display all the ideas for this combination of philosophers
3 ideas
20468 | Quantum mechanics deals with processes, rather than with things [Rovelli] |
Full Idea: Quantum mechanics teaches us not to think about the world in terms of 'things' which are in this or that state, but in terms of 'processes' instead. | |
From: Carlo Rovelli (Reality is Not What it Seems [2014], 04) |
20467 | Quantum mechanics describes the world entirely as events [Rovelli] |
Full Idea: The world of quantum mechanics is not a world of objects: it is a world of events. | |
From: Carlo Rovelli (Reality is Not What it Seems [2014], 04) | |
A reaction: I presume a philosopher is allowed to ask what an 'event' is. Since, as Rovelli tells it, time is eliminated from the picture, events seem to be unanalysable primitives. |
4986 | A weaker kind of reductionism than direct translation is the use of 'bridge laws' [Kirk,R] |
Full Idea: If multiple realisability means that psychological terms cannot be translated into physics, one weaker kind of reductionism resorts to 'bridge laws' which link the theory to be reduced to the reducing theory. | |
From: Robert Kirk (Mind and Body [2003], §3.8) | |
A reaction: It seems to me that reduction is all-or-nothing, so there can't be a 'weaker' kind. If they are totally separate but linked by naturally necessary laws (e.g. low temperature and ice), they are supervenient, but not reducible to one another. |