After 1905, Einstein's miraculous year, physics would never be the same again. In those twelve months, Einstein shattered many cherished scientific beliefs with five extraordinary papers that would establish him as the world's leading physicist. This book brings those papers together in an accessible format. The best-known papers are the two that founded special relativity: On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies and Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content? In the former, Einstein showed that absolute time (...) had to be replaced by a new absolute: the speed of light. In the second, he asserted the equivalence of mass and energy, which would lead to the famous formula E = mc 2 . The book also includes On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light , in which Einstein challenged the wave theory of light, suggesting that light could also be regarded as a collection of particles. This helped to open the door to a whole new world--that of quantum physics. For ideas in this paper, he won the Nobel Prize in 1921. The fourth paper also led to a Nobel Prize, although for another scientist, Jean Perrin. On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in Stationary Liquids Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat concerns the Brownian motion of such particles. With profound insight, Einstein blended ideas from kinetic theory and classical hydrodynamics to derive an equation for the mean free path of such particles as a function of the time, which Perrin confirmed experimentally. The fifth paper, A New Determination of Molecular Dimensions , was Einstein's doctoral dissertation, and remains among his most cited articles. It shows how to calculate Avogadro's number and the size of molecules. These papers, presented in a modern English translation, are essential reading for any physicist, mathematician, or astrophysicist. Far more than just a collection of scientific articles, this book presents work that is among the high points of human achievement and marks a watershed in the history of science. Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the miraculous year, this new paperback edition includes an introduction by John Stachel, which focuses on the personal aspects of Einstein's youth that facilitated and led up to the miraculous year. (shrink)

This book is for physicists, historians and philosophers of physics as well as students seeking an introduction to ongoing debates in relativistic and quantum physics. This title covers the recent debates on the emergence of relativity and quantum theory. It includes chapters with an introductory character, comprehensible to students and science teachers. It strengthens the bonds between the communities of scientists, historians, and philosophers.

In three volumes, a distinguished group of scholars from a variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences, the humanities and the arts contribute essays in honor of Robert S. Cohen, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The range of the essays, as well as their originality, and their critical and historical depth, pay tribute to the extraordinary scope of Professor Cohen's intellectual interests, as a scientist-philosopher and a humanist, and also to his engagement in the world of (...) social and political practice. Science, Mind and Art, Volume III of Essays in honor of Robert S. Cohen focuses on issues in contemporary epistemology, aesthetics, and philosophy of mind as well as on the relations of science and human values in ethical and religious thought. It also has important new work in contemporary metaphysics, as well as in the history of philosophy, and on questions of multiculturalism in science education. Contributors include Paul Feyerabend, Adolf Grünbaum, Joseph Margolis, Joëlle Proust, Erazim Kohak, Elie Wiesel, Miriam Bienenstock, and John Silber, among others. (shrink)

Some Philosophical Prehistory of General Relativity As history, my remarks will form rather a medley. If they can claim any sort of unity (apart from a ...

Potentiality, Entanglement and Passion-at-a-Distance is a book for theoretical physicists and philosophers of modern physics. It treats a puzzling and provocative aspect of recent quantum physics: the apparent interaction of certain physical events that cannot share any causal connection. These are said to be `entangled' in some way, but an explanation remains elusive. Abner Shimony - to whom the book is dedicated - and others suggest the need to revive the category of what may be seen as a metaphysical potentiality. (...) Abner has described these events without actions to link them as `passion at a distance': not active, but passive. The discussions gathered here are written by a truly remarkable cast of scientists and philosophers and shed new light on the most profound puzzles of our times. (shrink)

This chapter addresses the issues that motivate representationalist accounts, and it describes the different versions of representationalism as responses to these issues. It argues that the representationalist views do not adequately respond to the epistemological problems that motivate them and that they engender some ontological problems. The chapter presents an alternative ‘presentationalist’ account that preserves the straightforward sense of the mind's openness to the world. While representationalism and presentationalism agree that the relation between mental events or states is direct but (...) mediated, they radically differ in their views of the nature of the mediation involved in the mind's intentional directedness to the world. This difference and the preferability of the presentationalist account are explored. (shrink)

Here, in a single volume, is a comprehensive and definitive account of pragmatism and classical American philosophy. Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy, now revised and expanded in this second edition, presents the essential writings of the major philosophers of this tradition: Charles S. Peirce, William James, Josiah Royce, George Santayana, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead. Illuminating introductory essays, written especially for this volume by distinguished scholars of American philosophy, provide biographical and cultural context as well as original critical (...) and interpretive perspectives. This edition also includes all new selections and interpretive essays that situate pragmatism and classical American philosophy in a wider American philosphical context, including: Ralph Waldo Emerson and transcendentalism; Jane Addams, feminism, and writings of American women; Borden Parker Bowne, personalism, and idealism; Alain Locke and Afro-American thought; and John Herman Randall, Jr., nationalism and realism. Up-to-date suggestions for further reading will benefit both introductory and advanced readers. This American intellectual tradition speaks insightfully, creatively, and critically to our contemporary global society and its pressing problems. In unmatched quality and quantity, Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy provides the resources necessary to understand and act on these insights. (shrink)

The adolescing self -- Imaging and fettered imaging -- Characteristics of the superego God -- Adolescing religion and formal religion -- Images of the superego God -- The adult self -- Unfettered imaging and religious experiencing -- Characteristics of the living God -- Adult religion and integral spirituality -- Images of the living God -- Transformation and why it gets so little attention -- What hinders transformation -- What facilitates transformation -- Images of transformation.

This volume is devoted entirely to exploring the role of animals in the thought of Immanuel Kant. Leading scholars address questions regarding the possibility of objective representation and intentionality in animals, the role of animals in Kant's scientific picture of nature, the status of our moral responsibilities to animals' welfare, and more.

With one exception, the papers in this volume were originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during 2006-7. Five colloquia deal directly with Plato, while another discusses Heidegger's interpretation of Plato. Two colloquia deal with the Epicurean notion of preconception and with the Stoic conception of the good.

This latest BACAP Proceedings covers three key areas in ancient philosophy, ethics, method and physics. Under ethics, there are three papers on Socratic piety, Aristotelian friendship, and Augustinian-Platonic virtue. Under method, Socratic elenchos, Socratic maieutic, and Aristotelian aporematic inquiry. Under physics, life in Plato and mo.

This latest volume of _BACAP Proceedings_ contains some innovative research by international scholars on Plato, Aristotle, and Sophocles. It covers such themes as Plato on the philosopher ruler, and Aristotle on essence and necessity in science._ This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here_ for details.

This volume represents some of the activities of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy from the academic year 1997-98. It contains nine colloquia that were hosted by eight different colleges and universities in the greater Boston area. Discussions of the works of Plato dominate this volume, with six of the nine colloquia based on Platonic texts. Appropriately, the colloquia begin with an analysis of division in the ancient atomists. Later, a study of truth in Aristotle gives a counterpoint to (...) the Platonic interplay of drama and pedagogy or logic and rhetoric examined in papers about the "Theaetetus" and "Symposium". A presentation of Proclus’s account of evil revisits some of the issues of sophistry and morality discussed in relation to Plato’s "Republic" and "Euthydemus". Finally, the remaining Platonic papers are in a way not about Plato at all, but about Socrates and Xanthippe, supplementing Platonic dialogues with Xenophon and others. Underneath these discussions of ancient texts current modes of philosophy run along, providing a score of alternative interpretative schemes._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details. (shrink)

Most of the colloquia explore important topics such as the notion of self in Plato and the relationship between sense and knowledge in Aristotle. In addition, two colloquia discuss the origins of Pyrrhonic scepticism and the themes of Seneca’s _Natural Questions_._ This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here_ for details.

This latest volume of BACAP Proceedings contains some innovative research by international scholars on Plato and Aristotle. It covers such themes as Plato on recollection and on justice, along with Aristotle on Nous and on law._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of BACAP Proceedings contains recent research by international scholars on Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and some Hellenistic philosophers. It covers such topics as Epicurean methods of managing mental pain, moral nostalgia in Plato' s Republic, and empty terms in Aristotelian logic._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of the Proceedings continues the success of the Colloquium in providing a venue where a wide range of classical themes and figures is examined from the multiple perspectives of the current philosophical scene. This diversity gives the Proceedings a unique appeal to all those, philosophers and classicists, interested in the long tradition of ancient thought in both Greek and Latin._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of the Proceedings continues the success of the Colloquium in providing a venue where a wide range of classical themes and figures is examined from the multiple perspectives of the current philosophical scene. This diversity gives the Proceedings a unique appeal to all those, philosophers and classicists, interested in the long tradition of ancient thought in both Greek and Latin._ This publication is also available in hardback, please click here_ for details._ Also published as issue 1 of Volume (...) 20 of Brill Academic Publisher's journal _Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy_. For more details on this journal, please click here_. (shrink)

This volume contains papers and commentaries originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during the 2004-5 academic year. Of the seven colloquia in the volume, two deal with Plato while the rest are dedicated to Aristotle.

This volume contains papers originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during 2005-6. Of the seven colloquia, two deal with topics in Neoplatonism, four are dedicated to Aristotle’s ethics and metaphysics, and one to Plato’s Republic.

This volume contains papers originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during 2005-6. Of the seven colloquia, two deal with topics in Neoplatonism, four are dedicated to Aristotle’s ethics and metaphysics, and one to Plato’s Republic.

With one exception, the papers in this volume were originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during 2006-7. Five colloquia deal directly with Plato, while another discusses Heidegger's interpretation of Plato. Two colloquia deal with the Epicurean notion of preconception and with the Stoic conception of the good.

This volume contains papers and commentaries originally presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during the 2004-5 academic year. Of the seven colloquia in the volume, two deal with Plato while the rest are dedicated to Aristotle.

This latest BACAP Proceedings covers three key areas in ancient philosophy, ethics, method and physics. Under ethics, there are three papers on Socratic piety, Aristotelian friendship, and Augustinian-Platonic virtue. Under method, Socratic elenchos, Socratic maieutic, and Aristotelian aporematic inquiry. Under physics, life in Plato and mo.

This volume represents some of the activities of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy from the academic year 1997-98. It contains nine colloquia that were hosted by eight different colleges and universities in the greater Boston area. Discussions of the works of Plato dominate this volume, with six of the nine colloquia based on Platonic texts. Appropriately, the colloquia begin with an analysis of division in the ancient atomists. Later, a study of truth in Aristotle gives a counterpoint to (...) the Platonic interplay of drama and pedagogy or logic and rhetoric examined in papers about the "Theaetetus" and "Symposium". A presentation of Proclus’s account of evil revisits some of the issues of sophistry and morality discussed in relation to Plato’s "Republic" and "Euthydemus". Finally, the remaining Platonic papers are in a way not about Plato at all, but about Socrates and Xanthippe, supplementing Platonic dialogues with Xenophon and others. Underneath these discussions of ancient texts current modes of philosophy run along, providing a score of alternative interpretative schemes._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details. (shrink)

This latest volume of _BACAP Proceedings_ contains some innovative research by international scholars on Plato, Aristotle, and Sophocles. It covers such themes as Plato on the philosopher ruler, and Aristotle on essence and necessity in science._ This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here_ for details.

Most of the colloquia explore important topics such as the notion of self in Plato and the relationship between sense and knowledge in Aristotle. In addition, two colloquia discuss the origins of Pyrrhonic scepticism and the themes of Seneca’s _Natural Questions_._ This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here_ for details.

This latest volume of BACAP Proceedings contains some innovative research by international scholars on Plato and Aristotle. It covers such themes as Plato on recollection and on justice, along with Aristotle on Nous and on law._ This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of BACAP Proceedings contains recent research by international scholars on Empedocles, Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus and some Hellenistic philosophers. It covers such topics as Epicurean methods of managing mental pain, moral nostalgia in Plato' s Republic, and empty terms in Aristotelian logic._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of the Proceedings continues the success of the Colloquium in providing a venue where a wide range of classical themes and figures is examined from the multiple perspectives of the current philosophical scene. This diversity gives the Proceedings a unique appeal to all those, philosophers and classicists, interested in the long tradition of ancient thought in both Greek and Latin._ This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here_ for details.

This volume of the Proceedings continues the success of the Colloquium in providing a venue where a wide range of classical themes and figures is examined from the multiple perspectives of the current philosophical scene. This diversity gives the Proceedings a unique appeal to all those, philosophers and classicists, interested in the long tradition of ancient thought in both Greek and Latin._ This publication is also available in hardback, please click here_ for details._ Also published as issue 1 of Volume (...) 20 of Brill Academic Publisher's journal _Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy_. For more details on this journal, please click here_. (shrink)

In the last two decades, interest in narrative conceptions of identity has grown exponentially, though there is little agreement about what a "life-narrative" might be. In connecting Kierkegaard with virtue ethics, several scholars have recently argued that narrative models of selves and MacIntyre's concept of the unity of a life help make sense of Kierkegaard's existential stages and, in particular, explain the transition from "aesthetic" to "ethical" modes of life. But others have recently raised difficult questions both for these readings (...) of Kierkegaard and for narrative accounts of identity that draw on the work of MacIntyre in general. While some of these objections concern a strong kind of unity or "wholeheartedness" among an agent's long-term goals or cares, the fundamental objection raised by critics is that personal identity cannot _be_ a narrative, since stories are artifacts made by persons. In this book, Davenport defends the narrative approach to practical identity and autonomy in general, and to Kierkegaard's stages in particular. (shrink)

This book examines Aristotle's critical reaction to the mathematical cosmology of Plato's Academy, and traces the aporetic method by which he developed his own ...

The 1990s saw a revival of interest in Kierkegaard's thought, affecting the fields of theology, social theory, and literary and cultural criticism. The resulting discussions have done much to discredit the earlier misreadings of Kierkegaard's works.

Towards the conclusion of the First Section of the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Kant describes a process whereby a subject can undergo a kind of moral corruption. This process, which he calls a “natural dialectic”, can cause one to undermine one’s own or¬dinary grasp of the demands of morality. Kant also claims that this natural dialectic is the basis of the need for moral philosophy itself, since first-order moral reasoning is insufficient to protect against it. I show that (...) this passage is closely related to another in the First Section, one where Kant warns against the threat of “misology”, or the hatred of reason. I argue that both these passages must be read as engaging with specific claims from Rousseau’s writings. Uncovering the historical context and rhetorical function of Kant’s account of moral self-deception can re-orient the reader to his ambitions for the Groundwork itself. (shrink)

[If you find this article interesting, let me mention another of my articles, “On Deducing Ethical Egoism from Psychological Egoism” (Theoria, 2023), which in many ways is a more thorough treatment of the topic. But it’s not an expanded version of this one. For instance, each article addresses arguments not addressed in the other.] Philosophers generally reject the view that psychological egoism (suitably supplemented with further premises) entails ethical egoism. Their rejections are generally unsatisfying. Some are too brief to win (...) confidence; others employ an uncharitable statement of psychological egoism. This is unfortunate, for the view that psychological egoism entails ethical egoism is philosophically significant (and not without proponents). Although it ultimately deserves rejection, it warrants better treatment than it typically receives. I thus examine it in some detail. Among other things, I carefully consider some original, sophisticated attempts to establish it, having first taken care to produce proper formulations of ethical and psychological egoism. (shrink)

Pragmatism, Postmodernism and the Future of Philosophy is a vigorous and dynamic confrontation with the task and temperament of philosophy today. In this energetic and far-reaching new book, Stuhr draws persuasively on the resources of the pragmatist tradition of James and Dewey, and critically engages the work of Continental philosophers like Adorno, Foucault, and Deleuze, to explore fundamental questions of how we might think and live differently in the future. Along the way, the book addresses important issues in public policy, (...) university administration, spirituality, and the notion of community and its meaning in a global world of difference. This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of philosophy, and the ways in which philosophical thinking can help us live better, more fulfilling lives. (shrink)

This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on key terms and ...

Cleary discusses the origin, development, and use of the many senses of priority as a central thesis in Aristotle’s metaphysics. Cleary contends that one of the most revealing problems for the ambiguity of Aristotle’s relationship to Platonism is that of the ontological status of mathematical objects. In support of his claim, Cleary analyzes a curious passage from Aristotle’s _Topics, _where he appears to accept a schema of priorities that makes mathematical entities more substantial than sensible things. How does Aristotle try (...) to reconcile the ordering of things dictated by sciences like mathematics and dialectic with the ordering of sense experience upon which his own physics and metaphysics are based? To find the answer, Cleary reviews three different outlines of the many senses of priority given by Aristotle himself and found in _Categories _12-13, _Metaphysics _Delta 11, and _Metaphysics _Theta 8. Cleary suggests there is an implicit hierarchy for Aristotle that leads him to posit the Prime Mover at its apex as complete actuality and, therefore, as the focus for the concept of priority. Having reviewed Aristotle’s treatment of the many uses of priority, Cleary demonstrates how the concept is used in some typical arguments by Aristotle for his mature metaphysical positions. (shrink)

In discussions of practical reason we often encounter the view that a fact is a reason for an agent to act only if the fact is capable of moving the agent to act. This view figures centrally in many philosophical controversies, and while taken for granted by some, it is vigorously disputed by others. In this essay I show that if the disputed position is correctly interpreted, it is well armored against stock objections and implied by a premise that is (...) not only plausible, but generally accepted by the position's critics. (shrink)

This article argues for a social proviso concerning capital endowments that is analogous to Locke's original proviso on access to productive natural capital.