伽利略比萨斜塔实验的真伪争论史

维维亚尼及其追随者塑造了比萨实验的公众形象：(1)当众演示;(2)里程碑;(3)与落体定律相关;(4)同时落地。沃尔威尔与法瓦罗之间的争论拉开了比萨实验真伪之争的序幕,以库珀、柯瓦雷为代表的“伪派”与以塞特尔、卡梅洛塔为代表的“真派”先后占据上风。通过考察这场真伪之争,结论如下：伽利略很可能在一座高塔上做过类似的实验,但它是探索性实验,与落体定律无关,没有出现同时落地,对科学史也没有重要影响;在这个意义上,比萨实验的公众形象的确是一个神话;但从科学传播学的角度看,比萨实验对今天的读者仍然有意义。     

伽利略与罗马教会

1633年罗马宗教法庭对伽利略的审判,是历史上科学与宗教冲突最为激烈的事件之一。它的发生有其复杂的社会文化背景,并对西方后来的科学文化与宗教思想产生了持续而深刻的影响。本文在分析了《对话》的审查和获准出版的过程的基础上,结合教皇乌尔班八世的政治处境和伽利略的对手们的反应,来揭示伽利略受审的原因,并通过分析一波三折的审讯过程来揭示教会内部在伽利略案件上的分歧,加深对这一案件本质的理解和认识。     

胡塞尔对伽利略科学合理性思想的批判

在<欧洲科学的危机与超越论的现象学>著作中,胡塞尔非常具体地考察了伽利略通过将几何学引入物理学而建构近代科学合理性的思维历程,并从超越论的现象学立场对其进行了深刻的批判.     

伽利略的原子论思想——近代科学革命的形而上学基础

伽利略通过消解亚里士多德物理学中不同质的对立进而从物理学的数学分析中达到他的原子论思想。伽利略的原子论消除了天上与地上物质性的差异,使天文学上的物理陈述与数学陈述达成一致,为哥白尼天文学革命的实现提供了形而上学基础,同时,也为以数学和实验方法为特征的近代科学奠定了认识论与方法论基础。     

伽利略与科学自由的边界探析--兼论科技干预的合理性问题

自伽利略受审等科学悲剧发生以后,科学自由就一直被视为科学家们的天赋权利,可是,社会发展的现实却告诉我们,科学自由不能够是无边界的、绝对的,而应该是有边界的、相对的.换句话说,社会应该在必要的条件下进行干预.为此,本文剖析了科学自由的内涵及其边界条件,探讨了科技干预的合理性问题.     

伽利略-牛顿风格与生成语法研究

伽利略-牛顿风格是近代以来科学研究所遵循的科学思想方式。根据其主张，科学研究的目的在于理论构建，事实材料的采用主要服务于此；科学理论的构建不基于常识也不服务于常识，需要以科学的思想方式就理论本身给予认识和理解。当代生成语法是在伽利略-牛顿风格指导下，以构建语言学理论为目的的自然科学研究。     

论对悖论性思想实验逻辑重构的问题及其消解策略——以伽利略的自由落体实验为例

悖论性思想实验通过导出两难问题,致使科学理论发生革命性的变化,推动理论发生质的飞跃。伽利略的著名的自由落体思想实验便是悖论的典型。诺顿主张思想实验就是论据,他通过引入一个虚假的前提,以自由落体思想实验为例,将思想实验重构为一个论据,而布朗则坚持一种柏拉图式的思想实验的说明。事实上,无论是诺顿的论据观,还是布朗的柏拉图式的感知,他们对思想实验所作的说明都是存在问题的。协调论认为,伽利略的悖论性思想实验产生结论的相互矛盾的两个方面为一对相反解子,相反解子的提出,可有效地从逻辑上为伽利略的最终正确结论的得出找到合法的依据,与伽利略结论的得出方式完全相符。     

约瑟夫.亨利的哲学思想与科学观

本文介绍了美国19世纪物理学家约瑟夫·亨利对科学研究活动本身、科学和宗教的关系、科学的社会作用、科学和技术的关系以及科学研究和社会发展之间关系的许多独到见解,特别是关于“抽象研究”与“实用研究”关系的一系列论述。他的一些观点是当今流行的“研究”与“发展”关系理论的重要源泉。     

直觉与论证新探——来自实验哲学的启示

实验哲学学者认为,直觉的多样性和敏感性对“把直觉作为证据”的传统哲学方法论构成了严重威胁。传统方法论捍卫者则指出,哲学研究同时依赖于直觉和论证,而论证能够为最终哲学判断的可靠性提供保证。最近一项实证研究发现,论证并不像后者所预期的那样能够对直觉产生影响。不过该实验在材料的选取和被试数据的收集上存在着两个明显不足。在改进了这两处不足的基础上进行的实证研究表明,论证是能够对哲学判断产生影响的,但论证发挥作用要以一定程度的哲学训练为前提。该结果为传统哲学方法论提供了新的辩护角度,也为哲学专家技能的讨论带来了新的思路。     

“运动方向”的普遍化——从亚里士多德主义到伽利略和笛卡尔的运动学

大小与方向是衡量运动的两个基本要素,传统科学史研究多关注运动大小,而忽视运动方向观念的演变。在近代早期的运动学中,运动方向经历了普遍化过程,其中贡献最大的是伽利略与笛卡尔。若以水平方向与竖直方向为线索,可发现：运动方向在亚里士多德主义物理学中是特殊的,竖直方向对应着月下区诸单纯物质的自然运动,水平运动未被关注;伽利略开始了运动学的数学化,但水平方向与竖直方向仍具有特殊性,分别与匀速直线运动和匀加速下落运动绑定在一起;笛卡尔的抽象运动学真正实现了运动方向的普遍化,他还以抽象运动学解释了现实运动的竖直与水平方向。至此,运动学中,运动方向的普遍化完成。     

对称性破缺与宇宙设计

寻求内在的对称与和谐是宇宙设计的最基本原则,但对称性破缺,作为宇宙设计的辅助原则,则是隐含对称性的间接表现形式。粒子物理的希格斯机制表明,“自发破缺”也可能为规范对称性理论贡献力量。     

Informational Branching Universe

This paper suggests an epistemic interpretation of Belnap’s branching space-times theory based on Everett’s relative state formulation of the measurement operation in quantum mechanics. The informational branching models of the universe are evolving structures defined from a partial ordering relation on the set of memory states of the impersonal observer. The totally ordered set of their information contents defines a linear “time” scale to which the decoherent alternative histories of the informational universe can be referred—which is quite necessary for assigning them a probability distribution. The “historical” state of a physical system is represented in an appropriate extended Hilbert space and an algebra of multi-branch operators is developed. An age operator computes the informational depth of historical states and its standard deviation can be used to provide a universal information/energy uncertainty relation. An information operator computes the encoding complexity of historical states, the rate of change of its average value accounting for the process of correlation destruction inherent to the branching dynamics. In the informational branching models of the universe, the asymmetry of phenomena in nature appears as a mere consequence of the subject’s activity of measuring, which defines the flow of time-information.     

哲学逻辑与逻辑哲学

本文对哲学逻辑与逻辑哲学这两门新兴学科进行了较为详细的介绍与讨论，作者认为：（1）尽管“哲学逻辑”在英美哲学界与逻辑界具有不同的涵义，但我们宜在比较规范和合乎词义习惯的意义上使用“哲学逻辑”一词-用“哲学逻辑”指称不同于经典逻辑或标准逻辑的诸现代逻辑分支。（2）关于逻辑哲学，可以定义为研究逻辑特别是现代逻辑及其发展中的哲学问题的学科，这是一门介于元逻辑与语言哲学之间的学科。     

Development (and Evolution) of the Universe

I distinguish Nature from the World. I also distinguish development from evolution. Development is progressive change and can be modeled as part of Nature, using a specification hierarchy. I have proposed a ‘canonical developmental trajectory’ of dissipative structures with the stages defined thermodynamically and informationally. I consider some thermodynamic aspects of the Big Bang, leading to a proposal for reviving final cause. This model imposes a ‘hylozooic’ kind of interpretation upon Nature, as all emergent features at higher levels would have been vaguely and episodically present primitively in the lower integrative levels, and were stabilized materially with the developmental emergence of new levels. The specification hierarchy’s form is that of a tree, with its trunk in its lowest level, and so this hierarchy is appropriate for modeling an expanding system like the Universe. It is consistent with this model of differentiation during Big Bang development to view emerging branch tips as having been entrained by multiple finalities because of the top-down integration of the various levels of organization by the higher levels.     

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.     

Quantum Mechanics and Computation

In quantum computation non classical features such as superposition states and entanglement are used to solve problems in new ways, impossible on classical digital computers.We illustrate by Deutsch algorithm how a quantum computer can use superposition states to outperform any classical computer. We comment on the view of a quantum computer as a massive parallel computer and recall Amdahls law for a classical parallel computer. We argue that the view on quantum computation as a massive parallel computation disregards the presence of entanglement in a general quantum computation and the non classical way in which parallel results are combined to obtain the final output.     

霍金的宇宙哲学

著名物理学家霍金以他那乐观而的精神活跃在宇宙学的最前沿，他的宇宙哲学思想十分丰富，本文剖析了霍金的无边界宇宙思想和虚时间概念，介绍了他对违背因果律的时间机器的有力而幽默的批评和他的时序保护猜想，评述了他的时间箭头、概率论、实证论、宇宙终极理论等哲学思想。     

本体论与逻辑

本体论就是就是关于“存在”的科学,它研究何物存在以及以什么方式存在等问题,在本体论的争论中,以传统的唯名论与实在论之分为基础,莱涅夫斯基进一步将其分为具体主义、单范畴的柏拉图主义与多范畴的柏拉图主义三种类型。传统逻辑与现代逻辑由于其各自不同的特点,它们与本体论的联系是不同的：如果说,传统逻辑与事实本体论在内容上时有混杂、联系密切的话,现代逻辑则通过形式化方法,远离了事实本体论。     

Absence of Contingency in the Newtonian Universe

I argue that, contrary to thestandard view, the Newtonian universe containsno contingency. I do this by arguing (i) thatno contingency is introduced into the Newtonianuniverse by the initial conditions of physicalsystems in the universe, and (ii) that theclaim that the Newtonian universe as a wholehas contingent properties leads to incoherence.This result suggests that Newtonian physics iseither inconsistent or incomplete, since thelaws of Newtonian physics are too weak todetermine all the properties of the Newtonianuniverse uniquely.     

Quantum Mechanics and Operational Probability Theory

We discuss a generalization of the standard notion of probability space and show that the emerging framework, to be called operational probability theory, can be considered as underlying quantal theories. The proposed framework makes special reference to the convex structure of states and to a family of observables which is wider than the familiar set of random variables: it appears as an alternative to the known algebraic approach to quantum probability.