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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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Singularities and Black Holes
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-6-30 14:16)
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[New Entry by Erik Curiel and Peter Bokulich on June 29, 2009.]
A spacetime singularity is a breakdown in the geometrical structure of space and time. It is a topic of ongoing physical and philosophical research to clarify both the nature and significance of such pathologies. Because it is the fundamental geometry that is breaking down, spacetime singularities are often viewed as an end, or "edge," of spacetime itself. However, numerous difficulties arise when one tries...
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Folk Psychology as Mental Simulation
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-6-22 18:24)
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[Revised entry by Robert M. Gordon on June 22, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
The simulation (or, "mental simulation") theory (ST) is a theory of everyday human psychological competence: that is, of the skills and resources people routinely call on in the anticipation, explanation, and social coordination of behavior. ST holds that we represent the mental states and processes of others by mentally simulating them, or generating similar states and processes in ourselves: thus, for...
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Bell's Theorem
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-6-11 18:03)
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[Revised entry by Abner Shimony on June 11, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
Bell's Theorem is the collective name for a family of results, all showing the impossibility of a Local Realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are variants of the Theorem with different meanings of "Local Realistic." In John S. Bell's pioneering paper of 1964 the realism consisted in postulating in addition to the quantum state a "complete state", which determines the...
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Mulla Sadra
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-6-9 17:21)
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[New Entry by Sajjad Rizvi on June 9, 2009.]
Sadr al-Din Muhammad b. Ibrahim b. Yahya Qawami Shirazi (ca. 1571 - 1636) is arguably the most significant Islamic philosopher after Avicenna. Best known as Mulla Sadra, he was later given the title of Sadr al-Muta'allihin (Master of the theosists) for his approach to philosophy that combined an interest in theology and drew upon insights from mystical intuition. He championed a radical...
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Pain
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-5-30 10:55)
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[Revised entry by Murat Aydede on May 29, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, Internet resources]
Pain is the most prominent member of a class of sensations known as bodily sensations, which includes itches, tickles, tingles, orgasms, and so on. Bodily sensations are typically attributed to bodily locations and appear to have features such as volume, intensity, duration, and so on, that are ordinarily attributed to physical objects or quantities. Yet these sensations are often thought to be logically...
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Feminist Ethics
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-5-5 16:43)
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[Revised entry by Rosemarie Tong and Nancy Williams on May 4, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Feminist Ethics is an attempt to revise, reformulate, or rethink traditional ethics to the extent it depreciates or devalues women's moral experience. Among others, feminist philosopher Alison Jaggar faults traditional ethics for letting women down in five related ways. First, it shows less concern for women's as opposed to men's issues and interests. Second, traditional ethics views as...
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Ernst Mach
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-4-29 11:29)
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[Revised entry by Paul Pojman on April 28, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
The frequent excursions which I have made into this province have all sprung from the profound conviction that the foundations of science as a whole, and of physics in particular, await their next greatest elucidations from the side of biology, and especially, from the analysis of the sensations. [Mach in Analysis of Sensations: Preface to 1st Ed.]...
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Ancient Theories of Soul
from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2009-4-23 16:17)
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[Revised entry by Hendrik Lorenz on April 22, 2009.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Ancient philosophical theories of soul are in many respects sensitive to ways of speaking and thinking about the soul [psuche] that are not specifically philosophical or theoretical. We therefore begin with what the word 'soul' meant to speakers of Classical Greek, and what it would have been natural to think about and associate with the soul. We then turn to various Presocratic...
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