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Reductionism

Reductionism
Descartes held that non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata — De homine, 1662. Reductionism strongly reflects a certain perspective on causality. In a reductionist framework, the phenomena that can be explained completely in terms of relations between other more fundamental phenomena, are called epiphenomena. Reductionism does not preclude the existence of what might be called emergent phenomena, but it does imply the ability to understand those phenomena completely in terms of the processes from which they are composed. Religious reductionism generally attempts to explain religion by boiling it down to certain nonreligious causes. Types[edit] Richard H. Theoretical reductionism[edit] Theoretical reduction is the process by which one theory absorbs another. Methodological reductionism[edit] Methodological reductionism is the position that the best scientific strategy is to attempt to reduce explanations to the smallest possible entities. Ontological reductionism[edit] Related:  The problems with philosophy

The Oxford Companion to Philosophy The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995; second edition 2005) is a reference work in philosophy edited by Ted Honderich and published by Oxford University Press. The second edition included some 300 new entries. The new edition has over 2,200 entries and 291 contributors. Publication history[edit] Honderich, Ted (ed.). References[edit] Spurrett, David (Nov 1996). External links[edit] The OUP page for the Oxford Companion to Philosophy second edition Statement Statement or statements may refer to: Equality From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Equality may refer to: Law and Society[edit] Mathematics[edit] Logic[edit] Logical equality Places[edit] See also[edit]

Ted Honderich Ted Honderich (born 30 January 1933) is a Canadian-born British philosopher, Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London.[1] His work has been mainly about five things: consciousness and mind, including the consciousness–brain relation; right and wrong in the contemporary world particularly with democracy, terrorism and war; advocacy of the Principle of Humanity; determinism and freedom; particular problems in logical analysis and metaphysics; the supposed justification of punishment by the state; the political tradition of conservatism. He has given lectures and talks in British, continental European, Irish, American, Canadian, Asian, Russian, and African universities. Biography[edit] Honderich was born Edgar Dawn Ross Honderich on 30 January 1933 in Baden, Ontario, Canada. His papers in philosophical journals have been published in three volumes by Edinburgh University Press. Consciousness[edit] Determinism and freedom[edit] Punishment[edit]

Symbol A red octagon symbolizes "stop" even without the word. A symbol is an object that represents, stands for, or suggests an idea, visual image, belief, action, or material entity. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, or visual images and are used to convey ideas and beliefs. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for numbers. Etymology[edit] The word derives from the Greek symbolon meaning token or watchword. Definitions[edit] In considering the effect of a symbol on the psyche, in his seminal essay The Symbol without Meaning Joseph Campbell proposes the following definition: A symbol is an energy evoking, and directing, agent.[2] Later, expanding on what he means by this definition Campbell says: "a symbol, like everything else, shows a double aspect. Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols. Symbols and semiotics[edit] Paul Tillich[edit]

Determinism Determinism is the philosophical position that for every event, including human action, there exist conditions that could cause no other event. "There are many determinisms, depending upon what pre-conditions are considered to be determinative of an event."[1] Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have sprung from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and considerations. Some forms of determinism can be empirically tested with ideas from physics and the philosophy of physics. Other debates often concern the scope of determined systems, with some maintaining that the entire universe is a single determinate system and others identifying other more limited determinate systems (or multiverse). Varieties[edit] Below appear some of the more common viewpoints meant by, or confused with "determinism". Many philosophical theories of determinism frame themselves with the idea that reality follows a sort of predetermined path Philosophical connections[edit] History[edit]

Formal language Sequence of words formed by specific rules The field of formal language theory studies primarily the purely syntactic aspects of such languages—that is, their internal structural patterns. Formal language theory sprang out of linguistics, as a way of understanding the syntactic regularities of natural languages. In the 17th century, Gottfried Leibniz imagined and described the characteristica universalis, a universal and formal language which utilised pictographs. Gottlob Frege attempted to realize Leibniz's ideas, through a notational system first outlined in Begriffsschrift (1879) and more fully developed in his 2-volume Grundgesetze der Arithmetik (1893/1903).[3] This described a "formal language of pure language In the first half of the 20th century, several developments were made with relevance to formal languages. In 1907, Leonardo Torres Quevedo introduced a formal language for the description of mechanical drawings (mechanical devices), in Vienna. Words over an alphabet [edit] and

Indeterminism Indeterminism is the concept that events (certain events, or events of certain types) are not caused, or not caused deterministically (cf. causality) by prior events. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance. It is highly relevant to the philosophical problem of free will, particularly in the form of metaphysical libertarianism. In science, most specifically quantum theory in physics, indeterminism is the belief that no event is certain and the entire outcome of anything is a probability. Causation without determinism[edit] A number of philosophers have argued that lack of determinism does not entail absence of causation. Necessary but insufficient causation[edit] Indeterminists do not have to deny that causes exist. If x is a necessary cause of y; then the presence of y necessarily implies that x preceded it. If x is a sufficient cause of y, then the presence of x necessarily implies the presence of y. Probabilistic causation[edit] Philosophy[edit] Aristotle[edit] John D.

Libertarianism Traditionally, libertarianism was a term for a form of left-wing politics; such left-libertarian ideologies seek to abolish capitalism and private ownership of the means of production, or else to restrict their purview or effects, in favor of common or cooperative ownership and management, viewing private property as a barrier to freedom and liberty.[6][7][8][9] In the United States, modern right-libertarian ideologies, such as minarchism and anarcho-capitalism, co-opted the term in the mid-20th century to instead advocate laissez-faire capitalism and strong private property rights, such as in land, infrastructure, and natural resources.[10][11][12] Etymology[edit] The 17 August 1860 edition of Le Libertaire: Journal du Mouvement Social, a libertarian communist publication in New York In the mid-1890s, Sébastien Faure began publishing a new Le Libertaire while France's Third Republic enacted the lois scélérates ("villainous laws"), which banned anarchist publications in France.

Semantics of logic From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Study of the semantics, or interpretations, of formal and natural languages The truth conditions of various sentences we may encounter in arguments will depend upon their meaning, and so logicians cannot completely avoid the need to provide some treatment of the meaning of these sentences. The semantics of logic refers to the approaches that logicians have introduced to understand and determine that part of meaning in which they are interested; the logician traditionally is not interested in the sentence as uttered but in the proposition, an idealised sentence suitable for logical manipulation.[citation needed] The main modern approaches to semantics for formal languages are the following:

Incompatibilism Contradiction of free will and determinism Incompatibilism is the view that the thesis of determinism is logically incompatible with the classical thesis of free will. The term was coined in the 1960s, most likely by philosopher Keith Lehrer.[1][2] The term compatibilism was coined (also by Lehrer) to name the view that the classical free will thesis is logically compatible with determinism, i.e. it is possible for an ordinary human to exercise free will (the freedom-relevant ability to do otherwise), even in a universe where determinism is true. Definition[edit] On one recent taxonomy, there are now at least three substantively different, non-classical uses of the term incompatibilism, namely: neo-classical incompatibilism, post-classical incompatibilism (a.k.a. incompossibilism), and anti-classical incompatibilism. Libertarianism[edit] Hard determinism[edit] Moral implications[edit] Hard incompatibilism[edit] Experimental research[edit] See also[edit] References[edit]

Logical connective The most common logical connectives are binary connectives (also called dyadic connectives) which join two sentences which can be thought of as the function's operands. Also commonly, negation is considered to be a unary connective. A logical connective is similar to but not equivalent to a conditional operator. [1] In language[edit] Natural language[edit] A: Jack went up the hill. B: Jill went up the hill. C: Jack went up the hill and Jill went up the hill. D: Jack went up the hill so Jill went up the hill. The words and and so are grammatical conjunctions joining the sentences (A) and (B) to form the compound sentences (C) and (D). Various English words and word pairs express logical connectives, and some of them are synonymous. The word "not" (negation) and the phrases "it is false that" (negation) and "it is not the case that" (negation) also express a logical connective – even though they are applied to a single statement, and do not connect two statements. Formal languages[edit] , and .

Logical constant From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In logic, a logical constant or constant symbol of a language One of the fundamental questions in the philosophy of logic is "What is a logical constant?";[1] that is, what special feature of certain constants makes them logical in nature?[2] Some symbols that are commonly treated as logical constants are: Many of these logical constants are sometimes denoted by alternate symbols (for instance, the use of the symbol "&" rather than "∧" to denote the logical and). See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit] Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on logical constants

Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (widely abbreviated and cited as TLP) (Latin for Logical Philosophical Treatise or Treatise on Logic and Philosophy) is the only book-length philosophical work by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that was published during his lifetime. The project had a broad goal: to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science.[1] It is recognized by philosophers as a significant philosophical work of the twentieth century. G. E. Wittgenstein wrote the notes for the Tractatus while he was a soldier during World War I and completed it during a military leave in the summer of 1918.[3] It was first published in German in 1921 as Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung. The Tractatus employs an austere and succinct literary style. Wittgenstein's later works, notably the posthumously published Philosophical Investigations, criticised many of his earlier ideas in the Tractatus. Main theses[edit] Proposition 1[edit] , where

Holism is sometimes seen as being the opposite of reductionism. Reductionism argues that the way of solving a large problem is to define it as a series of smaller problems which may be solved separately and the sum of the solutions will represent the solution of the larger problem. Holism asserts that some problems are not amenable to reductionist approaches and these need to be studied or researched in a different way. A holistic orientated researcher will also argue that if a research problem is reduced to smaller problems than a simple summation of the findings of the smaller solutions may not adequately answer the greater or larger problem.

Found in: 2013 - (Remenyi) Case Study Research: The Quick Guide Series by raviii Apr 26

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