Combining Philosophers

All the ideas for J Fodor / E Lepore, Marcel Proust and Jim Baggott

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9 ideas

18. Thought / B. Mechanics of Thought / 3. Modularity of Mind

7845	When we need to do something, we depute an inner servant to remind us of it [Proust]
	Full Idea: Whenever we have something definite to do at a given moment, we depute a certain person inside us who is accustomed to that sort of duty to keep an eye on the clock and warn us of the time. This inner servant reminded me that Albertine was coming soon.
	From: Marcel Proust (Remembrance of Things Past [1922], Cities.2.1)
	A reaction: I think Proust is wrong that we 'depute' this servant. I think it comes as a built-in feature, and the servant could never be abandoned or sacked, no matter how poor the service. Each of us is a team, which includes servants.

19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 7. Meaning Holism / b. Language holism

9381	If some inferences are needed to fix meaning, but we don't know which, they are all relevant [Fodor/Lepore, by Boghossian]
	Full Idea: The Master Argument for linguistic holism is: Some of an expression's inferences are relevant to fixing its meaning; there is no way to distinguish the inferences that are constitutive (from Quine); so all inferences are relevant to fixing meaning.
	From: report of J Fodor / E Lepore (Holism: a Shopper's Guide [1993], §III) by Paul Boghossian - Analyticity Reconsidered
	A reaction: This would only be if you thought that the pattern of inferences is what fixes the meanings, but how can you derive inferences before you have meanings? The underlying language of thought generates the inferences? Meanings are involved!

27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 2. Thermodynamics / a. Energy

24162	Planck introduced the idea that energy can be quantized [Baggott]
	Full Idea: By deriving his radiation law, Planck had inadvertently introduced the idea that energy itself could be 'quantized'.
	From: Jim Baggott (The Quantum Story: 40 moments [2011], 01)
	A reaction: He earlier assumed energy is continuously variable. I presume this means that the older idea of energy is now subsumed into the concept of fields, which are quantized into particles. The powers of nature are found in the fields.

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / b. Fields

21731	Fields can be 'scalar', or 'vector', or 'tensor', or 'spinor' [Baggott]
	Full Idea: Fields can be 'scalar', with no particular direction (pointing, but not pushing or pulling); or 'vector', with a direction (like magnetism, or Newtonian gravity); or 'tensor' (needing further parameters); or 'spinor' (depending on spin orientation).
	From: Jim Baggott (Farewell to Reality: fairytale physics [2013], 2 'Quantum')
	A reaction: [compressed] So the question is, why do they differ? What is it in the nature of each field the result in a distinctive directional feature?

21730	A 'field' is a property with a magnitude, distributed across all of space and time [Baggott]
	Full Idea: A 'field' is defined in terms of the magnitude of some physical property distributed over every point in time and space.
	From: Jim Baggott (Farewell to Reality: fairytale physics [2013], 2 'Quantum')
	A reaction: If it involves a 'property', normal usage entails that there is some entity which possesses the property. So what's the entity? Eh? Eh? You don't know! Disappointed...

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 2. Electrodynamics / c. Electrons

24163	Free electrons have clouds of virtual particles, arising from field interaction [Baggott]
	Full Idea: A free electron doesn't simply persist as a point particle travelling along a predetermined, classical path; it is surrounded by a swarm of virtual particles arsising from self-interactions with its own magnetic field.
	From: Jim Baggott (The Quantum Story: 40 moments [2011], 19)
	A reaction: It seems to me important for amateurs and mere philosophers to hang on to this idea of virtual particles, because they undermine any attempt to impose a macro picture on sub-atomic events.

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 4. Standard Model / a. Concept of matter

24161	Thermodynamics sees nature as a continuous flow of energy, as radiation and as substance [Baggott]
	Full Idea: Thermodynamics reinforced a vision of nature as one of harmonious flow. Energy, which could be neither created nor destroyed, flowed continuously between radiation and material substance, in themselves unbroken continua.
	From: Jim Baggott (The Quantum Story: 40 moments [2011], 01)
	A reaction: Interestingly, Einstein's Special Relativity e = mc2 seems to endorse this view, by equation energy and mass. I've always wanted to know what energy is, but no one seems to know.

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 4. Standard Model / b. Standard model

21732	The current standard model requires 61 particles [Baggott]
	Full Idea: The current model requires 61 particles: three generations of two leptons and two flavours of quark, in three different colours (making 24); the anti-particles of all of these (48); 12 force particles (photon, W1, Z0, 8 gluons), and a Higgs boson.
	From: Jim Baggott (Farewell to Reality: fairytale physics [2013], 6 n)

27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 4. Standard Model / c. Particle properties

24160	Particle measurements don't seem to reflect their reality [Baggott]
	Full Idea: It seems that we can no longer assume that the particle properties we measure necessarily reflect or represent the properties of the particles as they really are.
	From: Jim Baggott (The Quantum Story: 40 moments [2011], Pref)
	A reaction: [He cites a 2006 experiment] This gives an interesting response to the Copenhagen Interpretation - that observers appear to be creating the reality they observe, because they only have 'observations', with no reality to correspond to them. I like it.