Questions tagged [physics]
Physics is the natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.
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When physics studies what fundamentally exists, why does it refuse to say what exists?
Physics studies elementary particles, quantum fields, and spacetime - the fundamental constituents of reality. This is exactly where physics meets ontology. We're no longer describing macroscopic ...
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Schopenhauer's disparagement of Newton's color theory
Schopenhauer, in The World as Will and Representation I.15, writes [italics in original, bolding is mine]:
In my opinion ... every error is an inference from consequent to ground. ... [T]he
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How does the invention of quantum logic affect interpreting quantum theory, if at all?
Quantum physics has challenged both physicists and philosophers since its debut more than 100 years ago. Inherent in some of the experimental results are what might be seen as paradoxes, such as the ...
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Why must our universe being dominated by Boltzmann Brains necessarily mean we must be them?
Assuming things happen exactly as the current LCDM seems to predict - the universe becomes asymptotically de-Sitter forever and fosters an environment where infinitely many Boltzmann Brains could ...
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What holds bodies in place if spacetime is just a description of relations between physical systems?
If spacetime isn't a real entity but rather an emergent description of relations between physical systems, I'm struggling with a very basic question: what keeps bodies "suspended" at their ...
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In what way does philosophy of measurement impact measurement in practice in physics and metrology?
This question is very similar to a question I asked here on physics stack exchange, but I hope to be a bit more specific and concise.
I recently came across the book "Foundations of Measurement&...
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Is there a distinction between colors (secondary qualities) and shape/extension/solidity (primary qualities)?
I read that several philosophers like Galileo and Locke have made this distinction which says that colors are only there in the mind, while properties like shapes/solidity are really out there as ...
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How does the category of necessity apply to causality (in Kant)?
At first I was vexed by Kant's statement about necessity being when possibility yields actuality. I get the idea of it, but it seems to depend on an advanced-modalizing claim that whatever is possible ...
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Help terrified about Boltzmann brains [closed]
The idea of the Boltzmann brain has been causing me on and off distress for a couple years since the first time I found out about it. The majority of the answers I stumbled across on physics spaces ...
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Can empiricism itself be insufficient in answering the problem of fundamental physical constants
( i posted this question on physics SE first, got advised to post it here, that post got closed, so I deleted it )
I believe I have figured out a provable shortcoming, rather limit, of the whole ...
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Can something like Kolmogorov Complexity be applied to the world in general?
The Question
Kolmogorov Complexity (hereinafter, KC) is a measure of the complexity of a string, which is a sequence of characters, usually just one and zero. There is good reason to think that what ...
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The productive role of ideology in theoretical physics
In what ways have philosophical or ideological worldviews positively influenced the development and interpretation of theories in physics especially in quantum mechanics? Can interpretive diversity, ...
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What (historically well-entrenched) physical/metaphysical/theological ideas throughout the ages were based on what is now considered faulty science?
I'm new to this site and not entirely sure if this is the correct forum for this question but as philosophy used to embrace all branches of knowledge I'm going to throw it out there, please let me ...
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Was Wigner defending that multiple conflicting theories about the world can be simultaneously real?
In this essay by physicist Eugene Wigner, in the last section on "The Uniqueness of the Theories of Physics", he seems to say that it may conceivable that we would not evenatually attain an &...
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Is the interaction problem in dualism a harder or easier problem than action at a distance?
The concept of action at a distance in physics involves an effect where the cause can be far away from the effect. To be more precise, it involves an action where there is no signal traveling through ...
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