Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality

Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality
Author :
Publisher : Springer
Total Pages : 171
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9783319063614
ISBN-13 : 3319063618
Rating : 4/5 (14 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality by : Sergio Chibbaro

Download or read book Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality written by Sergio Chibbaro and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-05-13 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists have always attempted to explain the world in terms of a few unifying principles. In the fifth century B.C. Democritus boldly claimed that reality is simply a collection of indivisible and eternal parts or atoms. Over the centuries his doctrine has remained a landmark, and much progress in physics is due to its distinction between subjective perception and objective reality. This book discusses theory reduction in physics, which states that the whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts: the properties of things are directly determined by their constituent parts. Reductionism deals with the relation between different theories that address different levels of reality, and uses extrapolations to apply that relation in different sciences. Reality shows a complex structure of connections, and the dream of a unified interpretation of all phenomena in several simple laws continues to attract anyone with genuine philosophical and scientific interests. If the most radical reductionist point of view is correct, the relationship between disciplines is strictly inclusive: chemistry becomes physics, biology becomes chemistry, and so on. Eventually, only one science, indeed just a single theory, would survive, with all others merging in the Theory of Everything. Is the current coexistence of different sciences a mere historical venture which will end when the Theory of Everything has been established? Can there be a unified description of nature? Rather than an analysis of full reductionism, this book focuses on aspects of theory reduction in physics and stimulates reflection on related questions: is there any evidence of actual reduction? Are the examples used in the philosophy of science too simplistic? What has been endangered by the search for (the) ultimate truth? Has the dream of reductionist reason created any monsters? Is big science one such monster? What is the point of embedding science Y within science X, if predictions cannot be made on that basis?


Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality Related Books

Reductionism, Emergence and Levels of Reality
Language: en
Pages: 171
Authors: Sergio Chibbaro
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-05-13 - Publisher: Springer

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scientists have always attempted to explain the world in terms of a few unifying principles. In the fifth century B.C. Democritus boldly claimed that reality is
Reductionism in Art and Brain Science
Language: en
Pages: 237
Authors: Eric R. Kandel
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-08-30 - Publisher: Columbia University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Are art and science separated by an unbridgeable divide? Can they find common ground? In this new book, neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel, whose remarkable scientif
Darwinian Reductionism
Language: en
Pages: 275
Authors: Alexander Rosenberg
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-09-15 - Publisher: University of Chicago Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

After the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, scientists working in molecular biology embraced reductionism—the theory that all complex systems can be
Toward Freedom
Language: en
Pages: 225
Authors: Toure Reed
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-02-25 - Publisher: Verso Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“The most brilliant historian of the black freedom movement” reveals how simplistic views of racism and white supremacy fail to address racial inequality—
The Retreat of the Social
Language: en
Pages: 131
Authors: Bruce Kapferer
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-09-01 - Publisher: Berghahn Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The powerful individualist and subjectivist turn in anthropology - a turn that cannot be easily separated from larger political processes of neo-liberalism and