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Harvard University
1.
Marshall, Douglas Bertrand.
Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry.
Degree: 2011, Harvard University
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3462775
► Philosophical reflection about the sciences has persistently given rise to worries that mathematics, while true of its own special objects, is inapplicable to nature…
(more)
▼ Philosophical reflection about the sciences has persistently given rise to worries that mathematics, while true of its own special objects, is inapplicable to nature or to the physical world. Focusing on the case of geometry, and drawing on the histories of philosophy and science, I articulate a series of challenges to the applicability of geometry based on the general idea that geometry fails to fit (or correspond to) nature. This series of challenges then plays two major roles in the dissertation: it clarifies the ways in which the applicability of geometry poses a problem for two major 17<i>th</i> century natural philosophers, <i> viz.</i>, Galileo and Leibniz, and it allows for the investigation of the relationship between geometric structures and nature by means of an investigation of the applicability of geometry. I begin with the challenge pressed by some thinkers in the Aristotelian tradition that the results which geometry proves about its objects are false when interpreted as assertions about objects in nature. Despite the durable influence of this challenge and the Aristotelian theory of science which inspires it, I argue that Aristotle himself did not oppose the use of geometry in empirical inquiry, but rather offered an account of it. I then examine how Galileo takes on the objection that geometric results are false if understood as claims about nature in his <i>Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. </i> On my interpretation, Galileo argues the objection should be recast as the claim that there are no geometric points, lines, or surfaces in nature. This is an objection both Galileo and Leibniz take seriously in developing their new mathematical physics, although I argue that Galileo and Leibniz react to the objection very differently: Galileo <i>rejects</i> the objection as false and grounded on a misconception of the relationship between geometry and nature, whereas Leibniz <i>grants</i> the truth of the objection and tries to show that it is not damaging for the project of mathematical physics. In defending the applicability of geometry, both Galileo and Leibniz help to develop and employ notions of approximation in the sciences. Their work highlights an important presupposition of approximations: that there must be determinate discrepancies between an object being approximated and its approximation. I conclude the dissertation with an argument that actual applications of geometry in empirical science require that there be determinate discrepancies between geometric structures and nature.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science; Mathematics; Philosophy
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APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
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to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
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APA (6th Edition):
Marshall, D. B. (2011). Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry. (Thesis). Harvard University. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3462775
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Marshall, Douglas Bertrand. “Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry.” 2011. Thesis, Harvard University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3462775.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Marshall, Douglas Bertrand. “Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry.” 2011. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Marshall DB. Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry. [Internet] [Thesis]. Harvard University; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3462775.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Marshall DB. Investigations into the Applicability of Geometry. [Thesis]. Harvard University; 2011. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3462775
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of California – Irvine
2.
Rubin, Hannah.
The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory.
Degree: Philosophy, 2017, University of California – Irvine
URL: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5rr93258
► At the heart of evolutionary theory is the concept of 'fitness', which is, standardly, an organism's reproductive success. Many evolutionary theorists argue, however, that to…
(more)
▼ At the heart of evolutionary theory is the concept of 'fitness', which is, standardly, an organism's reproductive success. Many evolutionary theorists argue, however, that to explain the evolution of social traits, such as altruism, we must use a different notion of fitness. This 'inclusive fitness', which includes the reproductive success of relatives, is seen as indispensable for studying social evolution. Recently, however, both biologists and philosophers have critically scrutinized its significance. My thesis explores the explanatory value of inclusive fitness, while attempting to resolve significant conceptual confusions. I argue that although inclusive fitness is not necessary for evolutionary explanations, it can nonetheless provide an extremely useful way of conceptualizing the evolutionary process.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of science; Philosophy; Biology
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Rubin, H. (2017). The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory. (Thesis). University of California – Irvine. Retrieved from http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5rr93258
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Rubin, Hannah. “The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory.” 2017. Thesis, University of California – Irvine. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5rr93258.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Rubin, Hannah. “The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory.” 2017. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Rubin H. The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California – Irvine; 2017. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5rr93258.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Rubin H. The Explanatory Value of Inclusive Fitness for Evolutionary Theory. [Thesis]. University of California – Irvine; 2017. Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/5rr93258
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Pittsburgh
3.
Surovell, Jonathan.
Carnap's Pragmatism.
Degree: 2013, University of Pittsburgh
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577180
► One of Carnap’s overarching aims was to set philosophy on a firm scientific footing. He relied primarily on two ideas to achieve his ideal…
(more)
▼ One of Carnap’s overarching aims was to set philosophy on a firm scientific footing. He relied primarily on two ideas to achieve his ideal of a scientific philosophy: verificationism, according to which only empirically testable or logically determinate sentences are meaningful, and the Principle of Tolerance, which held that we are free to choose whichever system of empirical knowledge is most expedient. The logical empiricism embodied in these views is is widely believed to have been decisively refuted by a variety of objections. My dissertation seeks to clarify the content and aims of Carnap’s tolerance and verificationism, and to defend the resulting view against some of the most influential objections to logical empiricism. I argue that both tolerance and verificationism are manifestations of Carnap’s fundamentally pragmatic conception of scientific language; for Carnap, precise formulations of scientific theory—“languages for science”— are to be viewed as instruments for the derivation of intersubjective observational knowledge. Verificationism, on my interpretation, is the decision to narrow one’s options for a language for science to those languages in which every sentence is either empirically testable or logically determinate. This decision is motivated by Carnap’s pragmatism: any sentence that is neither empirically testable nor logically determinate makes no contribution to the aim with which the pragmatist uses scientific language. I use this pragmatist account of verificationism to respond to two objections. The first is Hilary Putnam’s version of the argument that verificationism is neither empirical nor analytic, and is therefore meaningless by its own lights. According to Putnam, Carnap’s construal of verificationism as significant in a practical, but non-cognitive, sense, in response to the objection, presupposes verificationism. Carnap’s response is therefore viciously circular. I respond that Carnap’s non-cognitive conception of verificationism presupposes pragmatism, and not verificationism, and thereby avoids Putnam’s circularity. Second, there is a widespread belief that verificationism requires a criterion of empirical significance in order to demarcate the empirically testable sentences, but that no such criterion can be formulated. I reply that by adopting the pragmatic conception, the verificationist can select her favored language in the case-by-case manner described by Goldfarb and Ricketts, without a criterion of empirical significance. Carnap’s pragmatism maintains that the goal of scientific language is the derivation of observation reports. It therefore helps itself to a notion of observation report, of observation language. This notion is another major source of skepticism about logical empiricism. I argue that Carnap’s account of observation language in “Testability and Meaning” is sufficient for the purposes of his pragmatism. On…
Subjects/Keywords: Metaphysics; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Surovell, J. (2013). Carnap's Pragmatism. (Thesis). University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577180
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Surovell, Jonathan. “Carnap's Pragmatism.” 2013. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577180.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Surovell, Jonathan. “Carnap's Pragmatism.” 2013. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Surovell J. Carnap's Pragmatism. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2013. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577180.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Surovell J. Carnap's Pragmatism. [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2013. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577180
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of California – San Diego
4.
Dougherty, John.
Identity in Gauge Theories.
Degree: Philosophy, 2018, University of California – San Diego
URL: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/91h16091
► I argue that contemporary theories of physics are best understood as involving a more refined identity relation than the one found in first order logic.…
(more)
▼ I argue that contemporary theories of physics are best understood as involving a more refined identity relation than the one found in first order logic. I use this identity relation to provide novel interpretations of Yang–Mills theory and General Relativity, two of the most successful physical theories. I show that my interpretation is superior to those currently on the market because it solves problems left open by extant interpretations and provides a better explanation of the distinctive features of these theories. My interpretation also fills gaps in justification found in the physics literature.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of science; Philosophy
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Dougherty, J. (2018). Identity in Gauge Theories. (Thesis). University of California – San Diego. Retrieved from http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/91h16091
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Dougherty, John. “Identity in Gauge Theories.” 2018. Thesis, University of California – San Diego. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/91h16091.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Dougherty, John. “Identity in Gauge Theories.” 2018. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Dougherty J. Identity in Gauge Theories. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California – San Diego; 2018. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/91h16091.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Dougherty J. Identity in Gauge Theories. [Thesis]. University of California – San Diego; 2018. Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/91h16091
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Notre Dame
5.
Javier (Xavi) Lanao Cámara.
Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>.
Degree: Philosophy, 2017, University of Notre Dame
URL: https://curate.nd.edu/show/m326m042203
► This project presents a principled and systematic approach to how to understand natural modality taking powers as an ontological (and modal) primitive. The project…
(more)
▼ This project presents a principled and
systematic approach to how to understand natural modality taking
powers as an ontological (and modal) primitive. The project is
divided in two main parts. In the first part of
the dissertation, I identify the aspects of scientific practice
that bear on our understanding of natural possibility and
necessity. Then, I argue that attention to scientific practice
suggests that laws of nature are not the only relevant source of
information about what scientific theories tell us about natural
modality. Rather, I argue that, in order to do justice to the
variety and complexity of practices involving modal reasoning in
science, we should take into account many other modal concepts such
as those of dispositions and mechanisms. In the
second part of the dissertation, I develop a scientifically
informed conceptual framework that systematically accounts for the
information about what is naturally possible encoded in a wide
variety of modal concepts including laws of nature, but also
dispositions and mechanisms. This conceptual framework takes
dispositional properties (also known as `powers’) as modally and
explanatorily primitive in order to provide a systematic account of
the modal features of dispositions, mechanisms, and laws of nature.
The resulting conceptual framework allows us to
(i) accommodate a wide range of natural necessities, including
natural necessities with different scopes, degrees of generality
and strictness, as well as natural necessities with different
degrees of modal force; (ii) systematically account for the variety
of natural possibilities we find in scientific practice; and (iii)
provide truth conditions for counterfactual conditionals regarding
natural modality.
Advisors/Committee Members: Marc Lange, Committee Member, Anjan Chakravartty, Research Director, Nicholas Teh, Committee Member, Michael Rea, Committee Member, Katherine Brading, Committee Member.
Subjects/Keywords: Metaphysics; Philosophy of Science; Philosophy
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Cámara, J. (. L. (2017). Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>. (Thesis). University of Notre Dame. Retrieved from https://curate.nd.edu/show/m326m042203
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Cámara, Javier (Xavi) Lanao. “Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>.” 2017. Thesis, University of Notre Dame. Accessed March 04, 2021.
https://curate.nd.edu/show/m326m042203.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Cámara, Javier (Xavi) Lanao. “Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>.” 2017. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Cámara J(L. Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Notre Dame; 2017. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: https://curate.nd.edu/show/m326m042203.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Cámara J(L. Lawless Possibilities: A Powers Account of Natural
Modality</h1>. [Thesis]. University of Notre Dame; 2017. Available from: https://curate.nd.edu/show/m326m042203
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
6.
Trestman, Michael.
Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation.
Degree: 2010, University of California, Davis
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3427484
► My dissertation explores the conceptual foundations of the behavioral perspective in biology – that is, what it really means to understand a system (such as…
(more)
▼ My dissertation explores the conceptual foundations of the behavioral perspective in biology – that is, what it really means to understand a system (such as an animal) as <i>behaving</i>. Behavior is a somewhat fuzzily defined aspect of living systems that is nevertheless of central importance to a variety of approaches in biology. Behavior has to do with what organisms (and perhaps other biological entities) <i>do</i>, rather than what they are (i.e. behavior is different that anatomy or physiology). It is most obviously a category applied to large, mobile animals like the familiar vertebrates (mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians) and some invertebrates (insects, arachnids, crustaceans, gastropods and cephalopod mollusks). These are the traditional subjects of behavioral biology. However, in the last few decades, a behavioral approach has been applied to plants, single-celled organisms, and groups of animals such as eusocial insect colonies. Moreover, research projects in behavioral robotics and artificial life apply a behavioral perspective to non-living systems. What does it mean to conceive of a system as behaving? What must a system be like to allow this way of thinking to be fruitful for research? My main contribution to solving this puzzle is the development of a dynamical understanding of <i>goal-directedness </i>. My view of goal-directedness is <i>dynamical</i> in that I understand that notion purely in terms of the <i>causal</i> relations within a system and between the system and its environment, rather than in terms of primitively intentional notions, or in terms of evolutionary history. Previous attempts at developing a dynamical understanding of goal-directedness have foundered, but I present a robust solution to the problems that hindered them. I also demonstrate how the dynamical understanding of goal-directedness functions conceptually in contemporary biological research on animal behavior, and how it is crucial for understanding the 'major transitions in evolution', events in which the evolutionary process itself is reorganized, and new levels of structure emerge in the living world.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Trestman, M. (2010). Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation. (Thesis). University of California, Davis. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3427484
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Trestman, Michael. “Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation.” 2010. Thesis, University of California, Davis. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3427484.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Trestman, Michael. “Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation.” 2010. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Trestman M. Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California, Davis; 2010. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3427484.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Trestman M. Goal-Directedness, Behavior and Evolution| A Philosophical Investigation. [Thesis]. University of California, Davis; 2010. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3427484
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
7.
Johnson, Ernestine R.
Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study.
Degree: 2014, Capella University
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3613989
► The purpose of the qualitative multiple case study was to understand and describe leadership experiences of nonprofit leaders and managers. Examining the leadership traits…
(more)
▼ The purpose of the qualitative multiple case study was to understand and describe leadership experiences of nonprofit leaders and managers. Examining the leadership traits of adaptive leadership, change leadership, transformation leadership, and complex adaptive leadership provided the platform of this study is an endeavor to understand nonprofit leadership from the perspective of service delivery and programs for homeless veterans. In addition, this study seeks to understand the complex problems of the homeless veteran population specifically of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars through the lens of nonprofit leadership. This qualitative multiple case study seeks to illuminate the motivational strategies and tactics of nonprofit leaders and managers to engage homeless veterans to pursue access to certain Veterans Administration services and programs. The main source for the multiple case study data included the narratives from the semi-structured interviews of four nonprofit executives in Indiana with years of experience with the homeless veteran population as well as veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The knowledge and experience of the key executives of the four nonprofit organizations in the research study of the homeless veteran population made invaluable contributions to the qualitative multiple case study in the field of nonprofit leadership. The findings of the qualitative multiple case study were generally consistent with the existing studies relative to the homeless veteran population. Through the illumination of the thick, rich descriptions of the shared experiences of the nonprofit leaders and manager of the qualitative multiple case study called attention to the linkage with the literature to provide an explanation of the inability of homeless veterans to gain access to certain Veterans Administration services and programs. Thus, the current qualitative multiple case study begins to fill the gaps in the scientific knowledge base to resolve issues of the unmet needs of homeless veterans.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Johnson, E. R. (2014). Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study. (Thesis). Capella University. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3613989
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Johnson, Ernestine R. “Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study.” 2014. Thesis, Capella University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3613989.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Johnson, Ernestine R. “Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study.” 2014. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Johnson ER. Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study. [Internet] [Thesis]. Capella University; 2014. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3613989.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Johnson ER. Meeting the needs of homeless veterans| A case study. [Thesis]. Capella University; 2014. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3613989
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Pennsylvania
8.
Esser, Stephen.
Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems.
Degree: 2018, University of Pennsylvania
URL: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3111
► An aim of science is to increase our understanding of the natural world. A primary means for doing so is by providing explanations, which often…
(more)
▼ An aim of science is to increase our understanding of the natural world. A primary means for doing so is by providing explanations, which often proceed by tracing the causes of phenomena. How can a causal explanation lead to understanding? While explanations can take many forms, I argue that to succeed they must embody a conception of causation shared with their audience. The challenge then, is to describe this conception and detail its role in explanation. While there is good evidence that scientists employ more than one causal concept, I argue that the concept of productive causation (centered on the notion of bringing about change via a connection) has a primary role in natural science explanations. After critiquing other philosophical accounts, I develop a new theory of productive causation and show how it provides an underpinning for successful explanations. The heart of the theory is a network of persisting processes that possess dispositions toward change-producing mutual interactions. I argue that in a good explanation, the scientific entities, properties and activities invoked will correspond to the theory’s depiction of causal structure. One important dimension of the theory describes how repeated patterns of interaction can give rise to a hierarchy of composite processes. This allows the theory to account for stabilized entities at various spatio-temporal scales. In turn, this enables the approach to be applicable throughout the natural sciences. After starting with simple examples, I show how the theory deals with more challenging cases from physics to biology. I conclude that the approach illuminates how explanations of various forms across diverse disciplines can lead to scientific understanding.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Esser, S. (2018). Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems. (Thesis). University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3111
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Esser, Stephen. “Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems.” 2018. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania. Accessed March 04, 2021.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3111.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Esser, Stephen. “Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems.” 2018. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Esser S. Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Pennsylvania; 2018. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3111.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Esser S. Explaining Stability And Change In Natural Systems. [Thesis]. University of Pennsylvania; 2018. Available from: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3111
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Oxford
9.
Prunkl, Carina.
The scope of thermodynamics.
Degree: PhD, 2018, University of Oxford
URL: http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c07d26a7-3631-44c9-833e-58cf87099c95
;
https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.780600
► This thesis investigates the application of the laws of thermodynamics to various sub-systems of the universe. I begin by distinguishing between three different second laws:…
(more)
▼ This thesis investigates the application of the laws of thermodynamics to various sub-systems of the universe. I begin by distinguishing between three different second laws: orthodox, statistical and probabilistic. After suggesting that entropy is best understood in means-relative terms, I then show that this interpretation does not imply an epistemic understanding of thermodynamics, pace Jaynes. I conclude the discussion of phenomenological thermodynamics by arguing that thermodynamics can properly be applied to systems containing only a single particle, given the right circumstances. Next I discuss thermodynamics in the context of black holes, and examine the question of whether black hole entropy is genuine thermodynamic entropy, as opposed merely to information-theoretic entropy. I examine the original arguments by Bekenstein and Hawking, and conclude that these are unsatisfactory, but I go on to demonstrate that black holes ought to be considered to be genuine thermodynamic objects by constructing a black hole Carnot cycle. The third chapter investigates thermodynamics in the quantum realm and begins by discussing a recent argument by Hemmo and Shenker against the identification of the von Neumann entropy with the thermodynamic entropy. Their argument is shown to be flawed as it a) allows for a violation of the second law and b) is based on an incorrect calculation of the entropy. I continue by providing a derivation of the laws of thermodynamics from quantum mechanics and a few phenomenological assumptions. This approach is then compared to so-called resource theories of thermodynamics and to single-shot thermodynamics. I end my discussion of quantum thermodynamics with the analysis of an argument made by Cabello et al., who claim that thermodynamics allows for the derivation of an empirical difference between two important classes of quantum interpretation. I provide a counterexample to this claim and show that the alleged heat cost is fully accounted for in the external agent.
Subjects/Keywords: Thermodynamics; Philosophy of Physics; Philosophy; Science – Philosophy
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APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
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APA (6th Edition):
Prunkl, C. (2018). The scope of thermodynamics. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Oxford. Retrieved from http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c07d26a7-3631-44c9-833e-58cf87099c95 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.780600
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Prunkl, Carina. “The scope of thermodynamics.” 2018. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Oxford. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c07d26a7-3631-44c9-833e-58cf87099c95 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.780600.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Prunkl, Carina. “The scope of thermodynamics.” 2018. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Prunkl C. The scope of thermodynamics. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Oxford; 2018. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c07d26a7-3631-44c9-833e-58cf87099c95 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.780600.
Council of Science Editors:
Prunkl C. The scope of thermodynamics. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Oxford; 2018. Available from: http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c07d26a7-3631-44c9-833e-58cf87099c95 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.780600
10.
Sanders, MaKensey.
Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations.
Degree: MA, Philosophy, 2019, University of Mississippi
URL: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1782
► There is a longstanding discussion of what the criteria are to distinguish science from non-science. In section one of this paper, I will focus…
(more)
▼ There is a longstanding discussion of what the criteria are to distinguish
science from non-
science. In section one of this paper, I will focus on four demarcating criteria of a scientific theory: (1) value neutrality; (2) verifiability; (3) falsifiability; and (4) reproducibility. Keeping these criteria in mind, I will turn to the notion of moral agency (focusing on psychopathy, autism, and personal identity) and the question of whether the current way we conceptualize and research it can be deemed as scientific according to the four criteria.
In section two, I will discuss the role psychopathy and autism play in understanding moral agency. It is a popular view that the best way to find the underpinning of normally developed moral agency is to look to two groups diagnosed with deficiencies in rational and affective capacities; psychopathic and autistic individuals. Further, by looking at these three arguments, it is clear that most theorists misunderstand Hume’s theory in that they see it as strictly sentiment-driven when, in fact, he argued for a mixed account involving both rationality and sentiment.
In section three, I will discuss personal identity and how it is intertwined with moral agency. There are many theories of personal identity that attempt to answer the metaphysical questions about its nature. This section will not focus on this aspect of personal identity, but rather on the idea that personality is externally shaped through judgements of moral behaviors. I will argue that moral motivation is not only correlated with personal identity, but also guides our intuitions and judgements of it. There are a few theories I will focus on that, when looked at as pieces of a whole, seem to support the notion that personal identity, and our conceptualization of it, is rooted in our perception of morality.
In the fourth and final section of this paper I discuss whether the conception of moral agency as studied through psychopathy, autism, and personal identity is scientific regarding the four criteria specified in section one. After reflecting on each of the criteria, I conclude that moral agency can be considered scientific.
Advisors/Committee Members: Neil Manson, Deborah Mower.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of science; Psychology; Philosophy; Psychology
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Sanders, M. (2019). Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations. (Masters Thesis). University of Mississippi. Retrieved from https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1782
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Sanders, MaKensey. “Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations.” 2019. Masters Thesis, University of Mississippi. Accessed March 04, 2021.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1782.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Sanders, MaKensey. “Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations.” 2019. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Sanders M. Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations. [Internet] [Masters thesis]. University of Mississippi; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1782.
Council of Science Editors:
Sanders M. Moral agency: a philosophical inquiry into its scientific foundations. [Masters Thesis]. University of Mississippi; 2019. Available from: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1782

Indiana University
11.
Inglehart, Ashley J.
Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries.
Degree: 2017, Indiana University
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10268267
► This dissertation looks at the life and work of famed English Aristocrat Robert Boyle. Specifically, I examine his treatment of generation and its organizing…
(more)
▼ This dissertation looks at the life and work of famed English Aristocrat Robert Boyle. Specifically, I examine his treatment of generation and its organizing forces—seminal principles, plastic powers, and petrifick spirits. Generation, I argue, provided the context by which Boyle was introduced both to chymistry and anatomy. The problem of generation would remain at the forefront of his concerns as he experimented in chymistry, pneumatics, minerals, anatomy, transmutation, and plants. Looking at the various communities in Europe with which Robert Boyle interacted, I show that the mechanical philosophy was actually quite diverse. As one of the most influential scholars of his time, Boyle presents a distinctly mechanical account of generation that would have a profound effect upon Western science.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of science; Philosophy; Science history
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Inglehart, A. J. (2017). Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries. (Thesis). Indiana University. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10268267
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Inglehart, Ashley J. “Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries.” 2017. Thesis, Indiana University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10268267.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Inglehart, Ashley J. “Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries.” 2017. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Inglehart AJ. Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries. [Internet] [Thesis]. Indiana University; 2017. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10268267.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Inglehart AJ. Seminal Ideas| The Forces of Generation for Robert Boyle and His Contemporaries. [Thesis]. Indiana University; 2017. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10268267
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of California, Irvine
12.
Wagner, Elliott.
The Dynamics of Information Transfer.
Degree: 2012, University of California, Irvine
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3498650
► Philosophers and scientists have long debated how communication can arise in circumstances in which it is not already present. This dissertation uses the techniques…
(more)
▼ Philosophers and scientists have long debated how communication can arise in circumstances in which it is not already present. This dissertation uses the techniques of evolutionary game theory to address this puzzle. Following David Lewis (1969), communication is envisioned as occurring between players in a game. One player, who has private knowledge about the state of the world, sends a signal to the second player, who then performs an action. Lewis assumed that the players in this game share a perfect common interest in communicating; i.e., he assumed that when they game ends they both receive identical payoffs. In this dissertation the assumption of common interest is abandoned. Three case studies presented here demonstrate that information transfer robustly arises even when the interests of the sender and receiver diverge. But there's a twist. These same three case studies also indicate that in situations of divergent interests, the communication schemes that emerge only transmit partial information about the state of the world. In other words, although some information is conveyed by the signal, it does not perfectly identify the state. This form of partial communication is sometimes overlooked by philosophers, and is not a phenomenon predicted by Lewis's original framework. Since many real-life interactions are not best modeled by perfect common interest games, these three case studies jointly suggest that partial information transfer may be ubiquitous in actual social systems. These three studies also reveal a limitation of static equilibrium analysis, which is a dominant methodology in game theory. The systems investigated here to do not converge to the equilibria that this style of analysis traditionally identifies as the rational choices or most likely outcomes of play. In fact, in one case the system does not convert to an equilibrium at all. This suggests that a single-minded focus on Nash equilibria (or worse, a refinement thereof) may yield a misleading picture of the prospects for the emergence of communication.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science; Philosophy; Information Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Wagner, E. (2012). The Dynamics of Information Transfer. (Thesis). University of California, Irvine. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3498650
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Wagner, Elliott. “The Dynamics of Information Transfer.” 2012. Thesis, University of California, Irvine. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3498650.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Wagner, Elliott. “The Dynamics of Information Transfer.” 2012. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Wagner E. The Dynamics of Information Transfer. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California, Irvine; 2012. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3498650.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Wagner E. The Dynamics of Information Transfer. [Thesis]. University of California, Irvine; 2012. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3498650
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
13.
Canning, Gregory.
The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.
Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2011, The Catholic University of America
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/etd:139
► Degree awarded: Ph.D. Philosophy. The Catholic University of America
The interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has been a source of controversy ever since his lapse…
(more)
▼ Degree awarded: Ph.D. Philosophy. The Catholic University of America
The interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has been a source of controversy ever since his lapse into insanity at the beginning of 1889. One aspect of his thought, in particular, has been a point of contention among scholars since the 1930s – his thought of the eternal recurrence. This is when scholars first devoted considerable attention to the difficulty of interpreting this teaching within the context of his philosophy as a whole. The works of Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Karl Löwith were instrumental in establishing the eternal recurrence as an important part of Nietzsche's philosophy. Among the three, Löwith's interpretation of the eternal recurrence has been most influential: for Löwith, the recurrence breaks apart into two incommensurable halves, a cosmological doctrine regarding the eternity of the world and an anthropological doctrine regarding human life. These halves contradict one another and cannot be brought together to form a coherent unity – a position largely accepted in the scholarship since Löwith's time. This dissertation seeks to correct this interpretation by examining Nietzsche's works, beginning with the earliest and working its way toward his final writings (the opposite of Löwith's procedure). The result is a new interpretation of the eternal recurrence that illuminates the coherence of the doctrine. The source of the thought lies in Nietzsche's reflection on the nature of science and its detrimental influence on life in The Birth of Tragedy and, significantly, the "History" essay (1874). Nietzsche's struggle to find a life-affirming scientific position results in what he calls the "gay science," which unifies science and life in the eternal recurrence. While this thought remains central in such works as The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, it seems to fade to the background in his later works. Careful examination of these later works, however, demonstrates that Nietzsche's critiques of truth, science, and religion in the "revaluation of all values" are dependent on the foundation of the eternal recurrence. Reading Nietzsche's works chronologically not only yields an interpretation that demonstrates the coherence of the eternal recurrence, but also demonstrates the unity of his philosophy of history and philosophy of science.
Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-24T17:10:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Canning_cua_0043A_10186display.pdf: 1484649 bytes, checksum: f6ac465d30c4d715f6ba0eb0f8f15a70 (MD5)
Advisors/Committee Members: Zaborowski, Holger (Advisor), Rohlf, Michael (Other), Hassing, Richard (Other).
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; history; Nietzsche; science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Canning, G. (2011). The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. (Doctoral Dissertation). The Catholic University of America. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1961/etd:139
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Canning, Gregory. “The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.” 2011. Doctoral Dissertation, The Catholic University of America. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/1961/etd:139.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Canning, Gregory. “The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.” 2011. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Canning G. The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. The Catholic University of America; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/etd:139.
Council of Science Editors:
Canning G. The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. [Doctoral Dissertation]. The Catholic University of America; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/etd:139
14.
Canning, Gregory.
The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.
Degree: PhD, Philosophy, 2011, The Catholic University of America
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/9710
► Degree awarded: Ph.D. Philosophy. The Catholic University of America
The interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has been a source of controversy ever since his lapse…
(more)
▼ Degree awarded: Ph.D. Philosophy. The Catholic University of America
The interpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy has been a source of controversy ever since his lapse into insanity at the beginning of 1889. One aspect of his thought, in particular, has been a point of contention among scholars since the 1930s – his thought of the eternal recurrence. This is when scholars first devoted considerable attention to the difficulty of interpreting this teaching within the context of his philosophy as a whole. The works of Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, and Karl Löwith were instrumental in establishing the eternal recurrence as an important part of Nietzsche's philosophy. Among the three, Löwith's interpretation of the eternal recurrence has been most influential: for Löwith, the recurrence breaks apart into two incommensurable halves, a cosmological doctrine regarding the eternity of the world and an anthropological doctrine regarding human life. These halves contradict one another and cannot be brought together to form a coherent unity – a position largely accepted in the scholarship since Löwith's time. This dissertation seeks to correct this interpretation by examining Nietzsche's works, beginning with the earliest and working its way toward his final writings (the opposite of Löwith's procedure). The result is a new interpretation of the eternal recurrence that illuminates the coherence of the doctrine. The source of the thought lies in Nietzsche's reflection on the nature of science and its detrimental influence on life in The Birth of Tragedy and, significantly, the "History" essay (1874). Nietzsche's struggle to find a life-affirming scientific position results in what he calls the "gay science," which unifies science and life in the eternal recurrence. While this thought remains central in such works as The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, it seems to fade to the background in his later works. Careful examination of these later works, however, demonstrates that Nietzsche's critiques of truth, science, and religion in the "revaluation of all values" are dependent on the foundation of the eternal recurrence. Reading Nietzsche's works chronologically not only yields an interpretation that demonstrates the coherence of the eternal recurrence, but also demonstrates the unity of his philosophy of history and philosophy of science.
Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-24T17:10:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1
Canning_cua_0043A_10186display.pdf: 1484649 bytes, checksum: f6ac465d30c4d715f6ba0eb0f8f15a70 (MD5)
Advisors/Committee Members: Zaborowski, Holger (Advisor), Rohlf, Michael (Other), Hassing, Richard (Other).
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; history; Nietzsche; science
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Record Details
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Canning, G. (2011). The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. (Doctoral Dissertation). The Catholic University of America. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1961/9710
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Canning, Gregory. “The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.” 2011. Doctoral Dissertation, The Catholic University of America. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/1961/9710.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Canning, Gregory. “The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History.” 2011. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Canning G. The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. The Catholic University of America; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/9710.
Council of Science Editors:
Canning G. The Eternal Recurrence of the Same: A Historical Account of Nietzsche's Philosophy of History. [Doctoral Dissertation]. The Catholic University of America; 2011. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1961/9710

University of Oklahoma
15.
Chau, Andrew.
Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science.
Degree: PhD, 2015, University of Oklahoma
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11244/15233
► The value-free ideal for science (VFI) prohibits noncognitive values (e.g., social or religious values) from influencing the practice of science. After all, a scientist should…
(more)
▼ The value-free ideal for
science (VFI) prohibits noncognitive values (e.g., social or religious values) from influencing the practice of
science. After all, a scientist should not reject an empirical theory (e.g.) on religious grounds. But while motivated by reasonable concerns, VFI overlooks legitimate roles for noncognitive values in
science.
Contra VFI, Hugh Lacey explains that noncognitive values can promote scientific aims by grounding new methodologies that may lead to novel theories and extend to new domains. Yet, Lacey agrees with one aspect of VFI: noncognitive values should not serve as grounds in the empirical evaluation of theories. This has led some critics to misidentify his view merely as an updated version of VFI.
I argue that views of the kind Lacey endorses, which I call Dialectical Empiricism (DE), deserve further investigation. They capture what VFI gets right; but they also show that noncognitive values are essential to good
science. Throughout the dissertation I explore variants of DE, demonstrating its potential and flexibility. Furthermore, I defend DE against its critics, especially those who mistake it for a version of VFI. In stark opposition to VFI, DE reveals how the illusion of value-freedom sometimes blinds us to promising alternatives to mainstream scientific approaches. I demonstrate this by applying the framework of DE to contemporary research in agricultural and nutritional
science. These case studies show that noncognitive values really do influence scientific practices. And, most importantly, they demonstrate how embracing a value-laden view of
science can open our eyes to promising alternative approaches that may have the potential to increase our knowledge of the world and of possibilities for human flourishing.
Advisors/Committee Members: Hawthorne, James (advisor), Ellis, Stephen (committee member), Hale, Piers (committee member), Montminy, Martin (committee member), Riggs, Wayne (committee member).
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of Science; Values in Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Chau, A. (2015). Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Oklahoma. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11244/15233
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Chau, Andrew. “Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science.” 2015. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Oklahoma. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/11244/15233.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Chau, Andrew. “Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science.” 2015. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Chau A. Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Oklahoma; 2015. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11244/15233.
Council of Science Editors:
Chau A. Far From Value-Free: How a Value-Centered Scientific Pluralism Bolsters the Cognitive Credentials of Science. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Oklahoma; 2015. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11244/15233

University of California – Irvine
16.
McNulty, Michael Bennett.
Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry.
Degree: Philosophy, 2014, University of California – Irvine
URL: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7qw2r7hp
► In his Metaphysiche Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft(1786), Immanuel Kant claims that chemistry is an improper, but rational, science. In this dissertation, I explain Kant's conception of…
(more)
▼ In his Metaphysiche Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft(1786), Immanuel Kant claims that chemistry is an improper, but rational, science. In this dissertation, I explain Kant's conception of chemistry by situating his discussions of the science with respect to his theoretical philosophy and his scientific context. In the first chapter, I explain why Kant believes chemistry to be an improper science. In the Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Naturwissenschaft, Kant maintains that the a priori application of mathematics in proper science distinguishes it from improper science. Because of his opposition to mechanical philosophy, which reduces natural phenomena to mathematically expressible qualities, Kant took the application of mathematics to be a nontrivial problem. He contends that there must be a priori, metaphysical principles that validate the application of mathematics to a proper science. Ultimately, Kant argues that the forces of chemistry, unlike those of physics, are incapable of such a priori validation, making chemistry a merely improper science. The second chapter concerns chemistry's status as a rational science. I contend that rational sciences, unlike mere sciences, are capable of genuine, causal laws for Kant. I argue that there are different kinds of causal laws in different sciences: whereas the laws of physics are conditions for the possibility of experience of external objects, the laws of chemistry are quite different. Kant believes that the cognitive faculty of reason postulates chemical elements as the absolute, fundamental bearers of chemical powers, and that chemical laws are possible only insofar as they follow from the nature of these postulated entities. In the last chapter, I argue that Kant continues to believe chemistry to be an improper, though rational, science in his unfinished Opus Postumum (ca. 1795-1803). In this work, after his exposure to Lavoisier's chemical revolution, Kant claims that the existence of the caloric can be deduced a priori and that the elements can be enumerated a priori. Nevertheless, I contend that the newly added a priori components neither belong to chemistry nor validate the mathematization of the science. Rather, they are parts of the transition (Übergang), which explains the systematicity of natural science.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of science; History of science; Causality; Early Modern Philosophy; Kant; Philosophy of Chemistry; Philosophy of Mathematics; Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
McNulty, M. B. (2014). Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry. (Thesis). University of California – Irvine. Retrieved from http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7qw2r7hp
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
McNulty, Michael Bennett. “Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry.” 2014. Thesis, University of California – Irvine. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7qw2r7hp.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
McNulty, Michael Bennett. “Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry.” 2014. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
McNulty MB. Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California – Irvine; 2014. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7qw2r7hp.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
McNulty MB. Kant's Philosophy of Chemistry. [Thesis]. University of California – Irvine; 2014. Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/7qw2r7hp
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Bristol
17.
Seifert, Vanessa.
A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.
Degree: PhD, 2019, University of Bristol
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1983/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8
► This thesis investigates the epistemological and metaphysical relations between chemistry and quantum mechanics. These relations are examined with respect to how chemistry and quantum mechanics…
(more)
▼ This thesis investigates the epistemological and metaphysical relations between chemistry and quantum mechanics. These relations are examined with respect to how chemistry and quantum mechanics each describe a single inert molecule. A review of how these relations are understood in the literature shows that there is a proliferation of positions which focus on how chemistry is separate from quantum mechanics. This proliferation is accompanied by a tendency within the philosophy of chemistry community to connect the legitimacy of the field with the autonomy of chemistry. First, it is argued that this connection should not be made. Secondly, it is argued that chemistry and quantum mechanics are unified in accordance with Harold Kincaid's model of non-reductive unity because the two theories exhibit particular epistemic and metaphysical interconnections. Thirdly, a metaphysical account is examined which is incompatible with Kincaid's model of unity; namely strong emergence as understood by Robin Hendry. According to Hendry, the structure of a single inert molecule strongly emerges from its quantum mechanical entities in the sense that there is downward causation. However, Hendry's defense of this account faces certain problems. Moreover, the putative empirical evidence for his understanding of strong emergence can be explained without invoking strong emergence. This is shown by considering how quantum mechanics assumes an idealized understanding of a molecule's stability and structure. In the light of the philosophical literature on idealizations, this idealization can be interpreted in two different ways, both of which explain why quantum mechanics describes the structure of a single molecule the way it does, without assuming strong emergence in Hendry's sense. Each interpretation has philosophical implications regarding the nature of chemical properties, and the relation of chemistry and quantum mechanics. These implications are consistent with Kincaid's model of unity and thus further support chemistry's unity with quantum mechanics (as per Kincaid).
Subjects/Keywords: 100; Philosophy of Chemistry; Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Seifert, V. (2019). A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Bristol. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1983/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Seifert, Vanessa. “A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.” 2019. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Bristol. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/1983/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Seifert, Vanessa. “A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.” 2019. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Seifert V. A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Bristol; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1983/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8.
Council of Science Editors:
Seifert V. A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Bristol; 2019. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1983/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8
18.
Bialek, Max.
RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws.
Degree: Philosophy, 2017, University of Maryland
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/19957
► Variations on Lewis’ Best Systems Analysis (BSA) of laws of nature have tended to emphasize the aspects of the view that allow it to accommodate…
(more)
▼ Variations on Lewis’ Best Systems Analysis (BSA) of laws of nature have tended to emphasize the aspects of the view that allow it to accommodate the peculiarities of scientific practice. That move has allowed such views to do a lot of good work in solving old and new challenges for the BSA, but at the cost of strengthening the argument against the BSA that it is insufficiently objective. I argue that the “insufficiently objective” objection is overcome by a balance of relativity in the laws and limits to that relativity, each properly motivated by appeal to scientific practice. I then explore what relativity in the laws, and limits to it, may be required by scientific practice.
Advisors/Committee Members: Lyon, Aidan (advisor), Romeijn, Jan-Willem (advisor).
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of science; laws of nature
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Bialek, M. (2017). RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws. (Thesis). University of Maryland. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1903/19957
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Bialek, Max. “RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws.” 2017. Thesis, University of Maryland. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/1903/19957.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Bialek, Max. “RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws.” 2017. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Bialek M. RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Maryland; 2017. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/19957.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Bialek M. RELATIVE AND OBJECTIVE, ON BALANCE: Detailing the Best Systems Analysis of Laws. [Thesis]. University of Maryland; 2017. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/19957
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Bristol
19.
Seifert, Vanessa.
A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.
Degree: PhD, 2019, University of Bristol
URL: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8
;
https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.774443
► This thesis investigates the epistemological and metaphysical relations between chemistry and quantum mechanics. These relations are examined with respect to how chemistry and quantum mechanics…
(more)
▼ This thesis investigates the epistemological and metaphysical relations between chemistry and quantum mechanics. These relations are examined with respect to how chemistry and quantum mechanics each describe a single inert molecule. A review of how these relations are understood in the literature shows that there is a proliferation of positions which focus on how chemistry is separate from quantum mechanics. This proliferation is accompanied by a tendency within the philosophy of chemistry community to connect the legitimacy of the field with the autonomy of chemistry. First, it is argued that this connection should not be made. Secondly, it is argued that chemistry and quantum mechanics are unified in accordance with Harold Kincaid's model of non-reductive unity because the two theories exhibit particular epistemic and metaphysical interconnections. Thirdly, a metaphysical account is examined which is incompatible with Kincaid's model of unity; namely strong emergence as understood by Robin Hendry. According to Hendry, the structure of a single inert molecule strongly emerges from its quantum mechanical entities in the sense that there is downward causation. However, Hendry's defense of this account faces certain problems. Moreover, the putative empirical evidence for his understanding of strong emergence can be explained without invoking strong emergence. This is shown by considering how quantum mechanics assumes an idealized understanding of a molecule's stability and structure. In the light of the philosophical literature on idealizations, this idealization can be interpreted in two different ways, both of which explain why quantum mechanics describes the structure of a single molecule the way it does, without assuming strong emergence in Hendry's sense. Each interpretation has philosophical implications regarding the nature of chemical properties, and the relation of chemistry and quantum mechanics. These implications are consistent with Kincaid's model of unity and thus further support chemistry's unity with quantum mechanics (as per Kincaid).
Subjects/Keywords: 100; Philosophy of Chemistry; Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Seifert, V. (2019). A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Bristol. Retrieved from https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.774443
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Seifert, Vanessa. “A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.” 2019. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Bristol. Accessed March 04, 2021.
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.774443.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Seifert, Vanessa. “A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule.” 2019. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Seifert V. A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Bristol; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.774443.
Council of Science Editors:
Seifert V. A philosophical analysis of the relation between chemistry and quantum mechanics : the case of a single inert molecule. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Bristol; 2019. Available from: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/566ba592-fb6b-4cd5-b9aa-b08d34e7dde8 ; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.774443
20.
Joye, Shelli Renee.
The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
Degree: 2016, California Institute of Integral Studies
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10117892
► A holoflux theory of consciousness as energy is hypothesized and shown to support both local and non-local properties. This thesis emerges from an integral…
(more)
▼ A holoflux theory of consciousness as energy is hypothesized and shown to support both local and non-local properties. This thesis emerges from an integral evaluation of evidence drawn from three sources: (1) the holonomic mind/brain theories of Karl Pribram, (2) the ontological interpretation of quantum theory by David Bohm, and (3) the hyperphysics of consciousness developed by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Applying an integral methodology to superimpose and correlate seemingly disparate concepts from among these sources and others, a composite theory emerges, a “holoflux” theory of consciousness, after the term favored by Karl Pribram to describe David Bohm’s “holomovement.” This Pribram–Bohm composite holoflux theory is shown to be congruent with established principles of physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering, as well as with what Pierre Teilhard de Chardin termed “hyperphysics.” Extending the panpsychist paradigm that consciousness is inherent in the structure of the universe, the thesis describes a dynamic energy process bridging the explicate space–time domain with a transcendent flux domain located at the spatial center, everywhere. This center is hypothesized to be synonymous with three key concepts: Karl Pribram’s “flux domain,” David Bohm’s “implicate order,” and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s “point Omega.” Commonly held arguments, both philosophical and technical, dismissive of energy fields as a possible substrate of consciousness, are examined and refuted. Major theories of consciousness developed by Pribram, Bohm, and Teilhard de Chardin are examined in detail, and presented in the context of their life experiences. Extending their theories, the holoflux theory of consciousness views reality as one energy, cycling mathematically, lens-like, in a process of transformation manifesting in three modes: (1) electromagnetic energy in space–time, (2) holoflux energy in a transcendent order, and (3) vibrating isospheres at the boundary gap separating the implicate from the explicate orders. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s more technical concepts (e.g., centro-complexity, radial energy, tangential energy, complexity-consciousness, noogenesis, centrology, and Omega) are evaluated in detail, and interpreted within the framework of holoflux theory, to provide new insights into his hyperphysics of centro-complexity. The plausibility of this holoflux theory is examined through identification of correlations between physiological, electromagnetic, and geophysical measurements.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of science; Philosophy; Physiological psychology
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Joye, S. R. (2016). The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. (Thesis). California Institute of Integral Studies. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10117892
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Joye, Shelli Renee. “The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.” 2016. Thesis, California Institute of Integral Studies. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10117892.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Joye, Shelli Renee. “The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.” 2016. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Joye SR. The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. [Internet] [Thesis]. California Institute of Integral Studies; 2016. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10117892.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Joye SR. The Pribram-Bohm holoflux theory of consciousness| An integral interpretation of the theories of Karl Pribram, David Bohm, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. [Thesis]. California Institute of Integral Studies; 2016. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10117892
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
21.
Voronoff, Timothy J.
Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions.
Degree: 2009, New School University
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3371775
► This dissertation discusses the role that the passions play in political thinking. I use Hobbes' philosophy to illustrate a science of the passions that…
(more)
▼ This dissertation discusses the role that the passions play in political thinking. I use Hobbes' philosophy to illustrate a science of the passions that entails supplanting one passion for another, mostly in the cases of passions of fear and hope. Spinoza's philosophy is brought forth as a counter solution to Hobbes' science of the passions, namely in terms of the ways that myth and narrative can be used constructively towards political stability through the promotion of semi-rational mechanisms that govern the passions through selfishness and not traditional virtue. Myths and narratives can sometimes provide a stabilizing affect on the way that the imagination is used, changing and disrupting the vacillation of passions that inform one's ideas and desires. Political organization therefore can be improved by cultivating narratives and myths that lead the multitude towards behaving semi-rationally. Spinoza's philosophy is used to demonstrate how ideology relates to myth and narrative in evoking a vacillation of the passions in the multitude and is shown to offer a practical solution to the problem of nonrational behavior. By focusing on the passions, Spinoza is able to identify the causes for non-rational behavior and provides a solution that guarantees political stability through an expectation of selfish behavior. This explication and interpretation of Spinoza's political philosophy is offered as a response to Hobbes; focusing on the ways in which the passions play a role in thinking. While in the 17th century the Church was largely responsible for educating individuals about the passions, and like Hobbes, substituted passions of fears with hopes instead of permanently remedying them. Today a pervasive network of media sources mass-communicate by way of activating passions at the expense of reason that could otherwise cultivate political stability not only through myth and narrative but through ideological mechanisms which make the behavior of the multitude semi-rational and more democratic. Spinoza's insight into the role that the passions play in the formation of ideas about human sociability offers a new understanding into the usefulness of ideology and other social mechanisms and institutions in reshaping the non-rational passions of individuals within the multitude into more stabilizing patterns of behavior.
Subjects/Keywords: Religion, Philosophy of; Philosophy; Political Science, General
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Voronoff, T. J. (2009). Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions. (Thesis). New School University. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3371775
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Voronoff, Timothy J. “Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions.” 2009. Thesis, New School University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3371775.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Voronoff, Timothy J. “Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions.” 2009. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Voronoff TJ. Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions. [Internet] [Thesis]. New School University; 2009. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3371775.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Voronoff TJ. Ruling passion| The use of myth and narrative in place of reason in politics; Spinoza's proposed solution to Hobbes' science of the passions. [Thesis]. New School University; 2009. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3371775
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Pittsburgh
22.
Akagi, Mikio Shaun Mikuriya.
Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science.
Degree: 2016, University of Pittsburgh
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10183682
► Cognitive science has been beset for thirty years by foundational disputes about the nature and extension of cognition—e.g. whether cognition is necessarily representational, whether…
(more)
▼ Cognitive science has been beset for thirty years by foundational disputes about the nature and extension of cognition—e.g. whether cognition is necessarily representational, whether cognitive processes extend outside the brain or body, and whether plants or microbes have them. Whereas previous philosophical work aimed to settle these disputes, I aim to understand what conception of cognition scientists could share given that they disagree so fundamentally. To this end, I develop a number of variations on traditional conceptual explication, and defend a novel explication of cognition called the sensitive management hypothesis. Since expert judgments about the extension of “cognition” vary so much, I argue that there is value in explication that accurately models the variance in judgments rather than taking sides or treating that variance as noise. I say of explications that accomplish this that they are <i> ecumenically extensionally adequate</i>. Thus, rather than adjudicating whether, say, plants can have cognitive processes like humans, an ecumenically adequate explication should classify these cases differently: human cognitive processes as paradigmatically cognitive, and plant processes as controversially cognitive. I achieve ecumenical adequacy by articulating conceptual explications with <i>parameters</i>, or terms that can be assigned a number of distinct interpretations based on the background commitments of participants in a discourse. For example, an explication might require that cognition cause “behavior,” and imply that plant processes are cognitive or not depending on whether anything plants do can be considered “behavior.” Parameterization provides a unified treatment of embattled concepts by isolating topics of disagreement in a small number of parameters. I incorporate these innovations into an account on which cognition is the “sensitive management of organismal behavior.” The sensitive management hypothesis is ecumenically extensionally adequate, accurately classifying a broad variety of cases as paradigmatically or controversially cognitive phenomena. I also describe an extremely permissive version of the sensitive management hypothesis, arguing that it has the potential to explain several features of cognitive scientific discourse, including various facts about the way cognitive scientists ascribe representations to cognitive systems.
Subjects/Keywords: Behavioral psychology; Philosophy of science; Philosophy
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Akagi, M. S. M. (2016). Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science. (Thesis). University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10183682
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Akagi, Mikio Shaun Mikuriya. “Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science.” 2016. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10183682.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Akagi, Mikio Shaun Mikuriya. “Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science.” 2016. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Akagi MSM. Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2016. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10183682.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Akagi MSM. Cognition in practice| Conceptual development and disagreement in cognitive science. [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2016. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10183682
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

The University of Iowa
23.
O'Loughlin, Ian.
Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory.
Degree: 2014, The University of Iowa
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3638417
► Models of memory in cognitive science and philosophy have traditionally explained human remembering in terms of storage and retrieval. This tendency has been entrenched…
(more)
▼ Models of memory in cognitive science and philosophy have traditionally explained human remembering in terms of storage and retrieval. This tendency has been entrenched by reliance on computationalist explanations over the course of the twentieth century; even research programs that eschew computationalism in name, or attempt the revision of traditional models, demonstrate tacit commitment to computationalist assumptions. It is assumed that memory must be stored by means of an isomorphic trace, that memory processes must divide into conceptually distinct systems and phases, and that human remembering consists in inner, cognitive processes that are implemented by distinct neural processes. This dissertation draws on recent empirical work, and on philosophical arguments from Ludwig Wittgenstein and others, to demonstrate that this latent computationalism in the study of memory is problematic, and that it can and should be eliminated. Cognitive psychologists studying memory have encountered numerous data in recent decades that belie archival models. In cognitive neuroscience, establishing the neural basis of storage and retrieval processes has proven elusive. A number of revised models on offer in memory science, that have taken these issues into account, fail to sufficiently extricate the archival framework. Several impasses in memory science are products of these underlying computationalist assumptions. Wittgenstein and other philosophers offer a number of arguments against the need for, and the efficacy of, the storage and retrieval of traces in human remembering. A study of these arguments clarifies the ways that these computationalist assumptions are presently impeding the science of memory, and provides ways forward in removing them. We can and should characterize and model human memory without invoking the storage and retrieval of traces. A range of work in connectionism, dynamical systems theory, and recent philosophical accounts of memory demonstrate how the science of memory can proceed without these assumptions, toward non-archival models of remembering.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science; Philosophy; Psychology, Cognitive
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
O'Loughlin, I. (2014). Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory. (Thesis). The University of Iowa. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3638417
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
O'Loughlin, Ian. “Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory.” 2014. Thesis, The University of Iowa. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3638417.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
O'Loughlin, Ian. “Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory.” 2014. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
O'Loughlin I. Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory. [Internet] [Thesis]. The University of Iowa; 2014. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3638417.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
O'Loughlin I. Remembering without storing| Beyond archival models in the science and philosophy of human memory. [Thesis]. The University of Iowa; 2014. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3638417
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Columbia University
24.
Vasudevan, Anubav.
Symmetry and Probability.
Degree: 2012, Columbia University
URL: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8K07BDG
► Judgments of symmetry lay at the heart of the classical theory of probability. It was by direct appeal to the symmetries exhibited by the processes…
(more)
▼ Judgments of symmetry lay at the heart of the classical theory of probability. It was by direct appeal to the symmetries exhibited by the processes underlying simple games of chance that the earliest theorists of probability were able to justify the initial assumptions of equiprobability which allowed them to compute the probabilities of more complex events using combinatorial methods, i.e., by simply counting cases. Nevertheless, in spite of the role that symmetry played in the earliest writings on the subject, in light of the fact it is only in highly contrived settings that a direct appeal to symmetries can suffice to determine the probabilities of events, many philosophers have been led to conclude that the concept of symmetry itself has, at best, a limited role to play in a general theory of probability. In this essay, I argue that this view of the matter is mistaken, and that judgments of symmetry, in fact, have an indispensible role to play in all probabilistic reasoning. In chapter 1, I provide a detailed account of symmetry-based reasoning and argue against the view that the judgments of relevance on which such reasoning is based must be construed in subjective terms if symmetry-based reasoning is to be applied to deterministic processes. In chapter 2, I argue that the two most plausible proposals for how to avoid an appeal to symmetry in the assignment of probabilities (viz., those which are based on a priori principles of epistemic conservatism or the observed frequencies of events) must themselves rely on implicit assumptions of symmetry if they are to defend themselves against the charges of incoherency and arbitrariness. In chapter 3, I consider a decision-theoretic example of symmetry-based reasoning, in which the appeal to symmetry arises in the context of an agent's choice of a deliberative methodology. In this context, the principle of symmetry amounts to the requirement that the agent avoid adopting a biased deliberative methodology, i.e., one which treats two equally legitimate sources of information differently. In the specific context of the exchange paradox, I propose an account of how biased information is to be handled, which, despite suffering from some important defects, does, I believe, capture some of our general intuitions about how a rational agent ought to adjust his expectations to correct for the effects of bias.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Knowledge, Theory of; Science – Philosophy
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
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Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
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APA (6th Edition):
Vasudevan, A. (2012). Symmetry and Probability. (Doctoral Dissertation). Columbia University. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7916/D8K07BDG
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Vasudevan, Anubav. “Symmetry and Probability.” 2012. Doctoral Dissertation, Columbia University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.7916/D8K07BDG.
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Vasudevan, Anubav. “Symmetry and Probability.” 2012. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Vasudevan A. Symmetry and Probability. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. Columbia University; 2012. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8K07BDG.
Council of Science Editors:
Vasudevan A. Symmetry and Probability. [Doctoral Dissertation]. Columbia University; 2012. Available from: https://doi.org/10.7916/D8K07BDG

UCLA
25.
Dupre, Gabriel Gagnier.
Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science.
Degree: Philosophy, 2019, UCLA
URL: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/34b0h6dm
► The goal of linguistic science is to understand the nature of the psychological system responsible for our linguistic capacities. The complexity of this system, and…
(more)
▼ The goal of linguistic science is to understand the nature of the psychological system responsible for our linguistic capacities. The complexity of this system, and of the larger psychological system of which it is a constituent, makes achieving this goal very difficult. In particular, such complexities in the target system result in patterns of observations that do not lend themselves to neat generalizations. One central difficulty in linguistic theory is thus determining just how far our theorizing is allowed to stray from these complex data. I will examine case studies from three branches of linguistic theory: syntax, semantics, and language acquisition. In each case, we will see advocates of opposing stances on this question. One side will argue that our theories ought stick very closely to the observed data, and thus produce complex and particularized theories capable of doing so. The other will argue for more abstract theories, which suggest explanatory depth and unification, but at the cost of apparent empirical adequacy. In all three cases, I shall argue that neither extreme position is appropriate, when understood as excluding the other. I shall instead develop a variety of pluralist strategies, attempting to integrate the two approaches by developing a battery of different representations of target systems which are individually insufficient in various ways, but collectively capable of accounting for the phenomena. The overall aim is to develop a clear understanding, drawn from contemporary work in the philosophy of science, of the methodological foundations of linguistic theory.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Philosophy of Linguistics; Philosophy of Mind; Philosophy of Psychology; Philosophy of Science; Theoretical Linguistics
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Dupre, G. G. (2019). Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science. (Thesis). UCLA. Retrieved from http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/34b0h6dm
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Dupre, Gabriel Gagnier. “Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science.” 2019. Thesis, UCLA. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/34b0h6dm.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Dupre, Gabriel Gagnier. “Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science.” 2019. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Dupre GG. Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science. [Internet] [Thesis]. UCLA; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/34b0h6dm.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Dupre GG. Ways in the Studies of Words: The Methodology and Epistemology of Linguistic Science. [Thesis]. UCLA; 2019. Available from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/34b0h6dm
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Duke University
26.
Gessell, Bryce.
Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
.
Degree: 2019, Duke University
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10161/19876
► The principal problem of cognitive neuroscience is to draw relations between mental processes, constructs, and concepts, on the one hand, and neural processes, structures,…
(more)
▼ The principal problem of cognitive neuroscience is to draw relations between mental processes, constructs, and concepts, on the one hand, and neural processes, structures, and concepts, on the other. The philosophical issues animating this problem are deep, and transcend such things as the nature of explanation or mechanism. In a series of essays, this dissertation cuts straight to these deeper issues. I defend a group of positions characterized by an appreciation for the many different perspectives we can take on human action and psychology. I first argue that, though indeterministic models are essential in neurobiology, we cannot infer that the brain therefore behaves indeterministically. In a second essay, I analyze the concept of a "functional unit" in neuroscience. I show that this concept hides an important ambiguity of meaning, which causes disagreements over the most basic entities we use to explain brain-based physiological and psychological behavior. A third essay argues that the stages of memory formation, such as encoding and consolidation, cannot be cleanly separated from each other. Since this is true at both the psychological and neurobiological levels, I advocate for an instrumentalist interpretation of this aspect of memory research. Finally, in a fourth essay, I turn to the historical development of neuroscience in Emanuel Swedenborg, an early modern natural philosopher. Swedenborg's work showed remarkable foresight in creating conceptual resources for explaining the brain, but many non-scientific factors prevented his view from becoming widely known. I use the case of Swedenborg to draw morals about the proper approach to the history and
philosophy of neuroscience. Taken together, these essays lay the groundwork for an empirically-sensitive history and
philosophy of neuroscience. Both are necessary to work through the maze of mind-brain relations.
Advisors/Committee Members: Janiak, Andrew (advisor).
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy;
Philosophy of science;
history of neuroscience;
philosophy of mind;
philosophy of neuroscience;
philosophy of science
Record Details
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Record Details
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Gessell, B. (2019). Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
. (Thesis). Duke University. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10161/19876
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Gessell, Bryce. “Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
.” 2019. Thesis, Duke University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://hdl.handle.net/10161/19876.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Gessell, Bryce. “Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
.” 2019. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Gessell B. Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
. [Internet] [Thesis]. Duke University; 2019. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10161/19876.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Gessell B. Materia Mentis: How the Brain Sculpts the Mind
. [Thesis]. Duke University; 2019. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10161/19876
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of Pittsburgh
27.
Cunningham, Arthur.
The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties.
Degree: 2011, University of Pittsburgh
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3447440
► Environmental decoherence is widely held to be the key to understanding the emergence of classicality in a quantum universe. However, in conjunction with traditional…
(more)
▼ Environmental decoherence is widely held to be the key to understanding the emergence of classicality in a quantum universe. However, in conjunction with traditional principles of interpretation, decoherence leaves unanswered a fundamental question, a version of the quantum measurement problem: Why should macroscopic objects have definite properties at all? I critically evaluate a variety of interpretive strategies intended to parlay the formal results of decoherence into the definiteness, or apparent definiteness, of familiar macroscopic properties. I argue that the crucial role of environmental decoherence in accounting for definite properties is effecting the dynamical decoupling of components of the global quantum state for which these properties are definite. This role of decoherence is most evident in the context of the Everett interpretation, where considerations regarding branch dynamics lead naturally to the conclusion that dynamical autonomy (non-interference) of branches is a restriction on any division of the global quantum state into branches. Environmental decoherence results in the requisite dynamical autonomy for branches in which familiar macroscopic observables are definite, thus providing a natural and principled way to identify an interpretation basis. The modal interpretation, with its property ascription rule based on the spectral decomposition of the reduced state, secures the right definite properties only in those cases in which it picks out properties that correspond almost exactly with the non-interfering components of the global quantum state. I argue that the non-interference of these components should be accorded interpretational significance in its own right; then the right properties can be specified without recourse to the distinctive property ascription rules of the modal interpretation. Finally, I criticize attempts of decoherence theorists to account for definite properties by appeal to effects of decoherence such as approximate diagonality of the reduced state and preservation of correlations with respect to a set of privileged states. I argue that definiteness can be accounted for by looking not to these effects but to their cause, the dynamical autonomy of the environmentally-privileged components of the global quantum state. Precisely because they are dynamically autonomous, these states can be accorded physical significance in their own right.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science; Physics, Quantum
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Record Details
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Cunningham, A. (2011). The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties. (Thesis). University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3447440
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Cunningham, Arthur. “The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties.” 2011. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3447440.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Cunningham, Arthur. “The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties.” 2011. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Cunningham A. The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3447440.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Cunningham A. The role of decoherence in the emergence of definite properties. [Thesis]. University of Pittsburgh; 2011. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3447440
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

University of California, Berkeley
28.
Roy, Arpita.
Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN.
Degree: 2011, University of California, Berkeley
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3469487
► The dissertation critically examines the process of discovery, thought and language at the frontier of modern science. It is based on two and a…
(more)
▼ The dissertation critically examines the process of discovery, thought and language at the frontier of modern science. It is based on two and a half years of ethnographic research at the particle accelerator complex, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Switzerland. In March 2010, the LHC began the world's highest energy experiments as a probe into the structure of matter and forces of nature. In the light of the LHC experiments, the dissertation investigates the relation of general beliefs and technical procedures of science with the principles of classification of knowledge, to show how they conjointly constitute a specific cultural or symbolic mode of apprehending the world, and to inquire how this mode is expressed, affirmed and maintained in everyday behavior. Dwelling amongst the particle physics community at CERN, I observed that conceptions of matter and energy were derived from submerged assumptions about how the universe works. These assumptions took the form of proscriptions and dualisms: values do not affect physical reality, the mind does not participate in the universe, or conventions do not impinge on laws of physics. In spite of this, and perhaps more interesting, I found a few puzzling concepts in specific data-sets of theory, experiment and instrumentation, that confront and challenge, quite effectively to my mind, the separations of subject and object, or sign and thing, in a discipline that ostensibly proceeds from their strict separation. The dissertation examines the classification of handedness (right and left) in particle interactions with the underlying question: Does physics admit of orientation? To characterize right or left presupposes an observer, and conventions. But if physics proceeds from the separation of subject and object, then how can it posit—as it does—a physical universe with a preferred orientation? The focus here shifts to the experimental concept of “signatures.” Decays from particle collisions, such as a Higgs boson decaying into two photons, are termed signatures and constitute the unit of discovery in particle physics. Focusing on the physics signature, I inquire into the potential relevance of formal theories of semiotics in considering natural signs. Finally, my work explores the rich material culture of the laboratory through the lens of a concept of pure circulation—energy—as it flows in the magnetic fields and currents of the accelerator. By analyzing a concept that attempts to bring together Maxwell's equations of the field with the exigencies of machine parameters, the research arrives at a key moment in the life of a laboratory when the division of theory and practice stands critically exposed.
Subjects/Keywords: Anthropology, Cultural; Philosophy of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Roy, A. (2011). Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN. (Thesis). University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3469487
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Roy, Arpita. “Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN.” 2011. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3469487.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Roy, Arpita. “Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN.” 2011. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Roy A. Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN. [Internet] [Thesis]. University of California, Berkeley; 2011. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3469487.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Roy A. Dualism and non-dualism| Elementary forms of physics at CERN. [Thesis]. University of California, Berkeley; 2011. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3469487
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation

Indiana University
29.
Keele, Lisa.
Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century.
Degree: 2008, Indiana University
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3319910
► The concept of continuity recurs in many different philosophical contexts. Aristotle and Kant believed it to be an essential feature of space and time.…
(more)
▼ The concept of continuity recurs in many different philosophical contexts. Aristotle and Kant believed it to be an essential feature of space and time. Medieval scholars believed it to be the key to unlock the mysteries of motion and change. Bertrand Russell believed that, while everyone talked about continuity, no one quite knew what it was they were talking about. The subject of this dissertation is mathematical continuity in particular. By mathematical continuity, I mean continuity as it applies to or is found in mathematical systems such as sets of numbers. Mathematical continuity is a relatively recent concern. The need to address whether numerical systems are continuous came about with the creation of calculus, specifically, of limit theory. The dissertation focuses on four mathematicians/philosophers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were concerned with mathematical continuity. Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor, in the 1870s and 1880s, developed the concept of a 'point-continuum;' i.e. a continuum composed of discrete entities, such as a collection of numbers arranged on a straight line. Paul du Bois-Reymond, in 1882, and Charles S. Peirce, especially in his post-1906 essays, criticized this compositional point-continuum. Du Bois-Reymond believed infinitesimals were necessary for continuity; Peirce believed no compositional continuum could ever satisfy our intuitions. My ultimate conclusions are that (1) the concept of the mathematical point-continuum does suffer from philosophical difficulties, (2) the concept of the infinitesimal is neither as philosophically problematic nor as mathematically useless as is often charged, but that (3) infinitesimals by themselves cannot solve the problems raised by a compositional view of continuity.
Subjects/Keywords: Mathematics; Philosophy; History of Science
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Keele, L. (2008). Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century. (Thesis). Indiana University. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3319910
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Keele, Lisa. “Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century.” 2008. Thesis, Indiana University. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3319910.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Keele, Lisa. “Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century.” 2008. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Keele L. Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century. [Internet] [Thesis]. Indiana University; 2008. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3319910.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Keele L. Theories of continuity and infinitesimals| Four philosophers of the nineteenth century. [Thesis]. Indiana University; 2008. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3319910
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
30.
Rodriguez, Jason T.
American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion.
Degree: 2013, State University of New York at Buffalo
URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1546967
► Over the past several decades, science advocacy organizations have increasingly participated in discussions of the relationship between science and religion to the public, mainly…
(more)
▼ Over the past several decades, science advocacy organizations have increasingly participated in discussions of the relationship between science and religion to the public, mainly to counteract the resurgence of anti-evolution activities across the country, to address misconceptions and misunderstandings about science and religion, and to help make science more palatable and less threatening to religious believers. These engagements with religion have primarily involved four organizations: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (SNMNH). In their engagements with religion, each of these organizations has simultaneously employed two distinct lines of operation: (1) defending science against anti-science religions and movements and (2) engaging science-friendly religions and the religious public. These lines of operation are driven by key objectives and supported by specific strategies and tactics to achieve those objectives, which this paper seeks to explore and analyze. Key findings and recommendations for science advocacy organizations' ongoing and future engagements with religion are provided.
Subjects/Keywords: Philosophy of Science; Education, Sciences
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❌
APA ·
Chicago ·
MLA ·
Vancouver ·
CSE |
Export
to Zotero / EndNote / Reference
Manager
APA (6th Edition):
Rodriguez, J. T. (2013). American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion. (Thesis). State University of New York at Buffalo. Retrieved from http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1546967
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):
Rodriguez, Jason T. “American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion.” 2013. Thesis, State University of New York at Buffalo. Accessed March 04, 2021.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1546967.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
MLA Handbook (7th Edition):
Rodriguez, Jason T. “American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion.” 2013. Web. 04 Mar 2021.
Vancouver:
Rodriguez JT. American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion. [Internet] [Thesis]. State University of New York at Buffalo; 2013. [cited 2021 Mar 04].
Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1546967.
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
Council of Science Editors:
Rodriguez JT. American Science Advocacy Organizations| Examining Their Strategies and Engagements with Religion. [Thesis]. State University of New York at Buffalo; 2013. Available from: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1546967
Note: this citation may be lacking information needed for this citation format:
Not specified: Masters Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation
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