Quantum field theory provides the framework for many fundamental theories in modern physics, and over the last few years there has been growing interest in its historical and philosophical foundations. This anthology on the foundations of QFT brings together 15 essays by well-known researchers in physics, the philosophy of physics, and analytic philosophy.Many of these essays were first presented as papers at the conference?Ontological Aspects of Quantum Field Theory?, held at the Zentrum fr interdisziplin„re Forschung, Bielefeld, Germany. The essays contain (...) cutting-edge work on ontological aspects of QFT, including: the role of measurement and experimental evidence, corpuscular versus field-theoretic interpretations of QFT, the interpretation of gauge symmetry, and localization.This book is ideally suited to anyone with an interest in the foundations of quantum physics, including physicists, philosophers and historians of physics, as well as general readers interested in philosophy or science. (shrink)

Eventually, Kuhlmann proposes a dispositional trope ontology, according to which particularized properties and not things are the most basic entities.

Agent-based models derive the behavior of artificial socio-economic entities computationally from the actions of a large number of agents. One objection is that highly idealized ABMs fail to represent the real world in any reasonable sense. Another objection is that they at best show how observed patterns may have come about, because simulations are easy to produce and there is no evidence that this is really what happens. Moreover, different models may well yield the same result. I will rebut these (...) objections by focusing on an often neglected, but crucial function of ABMs. Building on Gelfert’s account of the exploratory uses of scientific models I show that, in the absence of an accepted underlying theory, successful ABMs lend inductive support to assumptions concerning certain structural feutures of the behavioral rules employed. One core step towards this goal is what I call multiple-model robustness analysis. (shrink)

Quantum Field Theory (QFT) is the mathematical and conceptual framework for contemporary elementary particle physics. In a rather informal sense QFT is the extension of quantum mechanics (QM), dealing with particles, over to fields, i.e. systems with an infinite number of degrees of freedom. (See the entry on quantum mechanics.) In the last few years QFT has become a more widely discussed topic in philosophy of science, with questions ranging from methodology and semantics to ontology. QFT taken seriously in its (...) metaphysical implications seems to give a picture of the world which is at variance with central classical conceptions of particles and fields, and even with some features of QM. -/- The following sketches how QFT describes fundamental physics and what the status of QFT is among other theories of physics. Since there is a strong emphasis on those aspects of the theory that are particularly important for interpretive inquiries, it does not replace an introduction to QFT as such. One main group of target readers are philosophers who want to get a first impression of some issues that may be of interest for their own work, another target group are physicists who are interested in a philosophical view upon QFT. (shrink)

In this publication we continue the study of fuzzy Peterson’s syllogisms. While in the previous publication we focused on verifying the validity of these syllogisms using the construction of formal proofs and semantic verification, in this publication we focus on verifying the validity of syllogisms using Peterson’s rules based on grades.

Theologian. Conspirator. Martyr. Saint. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was killed in the waning days of World War II, having been implicated in the July 20th assassination attempt on Hitler. Since his death, Bonhoeffer’s life and writings have inspired contradictory responses. He is often seen as a model for Christian pacifist resistance, and more recently for violent direct political action. Bonhoeffer’s name has been invoked by violent anti-abortion protestors as well as political leaders calling for support on a ‘war on terror’ in the (...) aftermath of 9/11. Petra Brown critically analyses Bonhoeffer’s writing preceding and during his conspiracy involvement, particularly his recurring concept of the ‘extraordinary.’ Brown examines this idea in light of ‘the state of exception,’ a concept coined by the one-time Nazi jurist and political theorist, Carl Schmitt. She also draws on the existentialist philosopher Sören Kierkegaard to consider what happens when discipleship is understood as obedience to a divine command. This book aims to complicate an unreflective admiration of Bonhoeffer’s decision for conspiracy, and draws attention to the potentially dangerous implications of his emerging political theology. (shrink)

The Special Issue is started with the observation that the tension of mind and society, i.e. cognitive and sociological/cultural dimensions in knowledge production and innovation, is a well-known topic of academic discourse in Science and Technology Studies. The introduction mentions some historical hallmarks of the involved perspectives and discussions to outline the background of the Special Issue. The purpose of its contributions, which are briefly presented at the end of the introduction, is to review this long-existing tension of cognitive and (...) cultural dimensions in knowledge production and innovation in the light of the cognitive and societal changes that have just begun and will have a huge impact in the future. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft Jahrgang: 23 Heft: 1 Seiten: 188-206.

Der zweite Band des "Corpus Paracelsisticum" erschließt das weitläufige Oeuvre von Michael Toxites und Gerhard Dorn, wirkmächtige Gründergestalten des oberrheinischen Paracelsismus. Von da aus fällt der Blick quer über die Konfessionsgrenzen auf andere kulturelle Zentren in Bayern, Sachsen, Schlesien, Böhmen und am Niederrhein. Mit Verfassern wie G. Fedro, M. Ambrosius, L. Span, B. Flöter, G. Etschenreutter, B. Scultetus, P. Perna, Th. Zwinger und J. Albrecht eröffnet sich ein epochaler, äußerst weitläufiger Diskurszusammenhang. Der Band wird neben dem weiterführenden Kommentar begleitet von (...) einer ausführlichen Einleitung und erschlossen durch mehrere Register sowie wissenschaftshistorische Zusammenfassungen zu jedem Autorcorpus. (shrink)

Ciceros Philosophie vermittelte im Rom der ausgehenden Republik vielfältige innovative Impulse - insbesondere zu Fragen der Bildung und Religion. Im vorliegenden Band werden besonders Aspekte griechischer und römischer Bildung in Ciceros Werk aus verschiedenen altertumswissenschaftlichen Perspektiven beleuchtet"--Page 4 of cover.

Excerpt from Der Gesetzesbegriff Beim Hl; Thomas von Aquin im Lichte des Rechtsstudiums Seiner Zeit Es war der Name des hl. Thomas von Aquin, der da von Juristen öfters wegen seiner Bedeutung für die juridische Wissenschaft zitiert wurde. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst (...) repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. (shrink)

Educational Theory, Volume 72, Issue 1, Page 65-83, February 2022.

Large changes of financial market prices without exogenous causes deviate significantly from the Gaussian behavior of random variables. This indicates that financial markets should be treated as complex systems, for which nonlinear interactions of its subunits/agents are crucial. I focus on how the complex systems perspective impacts the notion of explanations in economics. The mechanistic model seems to fit the bill, but problems surface on closer scrutiny. One characteristic of complex systems is that their behavior is surprisingly independent from microscopic (...) details. Thus, mechanistic explanations in the microreductionist manner seem unavailable. Despite these conflicts, I defend a modified structural mechanistic approach. (shrink)

In [F.-V. Kuhlmann, S. Kuhlmann, S. Shelah, Exponentiation in power series fields, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 125 3177–3183] it was shown that fields of generalized power series cannot admit an exponential function. In this paper, we construct fields of generalized power series with bounded support which admit an exponential. We give a natural definition of an exponential, which makes these fields into models of real exponentiation. The method allows us to construct for every κ regular uncountable cardinal, 2κ (...) pairwise non-isomorphic models of real exponentiation , but all isomorphic as ordered fields. Indeed, the 2κ exponentials constructed have pairwise distinct growth rates. This method relies on constructing lexicographic chains with many automorphisms. (shrink)

In response to cases that involve tiny probabilities of huge payoffs, some argue that we ought to discount small probabilities down to zero. However, this paper shows that doing so violates Independence and Continuity, and as a result of these violations, those who discount small probabilities can be exploited by money pumps. Various possible ways of avoiding exploitation will be discussed. This paper concludes that the money pump for Independence undermines the plausibility of discounting small probabilities. Much of the discussion (...) on Independence generalizes to other views that also violate Independence. (shrink)

The topic of this thesis is how we should treat tiny probabilities of vast value. This thesis consists of six independent papers. Chapter 1 discusses the idea that utilities are bounded. It shows that bounded decision theories prescribe prospects that are better for no one and worse for some if combined with an additive axiology. Chapter 2, in turn, points out that standard axiomatizations of Expected Utility Theory violate dominance in cases that involve possible states of zero probability. Chapters 3–6 (...) discuss the idea that we should ignore tiny probabilities in practical decision-making. Chapter 3 argues that discounting small probabilities solves the ‘Intrapersonal Addition Paradox’ and thus helps avoid the Repugnant Conclusion. Chapter 4 explores what the most plausible version of this view might look like and what problems the different versions have. Chapter 5 focuses on one type of problem, namely, money pumps. The Independence Money Pump, in particular, presents a difficult challenge for those who wish to discount small probabilities. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the implications of discounting small probabilities for the value of the far future. (shrink)

Nebel argues for the Repugnant Conclusion via the “Intrapersonal Repugnant Conclusion,” on which certainty of a mediocre life is better for individuals than a sufficiently small chance of an excellent life. In this article, I deny that acceptance of the Intrapersonal Repugnant Conclusion leads us to the Repugnant Conclusion. I point out that on many views which avoid the Repugnant Conclusion we should discount very small probabilities down to zero. If we do, then Nebel’s crucial premise of Ex Ante Pareto (...) fails, because discounting at the individual level can fail to match up with discounting at the population level. (shrink)

Prenatal genetic analysis complicates problems of decision-making during pregnancy. After a brief summary of the new situation the article resumes the argumentation within the German feminist and the German church debate. The author proposes some activities for churches and theological arguments to support women's reproductive rights as well as the ebryos' right to live.

In einem auf drei Bände angelegten Dokumentationswerk werden Entstehung und Ausbreitung des Paracelsismus in den kontroversen Verflechtungen der Wissenschafts-, Literatur- und Sozialgeschichte des späten 16. Jahrhunderts verankert. Die kritische Edition aufschlußreicher, oft in unbekanntes Terrain führender Texte ist begleitet von umfangreichen Kommentaren sowie von biographischen Darstellungen der Urheber, Adressaten, Gegner bzw. Sympathisanten der paracelsistischen Reform und Protestbewegung. Der zweite Band des »Corpus Paracelsisticum« erschließt das weitläufige Oeuvre von Michael Toxites und Gerhard Dorn, wirkmächtige Gründergestalten des oberrheinischen Paracelsismus. Von da aus (...) fällt der Blick quer über die Konfessionsgrenzen auf andere kulturelle Zentren in Bayern, Sachsen, Schlesien, Böhmen und am Niederrhein. Mit Verfassern wie G. Fedro, M. Ambrosius, L. Span, B. Flöter, G. Etschenreutter, B. Scultetus, P. Perna, Th. Zwinger und J. Albrecht eröffnet sich ein epochaler, äußerst weitläufiger Diskurszusammenhang. In ihm lassen sich doxographische, methodische, hermeneutische, sprachtheoretische und überlieferungsspezifische Auseinandersetzungen ebenso beobachten wie Tendenzen einer theosophischen Spiritualisierung und heterodoxen Aufladung der in Paracelsus' Namen entwickelten Anthropologie und Kosmologie. Direkte Verbindungen ergeben sich unter anderem zu führenden Vertretern der sogenannten Schwenckfelder, damit auch zu Fraktionen aktiver protestantischer Dissidenten. Der Band wird neben dem weiterführenden Kommentar begleitet von einer ausführlichen Einleitung und erschlossen nicht nur durch mehrere Register, sondern auch durch wissenschaftshistorische Zusammenfassungen zu jedem Autorcorpus. (shrink)

The article connects the discourses on Bonhoeffer's Ethics with feminist ethics and critically reviews Bonhoeffer's use of »man« and »woman« respectively malehood and femalehood and relates both to the centrat ideas on >mature«, »body«, »Order«, and »sacrificejvictim«. While Bonhoeffer's concept of nature and body shares quite a Iot with the respective feminist concepts in ethics, his concept of sacrificejvictim differs substantially. The argument pretends that both approaches could enrich each other. One result of the analysis is that Bonhoeffer uses the (...) convential patterns of »man« und »woman« as weil as of»malehood« and »femalehood«, butthat his ethics also includes some fundamental ideas to overcome the traditional categories of gender. (shrink)

In spite of the analogies between Q p and F p ((t)) which became evident through the work of Ax and Kochen, an adaptation of the complete recursive axiom system given by them for Q p to the case of F p ((t)) does not render a complete axiom system. We show the independence of elementary properties which express the action of additive polynomials as maps on F p ((t)). We formulate an elementary property expressing this action and show that (...) it holds for all maximal valued fields. We also derive an example of a rather simple immediate valued function field over a henselian defectless ground field which is not a henselian rational function field. This example is of special interest in connection with the open problem of local uniformization in positive characteristic. (shrink)

§1. Introduction.The motivation of this work comes from two different directions: infinite abelian groups, and ordered algebraic structures. A challenging problem in both cases is that of classification. In the first case, it is known for example (cf. [KA]) that the classification of abelian torsion groups amounts to that of reducedp-groups by numerical invariants called theUlm invariants(given by Ulm in [U]). Ulm's theorem was later generalized by P. Hill to the class of totally projective groups. As to the second case, (...) let us consider for instance the class of divisible ordered abelian groups. These may be viewed as ordered ℚ-vector spaces. Their theory being unstable, we cannot hope to classify them by numerical invariants. On the other hand, being o-minimal, the theory enjoys several good model theoretic properties (cf. [P-S]), so the search for some reasonable invariants is well motivated. The common denominator of the two cases, as well as of many others, is valuation theory. Indeed given an ordered vector space, one can consider it as a valued vector space, endowed with the natural valuation. Also, the socleG[p] of a reduced abelianp-groupG, endowed with the height functionhG, is a valued vector space over(the prime field of characteristicp) with values in the ordinals (cf. [F]). (shrink)

Viele ihrer philosophischen Probleme teilt die Quantenfeldtheorie mit der Quantenmechanik. Dazu gehören der Messprozess und die damit zusammenhängenden Interpretationsprobleme, zu denen die QFT kaum etwas Neues beiträgt. Auch die Frage, wie die Objekte, die die Theorie beschreibt, in den Raum eingebettet sind, wird schon in der Quantenmechanik diskutiert. Die neuen mathematischen Strukturen der QFT lassen allerdings auch neue Antworten erwarten, so dass die raumzeitliche Interpretation der Theorie ein wichtiges Thema wird. In diesem Kapitel werden die mathematischen Besonderheiten der QFT skizziert (...) und es wird gezeigt, dass dadurch sowohl eine Teilchen- wie auch eine Feldinterpretation ausgeschlossen wird. Zum Abschluss werden alternative Interpretationsansätze diskutiert. (shrink)

GY, an extensively studied human hemianope, is aware of salient visual events in his cortically blind field but does not call this ''vision.'' To learn whether he has low-level conscious visual sensations or whether instead he has gained conscious knowledge about, or access to, visual information that does not produce a conscious phenomenal sensation, we attempted to image process a stimulus s presented to the impaired field so that when the transformed stimulus T(s) was presented to the normal hemifield it (...) would cause a sensation similar to that caused by s in the impaired field. While degradation of contrast, spatio-temporal filtering, contrast reversal, and addition of smear and random blobs all failed to match the response to a flashed bar sf, moving textures of low contrast were accepted to match the response to a moving contrast-defined bar, sm. Orientation and motion direction discrimination of the perceptually matched stimuli [sm and T(sm)] was closely similar. We suggest that the existence of a satisfactory match indicates that GY has phenomenal vision. (shrink)

Introduction Petra Storjohann This collective volume focuses on what have traditionally been termed the "para- digmatics" or "sense relations" of a lexical ...