27 ideas
9921 | 'True' is only occasionally useful, as in 'everything Fermat believed was true' [Burgess/Rosen] |
9924 | Modal logic gives an account of metalogical possibility, not metaphysical possibility [Burgess/Rosen] |
9933 | The paradoxes are only a problem for Frege; Cantor didn't assume every condition determines a set [Burgess/Rosen] |
9928 | Mereology implies that acceptance of entities entails acceptance of conglomerates [Burgess/Rosen] |
9926 | A relation is either a set of sets of sets, or a set of sets [Burgess/Rosen] |
9932 | The paradoxes no longer seem crucial in critiques of set theory [Burgess/Rosen] |
9923 | We should talk about possible existence, rather than actual existence, of numbers [Burgess/Rosen] |
18085 | Values that approach zero, becoming less than any quantity, are 'infinitesimals' [Cauchy] |
18084 | When successive variable values approach a fixed value, that is its 'limit' [Cauchy] |
9925 | Structuralism and nominalism are normally rivals, but might work together [Burgess/Rosen] |
9934 | Number words became nouns around the time of Plato [Burgess/Rosen] |
9918 | Abstract/concrete is a distinction of kind, not degree [Burgess/Rosen] |
9929 | Much of what science says about concrete entities is 'abstraction-laden' [Burgess/Rosen] |
9927 | Mathematics has ascended to higher and higher levels of abstraction [Burgess/Rosen] |
9930 | Abstraction is on a scale, of sets, to attributes, to type-formulas, to token-formulas [Burgess/Rosen] |
7621 | Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit [Putnam on Einstein] |
9919 | The old debate classified representations as abstract, not entities [Burgess/Rosen] |
22955 | Einstein took causation to be the bedrock of physics [Einstein, by Coveney/Highfield] |
20638 | General relativity assumes laws of nature are the same in all frames of reference [Einstein, by Close] |
20636 | Newton is a special case of Einstein's general theory, with an infinite speed of light [Einstein, by Close] |
21230 | The theory is 'special' because it sticks to observers moving straight, at constant speeds [Einstein, by Farmelo] |
21231 | Assume the speed of light is constant for all observers, and the laws of physics are the same [Einstein, by Farmelo] |
20634 | General Relativity says there is no absolute force or acceleration [Einstein, by Close] |
20648 | Mass is a measure of energy content [Einstein] |
9922 | If space is really just a force-field, then it is a physical entity [Burgess/Rosen] |
21232 | Space-time arises from the connection between measurements of space and of time [Einstein, by Farmelo] |
7626 | I do not believe in a personal God [Einstein] |