Philosophy of Science Commons^™

A Study Of Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions Of Nature Of Science And Their Beliefs About The Developmental Appropriateness And Importance Of Nature Of Science Throughout A Professional Development Program, Elif Adibelli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This qualitative study aimed to explore the changes in elementary science teachers’ conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and their beliefs about the developmental appropriateness and importance of NOS after participating in an academic, year-long professional development program (PDP) as well as the factors facilitating these changes. The PDP consisted of two phases. In the first phase, the participants received NOS training designed with an explicit-reflective instructional approach. In the second phase, the participants implemented several NOS training activities in their classrooms. Four elementary science teachers who volunteered and completed all components of the PDP (i.e., the NOS training and …

Transdisciplinarity: A Review Of Its Origins, Development, And Current Issues, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Transdisciplinarity originated in a critique of the standard configuration of knowledge in disciplines in the curriculum, including moral and ethical concerns. Pronouncements about it were first voiced between the climax of government-supported science and higher education and the long retrenchment that began in the 1970s. Early work focused on questions of epistemology and the planning of future universities and educational programs. After a lull, transdisciplinarity re-emerged in the 1990s as an urgent issue relating to the solution of new, highly complex, global concerns, beginning with climate change and sustainability and extending into many areas concerning science, technology, social problems and …

Backwards Explanation And Unification, Richard Fry

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

It is an open question whether we ever successfully explain earlier states by appealing to later ones, and, further, whether this is even possible. Typically, these two questions are answered in the same way: if we give and accept ‘backwards explana- tions,’ they must be possible; if they are impossible, we are right to reject them. I argue that backwards explanations are brittle—they fail if the future event does not occur— and this is part of the reason they are not accepted about the actual world. This does not mean, however, that they must be rejected entirely. I argue that …

Models Of The Interaction Of Science And Religion, Tony N. Jelsma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"As Christians we are... immersed in this scientific culture and yet God’s Word communicates to us from very different cultural contexts."

Posting about religion and science­­­­­­­­ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/models-of-the-interaction-of-science-and-religion/

Women In Philosophy: A Qualitative Assessment Of Experiences At The Undergraduate Level, Crystal Nicole Lilith Aymelek

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

The underrepresentation of women in the field of philosophy has been a major concern for women in the discipline for at least the past ten years, and is increasingly gaining attention within academia. Current research at the undergraduate level suggests male and female enrollment occurs in relatively proportionate numbers in introductory philosophy courses but women’s enrollment dramatically decreases with the progression to upper division courses (Paxton, Figdor & Tiberius, 2012). To date, very little research has focused on the experiences of women philosophy majors at the undergraduate level. The present study conducted in-depth interviews with women who were either senior …

Models Of Time Travel And Their Consequences, Antonio M. Mantica

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

How do we travel through time? We know that we can move forward in it (we have no choice), but can we jump forward in time? Can we go backward in time? It also gives rise to other troubling questions: is time measurable in distinct increments, or does it flow continuously? In "Models of Time Travel and their Consequences," Antonio Mantica walks the reader through current understandings of how time functions in Einstein's universe and proposes three distinct models to explain it. Following that, he provides a list of experiments to credit or discredit the models. Appropriate for audiences of …

The Problem Of Nomological Impossibility For Epistemic Structural Realism, Patrick Manzanares

The Hilltop Review

The philosophical view known as Epistemic Structural Realism appeals to the concept of ‘structure’ in order to defend a version of Scientific Realism that nevertheless respects historical considerations of ontological discontinuity between successive scientific theories. It seems that the structures of some scientific theories are only continuous with the structures of successor theories when the former are characterized as nomologically impossible idealizations of the latter, since this continuity involves allowing some quantity in the formal structure of the successor theory to tend towards some physically unrealizable limit. But if this is the case, then the earlier theory cannot be physically …

Leveraging Capacity: Technical Solutions To Hunger In The Era Of Neoliberalism, Elizabeth Perry Bullock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Leveraging Capacity: Technical Solutions to Hunger in the Era of Neoliberalism takes the Global Seed Vault and the value of "global crop diversity" as a point of departure for raising questions about the influence of digital technology on the seed and about the solution to hunger known as "global food security." Discussions about food security among food studies scholars highlight either the failures of global public health advocates to regulate the food and beverage industry or they view food security, like earlier campaigns against global hunger, as an instrument for U.S. foreign policy. On either side of this debate, the …

Locke, Figure, And Judgement: A Consistent Answer To The Molyneux Problem, Jamale Nagi

Student Research Symposium

Ever since the early modern period the Molyneux Problem has been a topic of debate both in the philosophy of perception and the psychology of perception. The problem centers on whether the senses share representational content between one another, or does each sense modality have its own stock of representational content that becomes associated with the others after some habituation. For example, if you knew a shape only by touch, could you identify that shape when seeing it for the first time without being allowed to touch the object? Typically, rationalists have held to the former claiming yes, while empiricists …

Einstein: His Space And Times, Steven Gimbel

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

The commonly held view of Albert Einstein is of an eccentric genius for whom the pursuit of science was everything. But in actuality, the brilliant innovator whose Theory of Relativity forever reshaped our understanding of time was a man of his times, always politically engaged and driven by strong moral principles. An avowed pacifist, Einstein’s mistrust of authority and outspoken social and scientific views earned him death threats from Nazi sympathizers in the years preceding World War II. To him, science provided not only a means for understanding the behavior of the universe, but a foundation for considering the deeper …

Toward A Theory Of Multi-Method Modeling And Simulation Approach, Mariusz A. Balaban

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The representation via simulation models can easily lead to simulation models too simple for their intended purpose, or with too much detail, making them hard to understand. This problem is related to limitations of the modeling and simulation methods. A multi-method Modeling and Simulation (M&S) approach has the potential for improved representation by taking advantage of methods' strengths and mitigating their weaknesses. Despite a high appeal for using multiple M&S methods, several related problems should be addressed first. The current level of theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic knowledge related to a multi-method M&S approach is limited. It is problematic that there …

Are There Really Two Different Bell’S Theorems?, Travis Norsen

Physics: Faculty Publications

This is a polemical response to Howard Wiseman’s recent paper, “The two Bell’s theorems of John Bell”. Wiseman argues that, in 1964, Bell established a conflict between the quantum mechanical predictions and the joint assumptions of determinism and (what is now usually known as) “parameter independence”. Only later, in 1976, did Bell, according to Wiseman, first establish a conflict between the quantum mechanical predictions and locality alone (in the specific form that Bell would sometimes call “local causality”). Thus, according to Wiseman, the long-standing disagreements about what, exactly, Bell’s theorem does and does not prove can be understood largely as …

A Natural Case For Realism: Processes, Structures, And Laws, Andrew Michael Winters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature concerning laws of nature highlight the close relationship between general metaphysics and philosophy of science. In particular, a person's theoretical commitments in either have direct implications for her stance on laws. In this dissertation, I argue that an ontic structural realist should be a realist about laws, but only within a non-Whiteheadean process framework. Without the adoption of a process framework, any account of laws the ontic structural realist offers will require metaphysical commitments that are at odds with ontic structural realism. In arguing towards this aim, I adopt an attenuated methodological naturalistic stance to show that traditional …

Four Tails Problems For Dynamical Collapse Theories, Kelvin J. Mcqueen

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

The primary quantum mechanical equation of motion entails that measurements typically do not have determinate outcomes, but result in superpositions of all possible outcomes. Dynamical collapse theories (e.g. GRW) supplement this equation with a stochastic Gaussian collapse function, intended to collapse the superposition of outcomes into one outcome. But the Gaussian collapses are imperfect in a way that leaves the superpositions intact. This is the tails problem. There are several ways of making this problem more precise. But many authors dismiss the problem without considering the more severe formulations. Here I distinguish four distinct tails problems. The first (bare tails …

Mass Additivity And A Priori Entailment, Kelvin J. Mcqueen

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

The principle of mass additivity states that the mass of a composite object is the sum of the masses of its elementary components. Mass additivity is true in Newtonian mechanics but false in special relativity. Physicists have explained why mass additivity is true in Newtonian mechanics by reducing it to Newton’s microphysical laws. This reductive explanation does not fit well with deducibility theories of reductive explanation such as the modern Nagelian theory of reduction, and the a priori entailment theory of reduction that is prominent in the philosophy of mind. Nonetheless, I argue that a reconstruction of the explanation that …

Book Review: New Heavens And A New Earth: The Jewish Reception Of Copernican Thought, David B. Levy

Touro University Libraries Publications and Research

The author reviews the book New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought.

Book Review: Science, Reason, Modernity: Readings For An Anthropology Of The Contemporary, David B. Levy

Touro University Libraries Publications and Research

The author reviews the book Science, Reason, Modernity: Readings for an Anthropology of the Contemporary.

The Tao Of Open Science For Ecology, S. E. Hampton, S. S. Anderson, S. C. Bagby, C. Gries, X. Han, E. M. Hart, M. B. Jones, W. C. Lenhardt, A. Macdonald, W. K. Michener, J. Mudge, A. Pourmokhtarian, M. P. Schildhauer, K. H. Woo, Naupaka B. Zimmerman

Biology Faculty Publications

The field of ecology is poised to take advantage of emerging technologies that facilitate the gathering, analyzing, and sharing of data, methods, and results. The concept of transparency at all stages of the research process, coupled with free and open access to data, code, and papers, constitutes “open science.” Despite the many benefits of an open approach to science, a number of barriers to entry exist that may prevent researchers from embracing openness in their own work. Here we describe several key shifts in mindset that underpin the transition to more open science. These shifts in mindset include thinking about …

Calling Science Pseudoscience: Fleck’S Archaeologies Of Fact And Latour’S ‘Biography Of An Investigation’ In Aids Denialism And Homeopathy, Babette Babich

Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections

Fleck’s Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact foregrounds claims traditionally excluded from reception, often regarded as opposed to fact, scientific claims that are increasingly seldom discussed in connection with philosophy of science save as examples of pseudo-science. I am especially concerned with scientists who question the epidemiological link between HIV and AIDS and who are thereby discounted—no matter their credentials, no matter the cogency of their arguments, no matter the sobriety of their statistics—but also with other classic examples of so-called pseudo-science including homeopathy and other sciences, such as cold fusion. The pseudo-science version of the demarcation problem turns …

Causal And Mechanistic Explanations, And A Lesson From Ecology, Viorel Pâslaru

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Jani Raerinne and Lindley Darden argue that causal claims are not sufficiently explanatory, and causal talk should be replaced with mechanistic talk. I examine several examples from ecological research, two of which rely on causal models and structural equation modeling, to show that the assertions of Raerinne and of Darden have to be reconsidered.

'In' Or 'As' Space?: A Model Of Complexity, With Philosophical, Simulatory, And Empirical Ramifications, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

A General Systems model based on ideas originating with the writings of Benedict de Spinoza is described, starting with its philosophical underpinnings, and proceeding on to its relation to modern systems concepts, including attempts to simulate the relationships posed, and measure real world structures. Central to the idea is the notion that spatial extension may not have a prior existence, but emerges only through an entropy maximization process in which information and energy exchange is balanced among some limited number of subsystems that in sum comprise any given functioning complex system. Related published empiricism concerning geographical/geological systems – the hypsometry …

The Philosophical Differences Between Heisenberg And Bohr, Patrick Heelan

Research Resources

Chapter from: Patrick Aidan Heelan, The Observable: Heisenberg’s Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. With a foreword by Michel Bitbol. Edited and with a foreword by Babette Babich. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2015.

Naturalism, Causality, And Nietzsche's Conception Of Science, Justin Remhof

Philosophy Faculty Publications

There is a disagreement over how to understand Nietzsche’s view of science. According to what I call the Negative View, Nietzsche thinks science should be reconceived or superseded by another discourse, such as art, because it is nihilistic. By contrast, what I call the Positive View holds that Nietzsche does not think science is nihilistic, so he denies that it should be reinterpreted or overcome. Interestingly, defenders of each position can appeal to Nietzsche’s understanding of naturalism to support their interpretation. I argue that Nietzsche embraces a social constructivist conception of causality that renders his naturalism incompatible with the views …

The Uncertainty Relations, Patrick Heelan

Research Resources

Patrick Aidan Heelan, The Observable: Heisenberg’s Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. With a foreword by Michel Bitbol. Edited and with a foreword by Babette Babich. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2015.

A 'Paradox Of Expression': Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdungseffekt In Performance, Cohen L. Ambrose Mr.

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Military Genomic Testing: Proportionality, Expected Benefits, And The Connection Between Genotypes And Phenotypes, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

Mehlman and Li offer a framework for approaching the bioethical issues raised by the military use of genomics that is compellingly grounded in both the contemporary civilian and military ethics of medical research, arguing that military commanders must be bound by the two principles of paternalism and proportionality. I agree fully. But I argue here that this is a much higher bar than we may fully realize. Just as the principle of proportionality relies upon a thorough assessment of harms caused and military advantage gained, the use of genomic research, on Mehlman and Li's view, will require an accurate understanding …

The Many Chances Of Charles Darwin, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is Organismic Fitness At The Basis Of Evolutionary Theory?, Charles H. Pence, Grant Ramsey

Faculty Publications

Fitness is a central theoretical concept in evolutionary theory. Despite its importance, much debate has occurred over how to conceptualize and formalize fitness. One point of debate concerns the roles of organismic and trait fitness. In a recent addition to this debate, Elliott Sober argues that trait fitness is the central fitness concept, and that organismic fitness is of little value. In this paper, by contrast, we argue that it is organismic fitness that lies at the bases of both the conceptual role of fitness and its role as a measure of evolutionary dynamics.

Identical Particles In Quantum Mechanics : Operational And Topological Considerations, Klil H. Neori

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation reports our investigation into the existence of anyons, which interpolate between bosons and fermions, in light of the Symmetrization Postulate, which states that only the two extremes exist. The Symmetrization Postulate can be understood as asserting that there are only two consistent ways of combining the behavior of distinguishable particles to obtain the behavior of identical ones. We showed that anyonic behavior then arises because of the way in which the probability amplitudes of distinguishable particles in two dimensions are affected by the topology of the space. These can then be combined in one of the ways arising …

Expecting The Unexpected : A Precautionary Principle Addressing Unconsidered Dangers, John Raymond Milanese

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Most precautionary principles discussed in the regulatory literature argue that one ought to be more risk averse when one is uncertain about the probability of some sig- nificant danger. I explore a new kind of precautionary principle, one that addresses avoiding dangers we did not explicitly consider at all. Since it is unclear how uncon- sidered dangers could be avoided, I sketch a methodology for identifying situations where unconsidered dangers seem especially likely, by drawing from the literature in psychology on heuristics and biases and evaluating our cognitive “blind spots.”