions Many different accounts of causation, of a Humean reductionist sort, have been advanced, but four types are especially important. Of these, three involve analytical reductionism. First, there are approaches which start out from the general notion of a law of nature, then define the ideas of necessary, and sufficient, nomological conditions, and, finally, employ the latter concepts to explain what it is for one state of affairs to cause another. Secondly, there are approaches that employ subjunctive conditionals, either in an attempt to give a purely counterfactual analysis of causation (David Lewis, 1973 and 1979), or as a supplement to other notions, such as that of agency (Georg von Wright, 1971). Thirdly, there are approaches that employ the idea of probability, either to formulate a purely probabilistic analysis (Hans Reichenbach, 1956; I. J. Good, 1961 and 1962; Patrick Suppes, 1970; Ellery Eells, 1991; D. H. Mellor, 1995) - where the central idea is that a cause must, in some way, make its effect more likely -- or as a supplement to other ideas, such as that of a continuous process (Wesley Salmon, 1984). Finally, a fourth approach involves the idea of offering, not an analytic reduction of causation, but a contingent identification of causation, as it is in this world, with a relation whose only constituents are non- causal properties and relations. One idea, for example, is that causal processes can be identified with continuous processes in which relevant quantities are conserved (Wesley Salmon, 1997 and 1998; Phil Dowe, 2000a and 2000b). -
Hegel and Aristotle
HEGEL AND ARISTOTLE ALFREDO FERRARIN Boston University published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, usa 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, vic 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Alfredo Ferrarin 2001 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001 Printed in the United States of America Typeface Baskerville 10.25/13 pt. System QuarkXPress™ 4.04 [AG] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ferrarin, Alfredo, 1960– Hegel and Aristotle / Alfredo Ferrarin. p. cm.–(Modern European philosophy) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-521-78314-3 1. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. 2. Aristotle – Influence. I. Title. II. Series. B2948 .F425 2000 193–dc21 00-029779 ISBN 0 521 78314 3 hardback CONTENTS Acknowledgments page xiii List of Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 § 1. Preliminary Notes 1 § 2. On the Object and Method of This Book 7 § 3. Can Energeia Be Understood as Subjectivity? 15 part i the history of philosophy and its place within the system 1. The Idea of a History of Philosophy 31 § 1. The Lectures on the History of Philosophy: Editions and Sources 31 § 2. -
A Centennial Volume for Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach
W. Spohn (Ed.) Erkenntnis Orientated: A Centennial Volume for Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach Rudolf Carnap was born on May 18, 1891, and Hans Reichenbach on September 26 in the same year. They are two of the greatest philosophers of this century, and they are eminent representatives of what is perhaps the most powerful contemporary philosophical movement. Moreover, they founded the journal Erkenntnis. This is ample reason for presenting, on behalf of Erkenntnis, a collection of essays in honor of them and their philosophical work. I am less sure, however, whether it is a good time for resuming their philosophical impact; their work still is rather part than historical basis of the present philosophical melting-pot. Their basic philosophical theses have currently, it may seem, not so high a standing, but their impact can be seen in numerous detailed issues; they have opened or pushed forward lively fields of research which are still very actively pursued not only within philosophy, but also in many neighboring disciplines. Whatever the present balance of opinions about their philosophical ideas, there is something even more basic in their philosophy than their tenets which is as fresh, as stimulating, as exemplary as ever. I have in mind their way of philosophizing, their conception of how to Reprinted from `ERKENNTNIS', 35: 1-3, do philosophy. It is always a good time for reinforcing that conception; and if this volume 1991, IV, 471 p. would manage to do so, it would fully serve its purpose. Printed book Hardcover ▶ 194,99 € | £175.50 | $269.00 ▶ *208,64 € (D) | 214,49 € (A) | CHF 260.25 eBook Available from your bookstore or ▶ springer.com/shop MyCopy Printed eBook for just ▶ € | $ 24.99 ▶ springer.com/mycopy Order online at springer.com ▶ or for the Americas call (toll free) 1-800-SPRINGER ▶ or email us at: [email protected]. -
1 a Tale of Two Interpretations
Notes 1 A Tale of Two Interpretations 1. As Georges Dicker puts it, “Hume’s influence on contemporary epistemology and metaphysics is second to none ... ” (1998, ix). Note, too, that Hume’s impact extends beyond philosophy. For consider the following passage from Einstein’s letter to Moritz Schlick: Your representations that the theory of rel. [relativity] suggests itself in positivism, yet without requiring it, are also very right. In this also you saw correctly that this line of thought had a great influence on my efforts, and more specifically, E. Mach, and even more so Hume, whose Treatise of Human Nature I had studied avidly and with admiration shortly before discovering the theory of relativity. It is very possible that without these philosophical studies I would not have arrived at the solution (Einstein 1998, 161). 2. For a brief overview of Hume’s connection to naturalized epistemology, see Morris (2008, 472–3). 3. For the sake of convenience, I sometimes refer to the “traditional reading of Hume as a sceptic” as, e.g., “the sceptical reading of Hume” or simply “the sceptical reading”. Moreover, I often refer to those who read Hume as a sceptic as, e.g., “the sceptical interpreters of Hume” or “the sceptical inter- preters”. By the same token, I sometimes refer to those who read Hume as a naturalist as, e.g., “the naturalist interpreters of Hume” or simply “the natu- ralist interpreters”. And the reading that the naturalist interpreters support I refer to as, e.g., “the naturalist reading” or “the naturalist interpretation”. 4. This is not to say, though, that dissenting voices were entirely absent. -
July, and October
ISSN 0739-4934 NEWSLETTER I {!STORY OF SCIENCE _iu_'i_i_u~-~-~-o~_9_N_u_M_B_E_R_3__________ S00ETY AAASREPORT HSSEXECUTIVE A Larger Role for History of Science COMMITTEE PRESIDENT in Undergraduate Education STEPHEN G. BRUSH, University of Maryland NORRISS S. HETHERINGTON VICE-PRESIDENT Office for the History of Science and Technology, SALLY GREGORY KOHLSTEDT, University of California, Berkeley University of Minnesota EXECU11VESECRETARY HISTORIANS OF SCIENCE have often been called to contribute to under MICHAEL M. SOKAL, Worcester graduate education. As HSS President Stephen G. Brush notes jNewsletter, Polytechnic Institute January 1990, pp. 1, 8-10), historically oriented science courses could be TREASURER come a valuable part of the core curriculum at many institutions, and fac MARY LOUISE GLEASON, New York City ulty at many colleges-especially science professors-have expressed strong EDITDR interest in using materials and perspectives from history of science. RONALD L. NUMBERS, University of We are now called again, this time by the American Association for the Wisconsin-Madison Advancement of Science. The Liberal Art of Science: Agenda for Action, published by the AAAS in May 1990, argues that science is one of the liberal The Newsletter of the History of Science arts and that it should be taught as such, as integrated into the totality of Society is published in January, April, July, and October. Regular issues are sent to individual human experience. This argument and advice may seem obvious to histori members of the Society who reside in North ans of science, but it is a revolutionary departure from tradition for many America. Airmail copies are sent to those scientists, and one that could transform both undergraduate education and members overseas who pay $5 yearly to cover postal costs: The Newsletter is available to the role of our discipline. -
Reichenbach, Russell and the Metaphysics of Induction
Reichenbach, Russell and the Metaphysics of Induction Michael Shaffer St. Cloud State University Abstract Hans Reichenbach’s pragmatic treatment of the problem of induction in his later works on inductive inference was, and still is, of great interest. However, it has been dismissed as a pseudo-solution and it has been regarded as problematically obscure. This is, in large part, due to the difficulty in understanding exactly what Reichenbach’s solution is supposed to amount to, especially as it appears to offer no response to the inductive skeptic. For entirely different reasons, the signifi- cance of Bertrand Russell’s classic attempt to solve Hume’s problem is also both obscure and controversial. Russell accepted that Hume’s reasoning about induc- tion was basically correct, but he argued that given the centrality of induction in our cognitive endeavors something must be wrong with Hume’s basic assump- tions. What Russell effectively identified as Hume’s (and Reichenbach’s) failure was the commitment to a purely extensional empiricism. So, Russell’s solution to the problem of induction was to concede extensional empiricism and to accept that induction is grounded by accepting both a robust essentialism and a form of rationalism that allowed for a priori knowledge of universals. In this paper the significance of Reichenbach’s solution to the problem of induction will be made clearer via the comparison of these two historically important views about the problem of induction. The modest but important contention that will be made here is that the comparison of Reichenbach’s and Russell’s solutions calls atten- tion to the opposition between extensional and intensional metaphysical presup- positions in the context of attempts to solve the problem of induction. -
GREGOR Sclllemann INDUCTIVE JUSTIFICATION and DISCOVERY
GREGOR SClllEMANN INDUCTIVE JUSTIFICATION AND DISCOVERY. ON HANS REICHENBACH'S FOUNDATION OF THE AUTONOMY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Hans Reichenbach's distinction between a context of discovery and a context of justification continues to be relevant all the way up to the present. This can be seen clearly in the tense relationship between the history and the philosophy of science. In the current debates ab out the relationships between these two disciplines one encoun ters arguments that Reichenbach used to defend this distinction, as weIl as arguments brought forth by his critics. 1 Sometimes the discussions even refer directly to the influence ofReichenbach's distinction (Giere 1999, pp. 11-18 and 217-230). Historically, this influence can be understood to have gone hand in hand with the significance of 10gical empiricism in the twentieth century for the development of philosophy of science and science studies, i.e., history, sociology and psychology of science. Reichenbach used the distinction in 1938 in his "Experience and Prediction", which played a key role in the new beginning oflogical empiricism in the USo Among the many motives that might have led Reichenbach to formulate this distinction, his intention to contribute to the foundation of the autonomy of a "scientific philoso phy" presumably had central importance.2 In this context, its function was to clarify Reichenbach's stance towards other philosophical trends, to prove the homogeneity ofthe methodology and content ofphilosophy ofscience, and to distance philosophy of science from riyal disciplines. Reichenbach 's remarks suggest-and I shall return to this point-that "context of discovery" means above all a part of the research conducted in the natural sciences. -
This Volume on the Vienna Circle's Influence in the Nordic Countries
Vol. 8, no. 1 (2013) Category: Review essay Written by Carlo Penco This volume on the Vienna Circle’s influence in the Nordic countries gives a very interesting presentation of an almost forgotten landmark. In the years preceding the Second World War, European philosophy was at the high point of its intellectual vitality. Everywhere philosophical societies promoted a dense network of connections among scholars, with international meetings and strong links among individuals and associations. In this context, the Vienna Circle emerges as one of the many, also if probably the most well-known, centres of diffusion of a new style of philosophy, closely linked to the new logic and with a strongly empiricist attitude. At the same time, empiricism, formal logic and psychology constituted (and still constitute) the common background of most of the Nordic philosophers, a background which permitted them to develop connections with Vienna’s cultural environment (well known also for the work of psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, but also Charlotte and Karl Bühler). This piece of history, although limited to the connection between Nordic philosophy and Vienna Circle, helps to clarify the history of European philosophy, and the sharp difference of Nordic philosophy in respect of the development of philosophy in Southern and Central Europe in the half a century following the Second World War. The editors say in the introduction: . one of the least known networks of the Vienna Circle is the “Nordic connection”. This connection had a continuing influence for many of the coming decades, beginning with the earliest phase of the Vienna Circle and continuing with a number of adaptations and innovations well into contemporary times. -
Remembrances of Martin Heidegger in Marburg
(Originally Published in Philosophy Today, Swnmer 1979, Pages 160-169) (© 1979 by the Messenger Press. Reprinted by Permission) REMEMBRANCES OF MARTIN HEIDEGGER IN MARBURG elisabeth hirsch According to Heidegger's own bered houses and the castle on a hill, words the years of his teaching career Marburg exuded a romantic· atmos he enjoyed most were those in Marburg phere. In addition, in a few minutes from 1923-1928. These were also the one was deep in nature and so Hei best years of the Weimar Republic. The degger could enjoy his customary af German mark was stabilized, the econ ternoon walks. If one was lucky to omy greatly improved and the cultural meet him, he would always stop for life reached a high point. Dance, music, a short talk. theater, the visual arts and poetry Today Marburg has 1;),000 students flourished as never before and created and half of them are Communists. But an atmosphere of excitement among when Heidegger was there, Marburg young people. And the immensely pro had only 3,000 students; their contact ductive intellectual and artistic actiY with thl' professors was close. Marburg ity did not fail to have an impact on was rather notorious for hE'r many the academic community. The French dueling fraternities; the students be writer Paul Duhamel was greatly im lansing to them were mostly conserva pressed by the German universities. In tiYes in politics. In opposition to them a lecture he delivered at Marburg Uni the liberal students founded the aca versity he remarked: "There are said demic association; if my memory is to be seven world wonders but the Ger correct, Heidegger attended some of man universities must be added as the its meetings. -
Ontological, Epistemological, and Methodological Positions
ONTOLOGICAL, EPISTEMOLOGICAL, AND METHODOLOGICAL POSITIONS James Ladyman INTRODUCTION This chapter summarises various important ontological, epistemological and methodological issues in the philosophy of science. Ontology is the theory of what exists and is the foremost concern of metaphysics, which is the study of the most fundamental questions about being and the nature of reality. Ontological issues in the philosophy of science may be specific to a particular special science, such as questions about the ontological status of biological species, or they may be more general, such as whether or not there are objective natural kinds. In the history of science ontological issues have often been of supreme importance; for example, whether or not atoms exist was a question that occupied many scientists in the nineteenth century. In what follows, some fundamental questions of ontology are discussed, some of which, such as those concerning laws of nature, are also ad- dressed in analytic metaphysics. A number of these issues also relate to debates in the foundations of physics about the ontological implications of our best physical theories. Readers who wish to know more about the philosophy of space and time and the nature of matter and motion should consult the companion volume to this on the philosophy of physics. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge and as such is concerned with such matters as the analysis of knowledge and its relationship to belief and truth, the theory of justification, and how to respond to the challenge of local scepticism, say about the past, or global scepticism, which suggests that there is no knowledge. -
Nicolai Hartmann and the Metaphysical Foundation of Phylogenetic Systematics
Biol Theory (2013) 7:56–68 DOI 10.1007/s13752-012-0077-8 HISTORICAL ESSAY Nicolai Hartmann and the Metaphysical Foundation of Phylogenetic Systematics Frederic Tremblay Received: 22 May 2012 / Accepted: 16 November 2012 / Published online: 5 January 2013 Ó Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research 2013 Abstract When developing phylogenetic systematics, the be by traditional metaphysics. This view is characteristic entomologist Willi Hennig adopted elements from Nicolai of philosophers such as Bergson, Heidegger, Whitehead, Hartmann’s ontology. In this historical essay I take on the and Nicolai Hartmann. Hartmann harnessed and applied task of documenting this adoption. I argue that in order to this thesis to the analysis of the categories of reality, build a metaphysical foundation for phylogenetic system- including biological categories. The ensuing ontology atics, Hennig adopted from Hartmann four main meta- made possible the metaphysical foundation of temporally physical theses. These are (1) that what is real is what is andprocessuallyorientedscientific theories. Phylo- temporal; (2) that the criterion of individuality is to have genetic systematics is the method of classifying biological duration; (3) that species are supra-individuals; and (4) that categories according to genealogical relations on a tree-like there are levels of reality, each of which may be subject to diagram. This method was originally developed by different kinds of law. Reliance on Hartmann’s meta- the entomologist Willi Hennig to classify biological -
PHI 514 – from Physics to Metaphysics
PHI 514 – From Physics to Metaphysics Weeks 4–6, 10–12: Indeterminacy in Quantum Mechanics (Halvorson) 1. Logic and probability in classical physics [Bub97, pp. 13–22], [Var85, Chap. 1] 2. The uncertainty relations and their interpretation [UH01], [Jam74, Chap. 3]. (a) Some thought experiments (b) The epistemic interpretation. Heisenberg’s disturbance interpre- tation [Hei30, pp. 13-20]. (c) The statistical interpretation (Popper) [Pop82, pp. 52-64, 144ff.], [Jam74, pp. 448–453] (d) The conceptual interpretation (Bohr); complementarity 3. From uncertainty to indeterminacy: Operationlism, positivist criteria of meaning (a) Operationalist definitions of concepts [Bri27] (b) Historical fact: Bohr doesn’t infer indeterminacy from uncer- tainty [Gr¨u57], [Mur87, pp. 139–154], [How00]. 4. Logic and probability in quantum mechanics Resources: Clifton’s notes [Cli96] are thorough and self-contained. There are shorter introductions in [Ism00], [Alb92, pp. 17–60], [Red89, pp. 5–32, 170–178], and [Bub97, pp. 23–39, 246–274]. For a more in- depth treatment, see [Hug89, Chaps. 1–5] or [van92, pp. 139–237]. 5. Against the disturbance interpretation (a) (For a technical critique – making use of details of the gamma- ray microscope – see [BR81]. I do not plan to discuss this in the seminar.) (b) The “no hidden variables” theorems of von Neumann and Kochen- Specker [Red89], [Hea79] (c) The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument 6. Contextual hidden variables; de-occamization [Shi93a] 1 7. Which quantities are real? (a) Eigenstate-Eigenvalue Link (This is what Fine [Fin87] calls the “rule of silence” and “rule of law.”); Collapse of the Wavefunction (b) Booleanism (c) The problem of the non-maximal observable (d) Definability and the Bub-Clifton theorem [BC96] 8.