A critical review of gravitational wave theory is made. It is pointed out that the usual linear approach to the gravitational wave theory is neither conceptually consistent (...) nor mathematically justified. Relying upon that analysis it is argued that—analogously to a Yang-Mills propagating field, which must be nonlinear to carry its gauge charge—a gravitational wave must necessarily be nonlinear to transport its own charge—that is, energy-momentum. (shrink)
Arendt's conception of culture could supersede claims that nature's intrinsic value or human interests best ground environmental ethics. Fusing ancient Greek notions of non-instrumental value (...) and Roman concerns for cultivating and preserving worldly surroundings, culture supplies an ethic for the treatment of nonhuman things. Unlike a system of philosophical propositions, an Arendtian ecology could only arise in public deliberation, since culture's qualitative judgements are intrinsically linked to processes of political persuasion. (shrink)
Context: Many recent research areas such as human cognition and quantum physics call the observer-independence of traditional science into question. Also, there is a growing need (...) class='Hi'>for self-reflexivity in science, i.e., a science that reflects on its own outcomes and products. Problem: We introduce the concept of second-order science that is based on the operation of re-entry. Our goal is to provide an overview of this largely unexplored science domain and of potential approaches in second-order fields. Method: We provide the necessary conceptual groundwork for explorations in second-order science, in which we discuss the differences between first- and second-order science and where we present a roadmap for second-order science. The article operates mainly with conceptual differentiations such as the separation between three seemingly identical concepts such as Science II, Science 2.0 and second-order science. Results: Compared with first-order science, the potential of second-order science lies in 1. higher levels of novelty and innovations, 2. higher levels of robustness and 3. wider integration as well as higher generality. As first-order science advances, second-order science, with re-entry as its basic operation, provides three vital functions for first-order science, namely a rich source of novelty and innovation, the necessary quality control and greater integration and generality. Implications: Second-order science should be viewed as a major expansion of traditional scientific fields and as a scientific breakthrough towards a new wave of innovative research. Constructivist content: Second-order science has strong ties with radical constructivism, which can be qualified as the most important root/origin of second-order science. Moreover, it will be argued that a new form of cybernetics is needed to cope with the new problems and challenges of second-order science. (shrink)
Context: The journal Constructivist Foundations celebrates ten years of publishing articles on constructivist approaches, in particular radical constructivism. Problem: In order to preserve the sustainability of radical (...) constructivism and regain its appeal to new generations of researchers, we set up a new course of action for and with the radical constructivist community to study its innovative potential. This new avenue is “second-order science.” Method: We specify two motivations of second-order science, i.e., the inclusion of the observer, and self-reflexivity that allows second-order science to operate on the products of normal or first-order science. Also, we present a short overview of the contributions that we have collected for this inaugural issue on second-order science. Results: These six initial contributions demonstrate the potential of the new set of approaches to second-order science across several disciplines. Implications: Second-order science is believed to be a cogent concept in the evolution of science, leading to a new wave of innovations, novel experiments and a much closer relationship with current research in the cognitive neurosciences in particular, and with evolutionary and complexity theories in general. (shrink)
Context: Although second-order cybernetics was proposed as a new way of cybernetic investigations around 1970, its general status and its modus operandi are still far from (...) class='Hi'>obvious. Problem: We want to provide a new perspective on the scope and the currently available potential of second-order cybernetics within today’s science landscapes. Method: We invited a group of scholars who have produced foundational work on second-order cybernetics in recent years, and organized an open call for new approaches to second-order cybernetics. The accepted contributions are discussed and mapped. We also investigate the relations between second-order cybernetics and second-order science. Results: We present a coherent outlook on the scope of second-order cybernetics today, identify a general methodology of science and show that second-order cybernetics can be used in a large number of disciplines that go well beyond purely scientific domains. These results are based on a new epistemic mode “from within,” which can be traced back directly to von Foerster. We also arrived at the conclusion that from its early years onwards second-order cybernetics was developed in two different ways, so that second-order cybernetics and second-order science operate in different domains. Implications: Both the coherent perspective of the scope of second-order cybernetics with a new five-part agenda and the outline for a general methodology of science based on a new epistemic mode that was created within and for second-order cybernetics demonstrate the growing importance of reflexivity in science, which, so far, has not been widely recognized. (shrink)
Hadith scholars are individuals who play an important role in the spread of the Prophetic traditions. in the midst of his people, as an authoritative source after (...) the Qur'an for the complete Islamic legal construct, which was previously discovered and compiled by the Imam of Hadith in their canonical books, like Imam Muḥammad ibn Ismā’īl al-Bukhārī in “Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī” and Muslim Imam ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Naysābūrī in “Muslim Ṣaḥīḥ”, through long tracing from one country to another in order to obtain directly one history from the source. The position of the Hadith scholars in this regard, who are at the spearhead of the spread of the Hadiths after their collection by the Imam of the Hadith, as well as their existence and consistency in guarding the Hadith from various forms of deviation of understanding of the people, become an integral part of an integral circle named Hadith, as a saying of the Prophet, the Rabbis and the Imams. (shrink)
Research on the effects of perceptual manipulations on recognition memory has suggested that recollection is selectively influenced by task-relevant information and familiarity can be considered perceptually (...) class='Hi'>specific. The present experiment tested divergent assumptions that perceptual features can influence conscious object recollection via verbal code despite being task-irrelevant and that perceptual features do not influence object familiarity if study is verbal-conceptual. At study, subjects named objects and their presentation colour; this was followed by an old/new object recognition test. Event-related potentials showed that a study-test manipulation of colour impacted selectively on the ERP effect associated with recollection, while a size manipulation showed no effect. It is concluded that verbal predicates generated at study are potent episodic memory agents that modulate recollection even if the recovered feature information is task-irrelevant and commonly found perceptual match effects on familiarity critically depend on perceptual processing at study. (shrink)
In the last few years there has been a revival of interest in F.H. Bradley and particularly the account of judgment contained in The Principles of (...) class='Hi'>Logic. Many of those who discuss Bradley’s theory of judgment mistakenly assume that it can best be seen as a linguistic account. They insist that what Bradley says can be understood as an account of the meaning and reference of words or sentences. In this paper I will argue that Bradley’s theory of judgment is essentially a psychological theory. Judgment is the union of part of the content of an image or other mental particular with our immediate experience. There is no evidence for the linguisitc interpretation and its defenders cannot make sense of Bradley’s discussion of a number of technical points, particularly his criticism of the view that judgment is the synthesis of ideas, and his comments on the idea of “this.” I will also argue that Bradley’s account of judgment cannot be separated from his later metaphysics and is essentially Hegelian in character. To explain Bradley’s theory I will begin where he does, with an examination of the nature of ideas. (shrink)
Wren’s basic thesis is that moral obligation is logically involved in the very concept of human agency. Basic to the notion of agency or action is (...) class='Hi'>intention, and the book’s basic argument rests upon this latter notion. In addition to explicit intentions, human agency is also characterized by implicit or tacit intentions. In simplest terms, our sense of moral obligation is a tacit intention which characterizes all agency. At one level, tacit intention is a sheerly formal notion: "... that tacit willingness to choose which is present in every explicit choice...". Because action as such is essentially social, however, we tacitly intend to participate as a member of a group of agents which entails a commitment to the promotion of harmony. This intention to harmony gives rise to the basic moral imperative: "Act in the way that maintains and promotes the most effective harmony among agents". (shrink)
The paper presents an application of milli- and micro-XCT to mesostructure characterization of CGPs and failure patterns analysis using dynamic impact simulations. In this study, XCT (...) class='Hi'>scanning experiments are firstly conducted on CGPs, followed by a series of image analyses with qualitative results. Then, the 3D mesomorphological parameters and internal composition of individual particles are quantitatively characterized. Finally, dynamic impact loading in y-axis direction is modelled to investigate the 3D mesostructure and different impact velocity effects on failure patterns of individual particles. The studies show that the mesomorphological parameters present different distribution characteristics in individual CGPs. The approximate location of gangue phase is the key parameter that should be taken into account to study failure patterns as well as fracture mechanism of the heterogeneous rock materials. The XCT image-based numerical model proved to be an effective tool that gives insights into the mesodeformation mechanisms of heterogeneous coal rock undergoing dynamic impact failure behavior. (shrink)
This volume contains eight essays from the years 1933-1949. The first essays deal with ontology and categorial analysis. In the fifth essay Hartmann discussed temporality and (...) class='Hi'>substantiality. In the last essays he turns to man, meaning, and the worth of the individual.--K. H. (shrink)
The aim of this dissertation is to present a systematic account of F. H. Bradley's philosophy in so far as it is relevant to an understanding (...) class='Hi'>of his conception of the nature and criterion of truth. I argue that, for Bradley, the nature of truth is the identity of thought with reality given in immediate experience. There is no absolute separation between thought and its object. Bradley therefore rejects both the correspondence theory and epistemological realism. Thought is not just a mirror which reflects an independently existing reality. ;Concerning the criterion of truth, I argue that his criterion for our ordinary and scientific beliefs is practice, and the criterion for philosophical positions is a kind of coherence based on the doctrine of relative truth. For Bradley, some positions are truer than others, and the best philosophy is a comprehensive system which contains the truth of all different positions. ;Bradley does not accept the coherence theory of justification as it is understood today, since it is based on the standard account of negation and the doctrine of absolute truth. Bradley has a different approach to negation and inconsistency, according to which there are no absolutely inconsistent beliefs. Further, he insists that truth is not absolute but "relative," a matter of degree. All philosophical positions contain some truth, and none is completely false. The truth in philosophy is a position which accounts for the whole of reality and includes all apparently inconsistent positions within it. ;I explain Bradley's place in the history of philosophy and show his connections with the British empiricist tradition. I believe one of Bradley's central concerns is to explain the nature and criterion of truth in philosophy within the constraints of empiricism. I also contrast Bradley's positions on important issues with those of philosophers in the Anglo-American analytic tradition, such as Russell, Moore, Ayer, Tarski, Quine, Churchland, Lehrer and Campbell. I argue that most recent commentators on Bradley overlook the importance of understanding his philosophy as a system constructed according to the doctrine of relative truth. (shrink)
The concept of experience has been central to European philosophy since Descartes. He was the first to use experience to distinguish between two kinds of substance, mental (...) and material, on the basis of the fact that one kind of substance is extended but does not think, while the other kind thinks, doubts, wills, imagines and feels, but is not extended. Other philosophers, such as Hobbes, Locke and Hume, made the concept of experience the basis of their analysis of knowledge. These ideas have become part of common sense, and provide the background for a range of philosophical problems from Descartes’ time to the present. While the concept of experience is important for philosophy, philosophers do not all have the same understanding of the nature of experience. (shrink)
