Natural history and the formation of the human being: Kant on active forces

In his 1785-review of the Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit, Kant objects to Herder's conception of nature as being imbued with active forces. This attack is usually evaluated against the background of Kant's critical project and his epistemological concern to caution against the “metaphysical excess” of attributing immanent properties to matter. In this paper I explore a slightly different reading by investigating Kant's pre-critical account of creation and generation. The aim of this is to show that Kant's struggle with the forces of matter has a long history and revolves around one central problem: that of how to distinguish between the non-purposive forces of nature and the intentional powers of the mind. Given this history, the epistemic stricture that Kant's critical project imposes on him no longer appears to be the primary reason for his attack on Herder. It merely aggravates a problem that Kant has been battling with since his earliest writings.     

Interpreting cosmic no hair theorems: Is fatalism about the far future of expanding cosmological models unavoidable?

It may be tempting to interpret cosmic no hair theorems (establishing that, under certain conditions, a cosmological model with accelerating expansion approaches de Sitter metric in the future) as implying a form of fatalism about a future state of the universe. In this note I explore (rather general) philosophical and (more concrete) physical reasons to resist such temptation. There are good reasons to think that (even locally) futures of expanding cosmological models may be unlike de Sitter.     

宇宙学与战略"大思维"

宇宙学在近当代获得了长足发展,而这一发展正是孕育于强大而极富创造性的思维母体。从一般系统理论的角度来说,公司或政府机构等大型商业或政治组织的领导人可以利用宇宙学及其思维方法,进行战略性“大思维”,从而做出正确的决策。在本文中,作者不仅对宇宙学的具体理论和原则进行了归纳总结,而且还提出具体实例,以为这些领导人运用宇宙学进行战略高度的“大思维”提供佐证,从而进一步证明,“大思维”对于在复杂的现代组织中取得成功具有重要意义。     

γ暴计数的宇宙学含义

研究１９９６年公布的ＣＧＲＯ（Ｃｏｍｐｔｏｎ Ｇａｍｍａ－Ｒａｙ Ｏｂｓｅｒｖａｔｏｒｙ）卫星中ＢＡＴＳＥ（Ｂｕｒｓｔｓ ａｎｄ Ｔｒａｎｓｉｅｎｔ Ｓｏｕｒｃｅ Ｘｘｐｅｒｉｍｅｎｔ）探测器记录的１０００多个γ暴数据。改进了过去Ｍｅｅｇａｎ（１５３个暴）和Ｆｉｓｈｍａｎ（２６０个暴）对γ暴计数的研究，进一步支持γ暴处于宇宙学距离的观点。     

物质空间层次宇宙模型

新的科学方法是产生新思想、新理论的源泉．康德在1755年、拉普拉斯在1796年就预言了在1923年才由哈勃证实的河外星系的存在．如果将康德、拉普拉斯思考问题所使用的方法进行归纳,就可得到一种新的科学研究方法,将这种方法应用于新宇宙模型的建构,结合笛卡尔的物质空间思想,可得到一种新的宇宙模型——“物质空间层次宇宙模型”,文中提出了验证该模型的实验观测方法．在新宇宙模型中,美国普林斯顿大学的保罗·斯坦哈特与英国剑桥大学的尼尔·图罗克提出的循环宇宙,成为一个自然的结果．     

总星系局爆宇宙理论

大爆炸宇宙理论是一个非常成功的宇宙理论,它在经过古斯等人提出的暴涨理论修正后日趋完善。但即使这样也还存在几个难题无法解决：（1）欧洲普朗克望远镜揭示的宇宙背景辐射的不对称性;（2）宇宙中所有物质来源于大爆炸没有实验依据;（3）存在暴涨中宇宙膨胀的超光速问题。为了解释上述难题,本文提出了一种建立在大爆炸宇宙理论基础上的多宇宙模型：总星系局爆宇宙模型。该模型可以很好地解决上述难题,文中提出了检验理论模型新的实验方法,通过实验可以最终确认真实的宇宙到底更符合哪个模型。、     

弦宇宙中的相变动力学模型

研究了弦宇宙中的相变动力学模型,分析了极早期宇宙中的超弦相变和QCD相变．另外,计算了标度因子的膨胀比和弦耦合常数的变化比．     

Leibniz and the post-Copernican universe. Koyré revisited

This paper employs the revised conception of Leibniz emerging from recent research to reassess critically the ‘radical spiritual revolution’ which, according to Alexandre Koyré’s landmark book, From the closed world to the infinite universe (1957) was precipitated in the seventeenth century by the revolutions in physics, astronomy, and cosmology. While conceding that the cosmological revolution necessitated a reassessment of the place of value-concepts within cosmology, it argues that this reassessment did not entail a spiritual revolution of the kind assumed by Koyré, in which ‘value-concepts, such as perfection, harmony, meaning and aim’ were shed from the conception of the structure of the universe altogether. On the contrary, thanks to his pioneering intuition of the distinction between physical and metaphysical levels of explanation, Leibniz saw with great clarity that a scientific explanation of the universe which rejected the ‘closed world’ typical of Aristotelian cosmology did not necessarily require the abandonment of key metaphysical doctrines underlying the Aristotelian conception of the universe. Indeed the canon of value-concepts mentioned by Koyré—meaning, aim, perfection and harmony—reads like a list of the most important concepts underlying the Leibnizian conception of the metaphysical structure of the universe. Moreover, Leibniz’s universe, far from being a universe without God—because, as Clarke insinuated, it does not need intervention from God—is a universe which in its deepest ontological fabric is interwoven with the presence of God.     

在推广的Einstein理论中暴胀的初始条件

本文得到了有两个标量场的宇宙模型的宇宙波函数,其中一个标量场是标准的暴胀场,它的势与另一个标量场有指数耦合。如果把标度因子a看作时间变量,则可得到成功的暴胀所需的标量场的初值。如果把标量场X看作时间变量,则可得到宇宙的最可机变径为Planck长度,这说明宇宙是量子力学稳定的.     

解读宇宙的起源——2006年诺贝尔物理学奖简介

2006年度诺贝尔物理奖授予了在宇宙学研究领域取得杰出成果的美国科学家约翰·马瑟和乔治·斯穆特。他们发现的宇宙微波背景辐射的黑体谱和各向异性强烈地支持了大爆炸宇宙学模型并开启了“精确宇宙学”时代的大门。COBE之后宇宙学研究取得了一系列重大的进展。近年WMAP、SDSS等天文观测更加坚实有力的支持了大爆炸宇宙学模型,并对物理学提出了一些重大的、尖锐的挑战,诸如什么是暗物质?暗能量的物理本质是什么?