Some of the problems associated with the construction of a manifestly covariant relativistic quantum theory are discussed. A resolution of this problem is given in terms of the off mass shell classical and quantum mechanics of Stueckelberg, Horwitz and Piron. This theory contains many questions of interpretation, reaching deeply into the notions of time, localizability and causality. A proper generalization of the Maxwell theory of electromagnetic interaction, required for the well-posed formulation of dynamical problems of systems with electromagnetic interaction is (...) discussed, and some of the significance of recently found (classical) relativistic chaotic behavior is pointed out. Many results of a technical nature have been achieved in this framework; in this paper, some of these are reviewed, but I shall concentrate on a discussion of the basic ideas and foundations of the theory. (shrink)

A fundamental problem in the construction of local electromagnetic interactions in the framework of relativistic wave equations of Klein-Gordon or Dirac type is discussed, and shown to be resolved in a relativistic quantum theory of events described by functions in a Hilbert space on the manifold of space-time. The relation, abstracted from the structure of the electromagnetic current, between sequences of events, parametrized by an evolution parameter τ (“historical time”), and the commonly accepted notion of particles is reviewed. As an (...) illustration of these ideas, a perturbative calculation is made for photon emission from a charged two-body system in which the electromagnetic field is quantized in the usual way. The result is in essential agreement with calculations in which the charged particles are treated in the framework of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, and provides them with a relativistic interpretation. In particular, we obtain a relativistically invariant form of the Bohr radiation condition. (shrink)

It is well known that when resolution occurs in the stichic iambics and trochaics of tragedy word-end is not found between the two shorts so produced: w or, more accurately, that the first short of resolution must not be the last syllable of a polysyllabic word. Moreover, the syllables in resolution most often form part of the same word as the following short or anceps, e.g.: Ion 1143.

Glassary is a companion volume to Glas. It offers English readers fuller access to the masterwork of Jacques Derrida, the leading philosopher in France. Derrida is important for his investigations of language, philosophy, and writing. He has perforated the boundaries between academic disciplines, has demonstrated the theological underpinnings of apparently atheological philosophies, and has thrown into question traditional notions about the "ownership" of ideas. Glas exemplifies Derrida's methodology of reading and his central philosophical and literary concerns. The reader fascinated by (...) its complexities will appreciate the assistance of Glassary. Written by the chief translator of Glas, John P. Leavey, Jr., it includes an essay by Gregory Ulmer and a foreword by Jacques Derrida. The book provides all of the apparatus a reader of Glas might immediately desire, including notes on difficult or ambiguous passages, identifications of allusions and puns, locations of citations, and translations of passages in languages other than French. But Leavey does not stop there. He includes a glossary of use to readers of Glas in any language and essays that relate it to Derrida's texts and to the modern French critical enterprise as a whole. Leavey's essay focuses on Glas and literature and philosophy; Ulmer's on Glas and psychoanalysis. (shrink)

THOUGHT .—THE BITTER CRY OF THE PLAIN MAN AN APPEAL TO PHILOSOPHERS " The best philosopher is the man who can think most imply. ...

One of the notable arguments in the history of philosophy is Descartes' thesis: cogito, ergo sum. However, the question as to the logical nature of that argument has not yet been entirely clarified.

Gilbert Ryle in The Concept of Mind pronounced the “official doctrine” regarding the nature of the mind and the body as “hailing chiefly from Descartes.” That doctrine, anathematized by Ryle as “the dogma of the ghost in the machine,” is said to hold that every human being is composed of a body and a mind, that the body is physical whereas the mind is not, and that the mind may continue to exist when the body is destroyed. Ryle’s famous attack (...) on the official doctrine has undoubtedly stimulated Cartesian studies, both in those who wish to understand Descartes better in order to make the defense of the doctrine more effective and in those who wish to attack it, sometimes even with arguments which Ryle himself would have rejected. Occasionally, one reads a reference to “Platonic dualism,” not so much as a clearly defined alternative to Cartesian dualism but rather as an inchoate or loose version of Descartes’ doctrine. A recent exception is Richard Rorty who in the first chapter of his book Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature has insisted on the difference between the Platonic and the Cartesian positions, although it should perhaps be added that his hostility to the former is if anything greater than his hostility to the latter. Without suggesting that there are not obvious similarities in the Platonic and Cartesian versions of dualism, it will perhaps be useful to try to penetrate beneath the slogans in order to get a clearer picture of the arguments which impelled Plato to hold a position the strangeness which was evident even to his contemporaries. (shrink)

1. Bog i tvarnyi mīr -- 2-3. Bog i mīr, v Bogochelovi︠e︡ki︠e︡ vi︠e︡chnyĭ ad pobi︠e︡zhdai︠u︡shchīĭ.

In this paper we show that the prime ideal space of an MV-algebra is the disjoint union of prime ideal spaces of suitable local MV-algebras. Some special classes of algebras are defined and their spaces are investigated. The space of minimal prime ideals is studied as well.

It is shown that the measurement algebra of Schwinger, a characterization of the properties of Pauli measurements of the first and second kinds, forming the foundation of his formulation of quantum mechanics over the complex field, has a quaternionic generalization. In this quaternionic measurement algebra some of the notions of quaternionic quantum mechanics are clarified. The conditions imposed on the form of the corresponding quantum field theory are studied, and the quantum fields are constructed. It is shown that the resulting (...) quantum fields coincide with the fermion or boson annihilation-creation operators obtained by Razon and Horwitz in the limit in which the number of particles in physical states N→∞. (shrink)