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Einstein's first cosmological work, published in 1917, marked the beginning of relativistic cosmology, but it was well founded on earlier questions concerning the world as a whole. The paper presents three such topics: the Olbers paradox, the Seeliger paradox, and speculations concerning cosmological consequences of thermodynamics together with some of their repercussions in relativistic cosmology.
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The paper presents the overview of the standard cosmological model, its successes and open questions.
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To be able to determine the simultaneity of distant events, one has to make use of a convention. Einstein's famous definition of simultaneity, which sets e=1/2 , is a case of such a convention. The problem, dealt with in this paper, is to answer the question of whether the choice of such a convention is obligatory or not. The partisans of conventionality of simultaneity argue, that the standard synchronization procedure of clocks, based on the Einstein's definition, is not necessitated by facts concerning the physical universe, but can be replaced by any procedure originating from the definition of simultaneity, given 0 < e < 1. The present article contains some arguments in favor of, as well as against, the conventionality of simultaneity. Apart from Einstein's standard synchronization procedure, special attention is paid to Reichenbach's definition of simultaneity and Malament's theorem. Some attempts at giving an absolute definition of simultaneity are also presented. Finally, an argument from the rationality of the world is formulated.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the various types of physical universe which could exist according to modern mathematical physics. The paper begins with an introduction that approaches the question from the viewpoint of ontic structural realism. Section 2 takes the case of the 'multiverse' of spatially homogeneous universes, and analyses the famous Collins-Hawking argument, which purports to show that our own universe is a very special member of this collection. Section 3 considers the multiverse of all solutions to the Einstein field equations, and continues the discussion of whether the notions of special and typical can be defined within such a collection.
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In contemporary philosophy of science there is a long lasting discussion concerning the evolution of physical theories. One analyzes the so-called limiting transitions from new theories to older ones (the correspondence principle). The present author notices that contemporary science has at its disposal a technical tool with the help of which the inverse process can be analyzed, namely a deformation of an older theory to the newer (more general) one. The author briefly presents the mathematical theory of structure deformations and discusses its applications to philosophy of science. For instance, with help of this theory the concepts of commensurability or non-commensurability of physical theories can be precisely defined. The chain of structure deformations is described in changing from classical mechanics to special relativity and then to general relativity, and from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics. Some consequences of this approach for the search of quantum gravity are also outlined. In spite of the great epistemological significance of the theory of structure deformations, the role of human inventiveness in scientific creativity remains irreplaceable.
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The Schrödinger's Cat paradox was proposed in 1935 by Edwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, as an attempt to visualize the macroscopic realization of a quantum superposition state. A cat is placed in a sealed box together with a vial of poison. A two-state particle (e.g. an electron) is sent into a detector in the box resulting either in a broken or an intact vial and a dead or live cat, respectively. The main problem consists in whether the superposition state of a microscopic particle can be transferred upon the macroscopic cat, that is, whether the cat can exist in a superposition state, being simultaneously dead and alive. Since the standard Copenhagen interpretation is unable to assign any reality to the quantum superposition state, the paradox finds no resolution within the regime of this interpretation. Von Neumann's insistence on the uniform treatment of both microscopic (quantum) and macroscopic (classical) objects according to the laws of quantum mechanics provides a more consistent framework for the resolution of the paradox. In particular, the discovery of the phenomenon of decoherence, whereby the disappearance of the quantum interferences at the macro level is accounted for, suggests the onset of an extremely efficient interference relaxation process (10-23 s) upon the interaction of the two state particle with the detector. As a result, Schrodinger's cat can exist macroscopically either as dead or alive and never as a combination of both. Decoherence not only aids the resolution of the Schrodinger's Cat paradox but also sheds light upon the mechanisms by which the macro-world emerges from the microscopic quantum realm.
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Tadeusz Garbowski (1869-1940) was an original thinker, preoccupied with zoology and ethology, and also the philosophy of nature. First, he worked in Vienna where he got his PhD and then (1898) he moved to Cracow and continued his studies at the Jagiellonian University. He developed his epistemological concepts with reference to natural sciences, mainly to evolutionary biology. With his naturalistic evolutionism and evolutionary epistemology he was ahead of concepts of Lorentz and, to some extent, K. R. Popper. Although he did not use the concept of teleonomy, which in our times was popularized by a French researcher F. Jacob, he interpreted spiritual culture created by a man as a kind of adaptation in the evolutionary sense. The concept of homogenis makes the core of Garbowski's epistemology and methodology. Garbowski claimed that the aim of science and philosophy is discovering and expressing the truth. The truth is homogenous and undivided, and experiment at the base of philosophy is also uniform and homogenous. Homogenism is a radical monism with naturalistic background.
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Scientific works of Wladyslaw Natanson (1864-1937) are briefly reviewed, especially his achievements in the theory of irreversible processes and in the statistical theory of radiation. His philosophical and methodological views are also presented.
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Advanced Virgo detector joined advanced LIGO twin detectors on 1st August 2017 in the quest to look for the gravitational waves. The global network of three detectors was operational for 25 days until the LIGO shut down on 25th August 2017. Two gravitational wave events were registered during this period. One of them was the binary black hole merger dubbed as GW170814 and other one is binary neutron star merger referred to as GW170817. Electromagnetic counterpart associated with binary neutron star merger was promptly identified which marks the beginning of multi-messenger astronomy. This article describes these events emphasizing on the crucial role played by the Virgo and focusing on some methodological issues.
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Evropská tradice praví, že matematika povýšila na vědu díky pýthagorejcům, kteří ji vysvobodili ze služebného postavení v obchodě, zeměměřičství, architektuře a řemesle. Přemístili ji do světa nemateriálního, světa viditelného jen naším vnitřním náhledem – teorií. V tomto vyšším světě – „pýthagorejském ráji“ – přebývá matematika dodnes. Poté, co se matematika odpoutala od svých kořenů, tj. od světa jevů, přestala důsledně rozlišovat mezi tím, co bylo součástí kvantitativního popisu jevů tohoto světa a tím, co si matematikové vymyslili navíc, aby ony jevy uspořádali do konzistentního systému, matematického obrazu. Matematika se stala hrou v ideálním světě, i když hrou ne zcela samoúčelnou. Z pragmatických důvodů si ponechávala vazbu na svět reálných jevů, na fyziku, na aplikovanou geometrií i na svět financí.
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It is exceedingly frequent for people to speak of the ‘passing of time’. We do not, on the other hand, speak of the ‘passing of space’. There do not seem to be any common locutions concerning spatial passage analogous to those of time’s assumed passage. Further, there is a long held belief in the philosophy of time that there is no spatial analogue of the passage of time. This opinion does not take into account circumstances that cannot be noticed in day-to-day existence and which indicate that there is such a spatial analogue.
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Building on the idea presented earlier that the gravitational fields outside of basic particles are those particles’ inertia and that acceleration results only from inertial field imbalances, inertialess velocity changes may result when motivation for motion arises from within basic particles. A two particle model of the photon shows how this might work.
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The article analyzes the interpretation of the future, in which the person either does not have a place or is expected by a sad fate. Other past religious interpretations of the future are also being considered. The problem arose only in the culture of the new time, when faith and reason were contrasted and understood as opposing realities, and the universe was interpreted in the spirit of natural sciences, that is, as a physical reality. There were various paradoxes. A vivid example of such paradoxes the author sees in the works of Vadim Kazyutinsky, who studied the concepts of the universe and galaxies. In particular, his research allows us to assert that cosmology by basic parameters should be attributed to a scientific discipline of the humanitarian type, which does not exclude the presence in it of various physical and other natural sciences disciplines. The position of the well-known Russian philosopher Alexey Losev, who points to the boundaries of explanation in the spirit of the natural sciences, is also analyzed. In the second half of the article, alternative scenarios (Vadim Kazyutinsky, Hannah Arendt and the author) are discussed to overcome the pessimistic understanding of the future. For the author it is humanitarian nature of philosophy. For Kazyutinsky, the worldview that the Stoics professed, as well as faith man and humanity. For Hannah Arendt — the clarification of the crisis of our thought and civilization. The conclusion is drawn that the considered vision of reality, characteristic of rationalism and natural sciences, is an alternative, and not one.
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Organon F publikoval viacero statí P. Cmoreja a J. Raclavského na tému holých jednotlivín.1 Mňa budú zaujímať tri z nich: Cmorej (2006), Raclavský (2008a) a Raclavský (2008b). Tieto state totiž priniesli veľmi zlú správu pre zástancov holých jednotlivín a tou je to, že holé jednotliviny nejestvujú. Dôvodom neexistencie je fakt, že každá jednotlivina musí nejaké netriviálne vlastnosti exemplifikovať (vo všetkých možných svetoch), čo je v rozpore s atribútom holosti. Holé jednotliviny podľa P. Cmoreja a J. Raclavského sú len produktom konceptuálneho odlíšenia vlastností od ich nositeľov, samotného nositeľa (holú jednotlivinu) však v ontologickom inventári nenájdeme. To je zhruba jedna zo základných téz spomínanej diskusie o holých jednotlivinách na stránkach tohto časopisu. Jej problém je však v tom, že skutočný zástanca holých jednotlivín si takýto postoj nemôže dovoliť. Nemôže spochybniť objektívnu existenciu toho, čo je v centre jeho teórie, a preto musí prísť s takým návrhom, ktorý posunie holé jednotliviny ontologicky na tú istú úroveň, na akej sú napr. predmety alebo vlastnosti. Je však takýto záväzok realizovateľný, alebo ide len o „metafyzické snění“ (Raclavský 2008a, 169)?
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The paper, as a continuation of the paper Hanzel (2009), provides a methodological generalization of Newton’s method of theory construction as applied in Book I and Book III of his Principia. It reconstructs also the method of measures applied in those books. Finally, it shows how the term “harmonic law” changes its meaning in the Principia.
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The paper presents the analysis of the philosophical roots of cybernetic thinking and its links to the important scientific trends. The programs launched by cybernetics have justified the accents placed on ‘intentionality’, ‘teleological worlds’, ‘worlds of the artificial’. The founder of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener, emphasized what he called ‘human use’ or ‘human dimensions’ of cybernetics and its applications.
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I argue that Plantinga’s Proper Function and Evolutionary arguments fail against liberal naturalism defined in a broad sense as the view that „there aren’t any supernatural beings”. The former argument can be interpreted in at least three ways: deductively, inductively and theistically. None of these, however, is successful. The latter argument suffers from several deficiencies of which two major ones are: (1) The unlikelihood of the reliability of our cognitive faculties, given (liberal) naturalism and (varieties of) evolutionism, is not shown. (2) Agnosticism with respect to the likelihood of our cognitive reliability is insufficient to establish the self-defeating character of naturalistic evolutionism, unless it is also shown that the belief in this reliability lacks an independent warrant. The last condition has been neglected by Plantinga.
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The paper is devoted to the philosophico-methodological analysis of two fundamental theories – the string theory and the loop quantum gravitation. The theories attempt to unify the general theory of relativity and the quantum theory into one consistent theory that would describe, using a single language, universe as a unified dynamic system. The paper interprets the categories of „space“, „time“ and „time-space“. It analyses differing approaches to defining the above categories by the theories as well as contributions they make in developing them. Similarly, it discusses certain theoretico-methodological problems arising for the theories in constructing the new theory.
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There are two rival theories of time: static and dynamic. The Special Theory of Relativity is one of the strongest arguments for static time. However, the defenders of dynamic time claim that their approach is also possible in a relativistic setting. This debate supported the third theory: the hybrid theory of time. The aim of this paper, however, is to argue that the hybrid theory (combining both static and dynamic elements) is against the nature of the Special Theory of Relativity. The argument is motivated by H. Stein’s attempt to separate definite past from indefinite future by timelike and lightlike relations in and on the past pointing light cone. The paper shows that this approach leads to restricted and extremely unintuitive notion of co-presence. This is considered as a serious objection against the animation of static time in a relativistic setting.
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Vo štvrtom čísle časopisu Organon F z r. 2003 publikoval I. Hanzel článok pod názvom Newton, Hegel, Marx a problém miery. V tomto článku na základe textov uvedených autorov rozvíja Hanzel metodologické úvahy, v ktorých popri podnetných myšlienkach vyslovuje a j viaceré problematické dedukcie. Cieľom nasledujúcich poznámok j e upozorniť na niektoré sporné body a naznačiť iný prístup k skúmaným otázkam.
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