多元世界的构造——论纳尔逊·古德曼的非实在论

通过整合新康德主义、新实用主义和建构主义的理论思想,古德曼的非实在论试图超越实在论与反实在论。非实在论根据科学创造与艺术创造的实践经验,揭示了世界的多重构造方式,从而有力地挑战了表象主义的形而上学实在论,推进了多元文化的发展,并为科学与人文的交融开辟出了一条新的道路。     

科学与技术的文化主导权之争及其终结——科学、技术与技科学

20世纪80年代前,人们的共识是:科学在人类文化中占据着主导地位,从而也主导着技术,其哲学基础是科学实在论。20世纪80年代,随着社会建构论的出现,技术逐渐取代科学,占据主导地位。从认识论的角度来看,这种主导权之争实际上是基于不会有答案的实在论与建构论之争。从科学实践的角度,基于辩证的新本体论的技科学,则会消解这种无果之争。     

Quantum Nonlocality and the Challenge to Scientific Realism

In this essay I examine various aspects of the nearcentury-long debate concerning the conceptualfoundations of quantum mechanics and the problems ithas posed for physicists and philosophers fromEinstein to the present. Most crucial here is theissue of realism and the question whether quantumtheory is compatible with any kind of realist orcausal-explanatory account which goes beyond theempirical-predictive data. This was Einstein's chiefconcern in the famous series of exchanges with NielsBohr when he refused to accept the truth orcompleteness of a doctrine (orthodox QM) which ruledsuch questions to be strictly inadmissible. I discussthe later history of quantum-theoretical debate withparticular reference to the issue of nonlocality,i.e., the phenomenon of superluminal(faster-than-light) interaction betweenwidely-separated particles. Then I show how thestandard `Copenhagen' interpretation of QM hasinfluenced current anti-realist orontological-relativist approaches to philosophy ofscience. Indeed, there are clear signs that somephilosophers have retreated from a realist positionvery largely in response to just these problems. So itis important to ask exactly why – on what scientificor philosophical grounds – any preferred alternative(causal-realist) construal should have been ruled outas a matter of orthodox QM wisdom. Moreconstructively, my paper presents various arguments infavour of one such alternative, the `hidden-variables'theory developed since the early 1950s by David Bohmand consistently marginalised by proponents of theCopenhagen doctrine.     

Living in Conceivable Worlds

Certain cognitive and philosophical aspects of the concept of conceivability with intended or established diversion from (putative) reality are discussed. The “coherence gap problem” arises when certain fragments of the real world are replaced with imaginary situations while most details are (intentionally or not) ignored. Another issue, “the spectator problem”, concerns the participation of the conceiver himself in the world conceived. Three different examples of conceivability are used to illustrate our points, namely thought experiments in physics, a hypothetical world devoid of consciousness (zombie world), and virtual reality. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Displacing Epistemology: Being in the Midst of Technoscientific Practice

Interest the Erklären?CVerstehen debate is usually interpreted as primarily epistemological. By raising the possibility that there are fundamentally different methods for fundamentally different types of science, the debate puts into play all the standard issues??that is, issues concerning scientific explanation and justification, the unity and diversity of scientific disciplines, the reality of their subject matter, the accessibility of various subject matters to research, and so on. In this paper, however, I do not focus on any of these specific issues. I start instead from the fact that the very existence of the debate itself is an issue; in fact, it poses a philosophical problem that almost everyone but the hardest line logical empiricists has come to realize cannot be resolved epistemologically. In my view, however, that it cannot be resolved ontologically, either. I think the problem is at bottom hermeneutical, and its resolution requires that we focus first, not on the objects of science or the methods of studying them, but on the character of the philosophical orientation assumed by those who would try to resolve it. In this paper, I explain why I think this is so by analyzing (1) Dilthey??s contribution to the original debate, (2) Husserl??s reaction to Dilthey, and (3) Heidegger??s critical evaluation of both. This line of philosophical development??this movement of self-understanding from critiques of objectivism to hermeneutical phenomenology??is of course already a central feature of much work in continental philosophy of science. In my conclusion, however, I argue for the less well-established??even if apparently approved??idea that it ought to be a central feature of technoscience studies as well.     

让历史重返自然——当代STS的本体论研究

从逻辑经验主义到社会建构的发展中,自然的历史性始终未能进入研究者的视野。认识论的鸡之争使拉图尔提出了广义对称性原则,这一原则使自然的历史性以一种全新的面貌再现,使STS走向了新自然辩证法的本体论研究,这种本体论表明客体之所以能成为科学的,是因为它是在辩证的实践过程中生成的;客观性与真理等一系列认识论范畴也不是对预先存在对象的表象性反映,也是在历史与时间进程中生成的东西;科学是一个人与物、自然与社会共同进化的过程。     

数学实在论的奎因-普特南不可或缺性论证及其影响

奎因、普特南等人以数学在自然科学的不可或缺性应用为基础,为数学实在论提出了一种新的辩护。他们的辩护引发了数学实在论与唯名论对此问题的争论,由此产生了许多有价值的成果,并暴露出许多深层次的哲学问题,这对数学与科学的关系的探讨有重要的意义。     

The Self-Organization of Time and Causality: Steps Towards Understanding the Ultimate Origin

Possibly the most fundamental scientific problem is the origin of time and causality. The inherent difficulty is that all scientific theories of origins and evolution consider the existence of time and causality as given. We tackle this problem by starting from the concept of self-organization, which is seen as the spontaneous emergence of order out of primordial chaos. Self-organization can be explained by the selective retention of invariant or consistent variations, implying a breaking of the initial symmetry exhibited by randomness. In the case of time, we start from a random graph connecting primitive “events”. Selection on the basis of consistency eliminates cyclic parts of the graph, so that transitive closure can transform it into a partial order relation of precedence. Causality is assumed to be carried by causal “agents” which undergo a more traditional variation and selection, giving rise to causal laws that are partly contingent, partly necessary.     

Emergence,Evolution, and the Geometry of Logic: Causal Leaps and the Myth of Historical Development

After sketching the historical development of “emergence” and noting several recent problems relating to “emergent properties”, this essay proposes that properties may be either “emergent” or “mergent” and either “intrinsic” or “extrinsic”. These two distinctions define four basic types of change: stagnation, permanence, flux, and evolution. To illustrate how emergence can operate in a purely logical system, the Geometry of Logic is introduced. This new method of analyzing conceptual systems involves the mapping of logical relations onto geometrical figures, following either an analytic or a synthetic pattern (or both together). Evolution is portrayed as a form of discontinuous change characterized by emergent properties that take on an intrinsic quality with respect to the object(s) or proposition(s) involved. Causal leaps, not continuous development, characterize the evolution of human life in a developing foetus, of a thought out of certain brain states, of a new idea (or insight) out of ordinary thoughts, and of a great person out of a set of historical experiences. The tendency to assume that understanding evolutionary change requires a step-by-step explanation of the historical development that led to the appearance of a certain emergent property is thereby discredited.     

Fine-Tuning, Quantum Mechanics and Cosmological Artificial Selection

Jan Greben criticized fine-tuning by taking seriously the idea that “nature is quantum mechanical”. I argue that this quantum view is limited, and that fine-tuning is real, in the sense that our current physical models require fine-tuning. Second, I examine and clarify many difficult and fundamental issues raised by Rüdiger Vaas’ comments on Cosmological Artificial Selection.     

“反身性”难题消解与科学知识社会学的未来走向

反身性是科学知识社会学所标榜的原则之一,但反身性的自我拒斥特性却使得科学知识社会学陷于反身性困境。原因何在?其源盖出于科学知识社会学的反身性之痛实际上是社会科学的科学化之痒——它仍然是沿用了传统科学观的一些先验预设(如实在、基础、恒在等)。而一些SSK学者在反思反身性难题、打破这些先验预设时(如马尔凯的新文体形式),却反向性地陷入了反身性的单向解构路径,从而走向虚无主义。要想彻底破解科学知识社会学反身性困境,为当下知识的合法性提供认识论基础,乃至使整个社会科学走出反身性怪圈,关键在于对反身性概念进行元反思,充分发掘其所蕴含的建设性意蕴。     

科学哲学的"新时代"——后现代科学哲学及其理论要旨

本文论述了后现代科学哲学产生的理论背景和理论要旨，从而表明，语境论既避免了严格的科学主义和形式主义同时也避免了相对主义，因此这是“后实在论时代的重要的哲学形态”，为科学哲学的重构提供了基本的方法论基底。     

Embodied Anomaly Resolution in Molecular Genetics: A Case Study of RNAi

Scientific anomalies are observations and facts that contradict current scientific theories and they are instrumental in scientific theory change. Philosophers of science have approached scientific theory change from different perspectives as Darden (Theory change in science: Strategies from Mendelian genetics, 1991) observes: Lakatos (In: Lakatos, Musgrave (eds) Criticism and the growth of knowledge, 1970) approaches it as a progressive “research programmes” consisting of incremental improvements (“monster barring” in Lakatos, Proofs and refutations: The logic of mathematical discovery, 1976), Kuhn (The structure of scientific revolutions, 1996) observes that changes in “paradigms” are instigated by a crisis from some anomaly, and Hanson (In: Feigl, Maxwell (eds) Current issues in the philosophy of science, 1961) proposes that discovery does not begin with hypothesis but with some “problematic phenomena requiring explanation”. Even though anomalies are important in all of these approaches to scientific theory change, there have been only few investigations into the specific role anomalies play in scientific theory change. Furthermore, much of these approaches focus on the theories themselves and not on how the scientists and their experiments bring about scientific change (Gooding, Experiment and the making of meaning: Human agency in scientific observation and experiment, 1990). To address these issues, this paper approaches scientific anomaly resolution from a meaning construction point of view. Conceptual integration theory (Fauconnier and Turner, Cogn Sci 22:133–187, 1996; The way we think: Conceptual blending and mind’s hidden complexities, 2002) from cognitive linguistics describes how one constructs meaning from various stimuli, such as text and diagrams, through conceptual integration or blending. The conceptual integration networks that describe the conceptual integration process characterize cognition that occurs unconsciously during meaning construction. These same networks are used to describe some of the cognition while resolving an anomaly in molecular genetics called RNA interference (RNAi) in a case study. The RNAi case study is a cognitive-historical reconstruction (Nersessian, In: Giere (ed) Cognitive models of science, 1992) that reconstructs how the RNAi anomaly was resolved. This reconstruction traces four relevant molecular genetics publications in describing the cognition necessary in accounting for how RNAi was resolved through strategies (Darden 1991), abductive reasoning (Peirce, In: Hartshorne, Weiss (eds) Collected papers, 1958), and experimental reasoning (Gooding 1990). The results of the case study show that experiments play a crucial role in formulating an explanation of the RNAi anomaly and the integration networks describe the experiments’ role. Furthermore, these results suggest that RNAi anomaly resolution is embodied. It is embodied in a sense that cognition described in the cognitive-historical reconstruction is experientially based.

A latent class vector model for preference ratings

A latent class formulation of the well-known vector model for preference data is presented. Assuming preference ratings as input data, the model simultaneously clusters the subjects into a small number of homogeneous groups (or latent classes) and constructs a joint geometric representation of the choice objects and the latent classes according to a vector model. The distributional assumptions on which the latent class approach is based are analogous to the distributional assumptions that are consistent with the common practice of fitting the vector model to preference data by least squares methods. An EM algorithm for fitting the latent class vector model is described as well as a procedure for selecting the appropriate number of classes and the appropriate number of dimensions. Some illustrative applications of the latent class vector model are presented and some possible extensions are discussed. Geert De Soete is supported as “Bevoegdverklaard Navorser” of the Belgian “Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek.”     

The Arrow of Time and Meaning

All the attempts to find the justification of the privileged evolution of phenomena exclusively in the external world need to refer to the inescapable fact that we are living in such an asymmetric universe. This leads us to look for the origin of the “arrow of time” in the relationship between the subject and the world. The anthropic argument shows that the arrow of time is the condition of the possibility of emergence and maintenance of life in the universe. Moreover, according to Bohr’s, Poincaré’s and Watanabe’s analysis, this agreement between the earlier-later direction of entropy increase and the past-future direction of life is the very condition of the possibility for meaningful action, representation and creation. Beyond this relationship of logical necessity between the meaning process and the arrow of time the question of their possible physical connection is explored. To answer affirmatively to this question, the meaning process is modelled as an evolving tree-like structure, called “Semantic Time”, where thermodynamic irreversibility can be shown. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river ; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger ; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. – (Jorge Luis Borges)     

国内科学文化研究与欧美后SSK“科学的文化研究”之比较

国内的科学文化研究是在不改变科学的客观性、真理性和表象论的前提下,把科学作为一种文化现象和文化过程来研究,可划归为大众理解科学的科学传播视域。欧美后SSK的科学的文化研究是SSK从科学的社会研究扩展到科学实践的文化研究,是从科学知识的社会建构论转向科学实践的文化建构论,是对科学客观性和表象论的进一步背离和消解,强化和放大了各种异质性文化因素对制造科学的作用;背离了科学家的真实立场和科学的核心问题,成了反科学的帮凶,不会结出真正的果实。二者在研究内容、方法、理念和科学观上是根本不同的,他们都有自己亟需解决的问题。     

The Issue of “Closure” in Jagers op Akkerhuis’s Operator Theory

Attempts to define life should focus on the transition from molecules to cells and the “closure” aspects of this event. Rather than classifying existing objects into living and non-living entities I believe the challenge is to understand how the transition from non-life to life can take place, that is, the how the closure in Jagers op Akkerhuis’s hierarchical classification of operators, comes about.     

Generalized measures of association for ranked data with an application to prediction accuracy

A common practice in cross validation research in the behavioral sciences is to employ either the product moment correlation or a simple tabulation of first-choice “hits” for measuring the accuracy with which various preference models predict subjects’ responses to a holdout sample of choice objects. We propose a nonparametric approach for summarizing the accuracy of predicted rankings across a set of holdout-sample options. The methods that we develop contain a novel way to deal with ties and an approach to the different weighting of rank positions.     

Quantum Mechanics and Realism

Quantum mechanics is usually presented as a challenge to scientific realism, but I will argue that the details of quantum mechanics actually support realism. I will first present some basic quantum mechanical concepts and results, including the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) experiment and Bell's theorem, and do it in a way that everyone can understand. I will then use the physics to inform the philosophy, showing that quantum mechanics provides evidence to support epistemological realism.