Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Richard P. Feynman and Jan Lukasiewicz

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6 ideas

1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 7. Despair over Philosophy

15970	People generalise because it is easier to understand, and that is mistaken for deep philosophy [Feynman]
	Full Idea: The topic of the laws of nature has a tendency to become too philosophical because it becomes too general, and a person talks in such generalities, that everybody can understand him. It is then considered to be some deep philosophy.
	From: Richard P. Feynman (The Character of Physical Law [1965], 1)
	A reaction: Feynman was famously anti-philosophical, but this is a good challenge. I like philosophy because I want to know broad general truths about my world, but I may just be gravitating towards what is easier. The challenge is to get true generalities.

4. Formal Logic / E. Nonclassical Logics / 3. Many-Valued Logic

8942	Lukasiewicz's L3 logic has three truth-values, T, F and I (for 'indeterminate') [Lukasiewicz, by Fisher]
	Full Idea: In response to Aristotle's sea-battle problem, Lukasiewicz proposed a three-valued logic that has come to be known as L3. In addition to the values true and false (T and F), there is a third truth-value, I, meaning 'indeterminate' or 'possible'.
	From: report of Jan Lukasiewicz (Elements of Mathematical Logic [1928], 7.I) by Jennifer Fisher - On the Philosophy of Logic
	A reaction: [He originated the idea in 1917] In what sense is the third value a 'truth' value? Is 'I don't care' a truth-value? Or 'none of the above'? His idea means that formalization doesn't collapse when things get obscure. You park a few propositions under I.

14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction

20653	Six reduction levels: groups, lives, cells, molecules, atoms, particles [Putnam/Oppenheim, by Watson]
	Full Idea: There are six 'reductive levels' in science: social groups, (multicellular) living things, cells, molecules, atoms, and elementary particles.
	From: report of H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim (Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis [1958]) by Peter Watson - Convergence 10 'Intro'
	A reaction: I have the impression that fields are seen as more fundamental that elementary particles. What is the status of the 'laws' that are supposed to govern these things? What is the status of space and time within this picture?

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 4. Regularities / a. Regularity theory

9410	Physical Laws are rhythms and patterns in nature, revealed by analysis [Feynman]
	Full Idea: There is a rhythm and a pattern between the phenomena of nature which is not apparent to the eye, but only to the eye of analysis; and it is these rhythms and patterns which we call Physical Laws.
	From: Richard P. Feynman (The Character of Physical Law [1965], Ch.1)

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / d. Quantum mechanics

18530	Nobody understands quantum mechanics [Feynman]
	Full Idea: I think I can safely say the nobody understands quantum mechanics.
	From: Richard P. Feynman (The Character of Physical Law [1965], 6)
	A reaction: It is really important that philosophers grasp this point!

27. Natural Reality / C. Space / 3. Points in Space

17707	We should regard space as made up of many tiny pieces [Feynman, by Mares]
	Full Idea: Feynman claims that we should regard space as made up of many tiny pieces, which have positive length, width and depth.
	From: report of Richard P. Feynman (The Character of Physical Law [1965], p.166) by Edwin D. Mares - A Priori 06.7
	A reaction: The idea seems to be these are the minimum bits of space in which something can happen.