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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 13

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A Deterministic Model of Free Will
The issue of whether we make decisions freely has vexed philosophers for millennia, Resolving this is vital for solving a diverse range of problems, from the physiology of how the brain makes…
Tim PalmerApr 1, 2025
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A Contextual Approach to Technological Understanding and Its Assessment
Technological understanding is not a singular concept but varies depending on context. Building on De Jong and De Haro's (2025) notion of technological understanding as the ability to realise an aim…
Eline de Jong, Sebastian De HaroMar 27, 2025
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The Great Rift in Physics
It is commonly remarked that contemporary physics faces a challenge in reconciling quantum theory with Relativity, specifically General Relativity as a theory of gravity. But "challenge" is too mild…
Tim MaudlinMar 25, 2025
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Reframing the Free Will Debate: The Universe is Not Deterministic
Free will discourse is primarily centred around the thesis of determinism. Much of the literature takes determinism as its starting premise, assuming it true for the sake of discussion, and then…
Henry D. Potter, George F. R. Ellis, Kevin J. MitchellMar 25, 2025
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Weak Particle Presence
The concept of presence has been extensively explored in philosophy, yet the notion of particle presence within quantum theory remains under-examined. In this article, we explore particle presence…
Bethany TerrisMar 24, 2025
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Quantization of the electromagnetic field, entropy of an ideal monoatomic gas, and the birth of Bose-Einstein statistics
In 1924, Einstein received a short manuscript in the mail from the Indian physicist S.N. Bose. He quickly translated Bose's manuscript to German and submitted it to Zeitschrift f\"ur Physik. Within a…
Masud MansuripurMar 23, 2025
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The Birth of Quantum Mechanics: A Historical Study Through the Canonical Papers
This paper explores the historical development of the theory of quantum mechanics between 1900 and 1927 by chronological examination of the foundational papers and ideas. Beginning with Planck's…
Eren Volkan KüçükMar 17, 2025
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The rise of stochasticity in physics
In the last 175 years, the physical understanding of nature has seen a revolutionary change. Until about 1850, Newton's theory and the mechanical world view derived from it provided the dominant view…
Hans A. WeidenmüllerMar 17, 2025
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A quantitative analysis of Galilei's observations of Jupiter satellites from the Sidereus Nuncius
We present a new careful and comprehensive analysis the observations of the satellites of Jupiter from the Sidereus Nuncius that extends and complements previous similar studies. Each observation is…
Andrea LonghinMar 16, 2025
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Translation of Valentine Bargmann, "Remarks on the general relativistic formulation of quantum theory" (1932)
English translation of "Bemerkungen zur allgemein-relativistischen Fassung der Quantentheorie", originally published in Sitzber. kgl.-preu. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Sitzung der phys.-math.…
A. E. S. HartmannMar 16, 2025
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Why the Brain Cannot Be a Digital Computer: History-Dependence and the Computational Limits of Consciousness
This paper presents a novel information-theoretic proof demonstrating that the human brain as currently understood cannot function as a classical digital computer. Through systematic quantification…
Andrew KnightMar 13, 2025
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Spacetime events from the inside out
We argue that special and general theories of relativity implicitly assume spacetime events correspond to quantum measurement outcomes. This leads to a change in how one should view the equivalence…
G. J. MilburnMar 10, 2025
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The history of the Arcetri Physics Institute from the 1920s to the end of the 1960s
The history of the Arcetri Institute of Physics at the University of Florence is analyzed from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1960s. Thanks to the arrival of Garbasso in 1913, not only did…
Daniele DominiciMar 10, 2025
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Do animals share space? An explanation to Zeno's paradox (of motion)
In this paper, a solution to Zeno's paradox of motion was offered and a possible, based on observations and empirical viewpoint, interpretation. A gedanken experiment was proposed in accordance to…
Manuel A. B. Bache, Jorge Hernandez-ContrerasMar 8, 2025
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Deterministic Theories
Determinism is (roughly) the thesis that the past determines the future. But efforts to define it precisely have exposed deep methodological disagreements. Standard possible-worlds formulations of…
Hans Halvorson, JB Manchak, James Owen WeatherallMar 7, 2025
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Determinism and Asymmetry in General Relativity
This paper concerns the question of which collections of general relativistic spacetimes are deterministic relative to which definitions. We begin by considering a series of three definitions of…
JB Manchak, Thomas Barrett, Hans Halvorson et al.Mar 7, 2025
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Physical, Empirical, and Conditional Inductive Possibility
I argue that John Norton's notions of empirical, hypothetical, and counterfactual possibility can be successfully used to analyze counterintuitive examples of physical possibility and align better…
Balazs GyenisMar 6, 2025
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A Tribute to Alexander Andrianov: A Life for Physics
Alexander Andreevich Andrianov was a remarkable personality in Russian physics during the last decades. A member of th prestigious school of theoretical physics in Saint Petersburg, he made relevant…
Domenec EspriuMar 5, 2025
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Technological Understanding: On the cognitive skill involved in the design and use of technological artefacts
Although several accounts of scientific understanding exist, the concept of understanding in relation to technology remains underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a philosophical…
Eline de Jong, Sebastian De HaroMar 3, 2025
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Einleitung [Introduction]
Hilary Putnam's biography and philosophical development reflect the history of Anglo-Saxon philosophy over the last 40 years. Putnam has influenced this history significantly for almost as long. In…
Vincent C. MüllerFeb 28, 2025
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The Simply Uninformed Thermodynamics of Erasure
1. Strong and weak notions of erasure are distinguished according to whether the single erasure procedure does or does not leave the environment in the same state independently of the pre-erasure…
John D. NortonFeb 24, 2025
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The life cycle of scientific principles -- a template for characterizing physical principles
Scientific principles can undergo various developments. While philosophers of science have acknowledged that such changes occur, there is no systematic account of the development of scientific…
Radin Dardashti, Enno Fischer, Robert HarlanderFeb 20, 2025
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Hyperdeterminism? Spacetime 'Analyzed'
When modelling spacetime and classical physical fields, one typically assumes smoothness (infinite differentiability). But this assumption and its philosophical implications have not been…
Lu Chen, Tobias FritzFeb 16, 2025
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Steven Weinberg: A Scientific Life
Steven Weinberg was a giant of late 20th Century physics on whose shoulders we stand while groping for the science of the 21st Century. This article provides a too-brief summary of a selection of his…
C. P. Burgess, F. QuevedoFeb 16, 2025
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How Theory-laden are Observations of Black Holes?
We evaluate the roles general relativistic assumptions play in simulations used in recent observations of black holes including LIGO-Virgo and the Event Horizon Telescope. In both experiments…
Juliusz Doboszewski, Jamee ElderFeb 14, 2025
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