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Information Processing and Thermodynamic Entropy
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-9-16 11:59)
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[New Entry by Owen Maroney on September 15, 2009.]
Are principles of information processing necessary to demonstrate the consistency of statistical mechanics? Does the physical implementation of a computational operation have a fundamental thermodynamic cost, purely by virtue of its logical properties? These two questions lie at the centre of a large body of literature concerned with the Szilard engine (a variant of the Maxwell's demon thought experiment),...
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Epistemological Problems of Memory
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-9-5 15:09)
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[Revised entry by Thomas D. Senor on September 4, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
That most of our knowledge is in memory at any particular time is a given. What is perhaps surprising, however, is the degree to which even our current conscious knowledge typically depends on memory. For example, you look at the sky and come to believe that the sunset is beautiful. This is a newly formed belief about an event currently taking place. Nevertheless, its justification is no doubt dependent...
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Leibniz's Influence on 19th Century Logic
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-9-5 14:54)
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[New Entry by Volker Peckhaus on September 4, 2009.]
It is an important question in the historiography of modern logic whether Leibniz's logical calculi influenced logic in its present state or whether they were only ingenious anticipations. The most significant of Leibniz's contributions to formal logic were published in the early 20th century. Only then, Leibniz's logic could be fully understood. Nevertheless, the essentials of his...
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Plato's Ethics and Politics in The Republic
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-9-1 16:46)
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[Revised entry by Eric Brown on August 31, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Plato's Republic centers on a simple question: is it always better to be just than unjust? The puzzles in Book One prepare for this question, and Glaucon and Adeimantus make it explicit at the beginning of Book Two. To answer the question, Socrates takes a long way around, sketching an account of a good city on the grounds that a good city would be just and that defining justice as a virtue of a...
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The Distinction Between Innate and Acquired Characteristics
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-8-4 17:32)
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[New Entry by Paul Griffiths on August 4, 2009.]
The idea that some characteristics of an organism are explained by the organism's intrinsic nature, whilst others reflect the influence of the environment is an ancient one. It has even been argued that this distinction is itself part of the evolved psychology of the human species. The distinction played an important role in the history of philosophy as the locus of the dispute between Rationalism and...
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Evolutionary Game Theory
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-7-20 16:21)
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[Revised entry by J. McKenzie Alexander on July 19, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, Internet resources, dtd-fig-1.gif, dtd-fig-2.gif, dtd.gif, nash-4-5-6-corr-1.gif, nash-4-5-6-corr-2.gif, nash-4-5-6-simplex-nobox.gif, notes.html, sender-receiver-1.gif, sr-N2-fig01.gif, sr-N2-fig02.gif, sr-N2-fig03.gif
Changes to: Main text, WC-WbarOWbar.jpg, ppc.jpg]
Evolutionary game theory originated as an application of the mathematical theory of games to biological contexts, arising from the realization that frequency dependent fitness introduces a strategic aspect to evolution. Recently, however, evolutionary game theory has become of increased interest to economists, sociologists, and anthropologists--and social scientists in general--as well as...
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Operationalism
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-7-17 9:21)
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[New Entry by Hasok Chang on July 16, 2009.]
Operationalism is based on the intuition that we do not know the meaning of a concept unless we have a method of measurement for it. It is commonly considered a theory of meaning which states that "we mean by any concept nothing more than a set of operations; the concept is synonymous with the corresponding set of operations" (Bridgman 1927, 5). That drastic statement...
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Syrianus
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-7-7 9:49)
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[New Entry by Christian Wildberg on July 6, 2009.]
Syrianus (in antiquity known as "the Great") was a teacher of philosophy (and rhetoric, if we trust the evidence) in Athens during the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE, a slightly younger contemporary of Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430). Born in Alexandria sometime in the second half of the 4th century, he received his basic education there but went...
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The Paradox of Suspense
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-7-7 5:53)
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[New Entry by Aaron Smuts on July 6, 2009.]
The ultimate success of Hollywood blockbusters is dependent upon repeat viewings. Fans return to theaters to see films multiple times and buy DVDs so they can watch movies yet again. Although it is something of a received dogma in philosophy and psychology that suspense requires uncertainty, many of the biggest box office successes are action movies that fans claim to find suspenseful on...
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Mathematical Style
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-7-3 11:02)
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[New Entry by Paolo Mancosu on July 2, 2009.]
The essay begins with a taxonomy of the major contexts in which the notion of 'style' in mathematics has been appealed to since the early twentieth century. These include the use of the notion of style in comparative cultural histories of mathematics, in characterizing national styles, and in describing mathematical practice. These developments are then related to the more familiar...
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