56 ideas
| 18074 | Intuitionists rely on assertability instead of truth, but assertability relies on truth [Kitcher] |
| 12430 | Classical logic is our preconditions for assessing empirical evidence [Kitcher] |
| 12431 | I believe classical logic because I was taught it and use it, but it could be undermined [Kitcher] |
| 6298 | Kitcher says maths is an idealisation of the world, and our operations in dealing with it [Kitcher, by Resnik] |
| 12392 | Mathematical a priorism is conceptualist, constructivist or realist [Kitcher] |
| 18078 | The interest or beauty of mathematics is when it uses current knowledge to advance undestanding [Kitcher] |
| 12426 | The 'beauty' or 'interest' of mathematics is just explanatory power [Kitcher] |
| 12395 | Real numbers stand to measurement as natural numbers stand to counting [Kitcher] |
| 12425 | Complex numbers were only accepted when a geometrical model for them was found [Kitcher] |
| 18071 | A one-operation is the segregation of a single object [Kitcher] |
| 18066 | The old view is that mathematics is useful in the world because it describes the world [Kitcher] |
| 18083 | With infinitesimals, you divide by the time, then set the time to zero [Kitcher] |
| 18061 | Mathematical intuition is not the type platonism needs [Kitcher] |
| 12420 | If mathematics comes through intuition, that is either inexplicable, or too subjective [Kitcher] |
| 12393 | Intuition is no basis for securing a priori knowledge, because it is fallible [Kitcher] |
| 12387 | Mathematical knowledge arises from basic perception [Kitcher] |
| 12412 | My constructivism is mathematics as an idealization of collecting and ordering objects [Kitcher] |
| 18065 | We derive limited mathematics from ordinary things, and erect powerful theories on their basis [Kitcher] |
| 18077 | The defenders of complex numbers had to show that they could be expressed in physical terms [Kitcher] |
| 12423 | Analyticity avoids abstract entities, but can there be truth without reference? [Kitcher] |
| 18068 | Arithmetic is made true by the world, but is also made true by our constructions [Kitcher] |
| 18069 | Arithmetic is an idealizing theory [Kitcher] |
| 18070 | We develop a language for correlations, and use it to perform higher level operations [Kitcher] |
| 18072 | Constructivism is ontological (that it is the work of an agent) and epistemological (knowable a priori) [Kitcher] |
| 18063 | Conceptualists say we know mathematics a priori by possessing mathematical concepts [Kitcher] |
| 18064 | If meaning makes mathematics true, you still need to say what the meanings refer to [Kitcher] |
| 18067 | Abstract objects were a bad way of explaining the structure in mathematics [Kitcher] |
| 12428 | Many necessities are inexpressible, and unknowable a priori [Kitcher] |
| 12429 | Knowing our own existence is a priori, but not necessary [Kitcher] |
| 12390 | A priori knowledge comes from available a priori warrants that produce truth [Kitcher] |
| 12418 | In long mathematical proofs we can't remember the original a priori basis [Kitcher] |
| 12389 | Knowledge is a priori if the experience giving you the concepts thus gives you the knowledge [Kitcher] |
| 12416 | We have some self-knowledge a priori, such as knowledge of our own existence [Kitcher] |
| 12413 | A 'warrant' is a process which ensures that a true belief is knowledge [Kitcher] |
| 20473 | If experiential can defeat a belief, then its justification depends on the defeater's absence [Kitcher, by Casullo] |
| 18075 | Idealisation trades off accuracy for simplicity, in varying degrees [Kitcher] |
| 20646 | Helmholtz used 'energy' to mathematically link heat, light, electricity and magnetism [Helmholtz, by Watson] |
| 20624 | Work degrades into heat, but not vice versa [Close] |
| 20973 | All forces conserve the sum of kinetic and potential energy [Helmholtz, by Papineau] |
| 20623 | First Law: energy can change form, but is conserved overall [Close] |
| 20625 | Third Law: total order and minimum entropy only occurs at absolute zero [Close] |
| 20622 | All motions are relative and ambiguous, but acceleration is the same in all inertial frames [Close] |
| 20628 | The electric and magnetic are tightly linked, and viewed according to your own motion [Close] |
| 20635 | The general relativity equations relate curvature in space-time to density of energy-momentum [Close] |
| 20627 | Electric fields have four basic laws (two by Gauss, one by Ampère, one by Faraday) [Close] |
| 20630 | Light isn't just emitted in quanta called photons - light is photons [Close] |
| 20637 | In general relativity the energy and momentum of photons subjects them to gravity [Close] |
| 20629 | Electro-magnetic waves travel at light speed - so light is electromagnetism! [Close] |
| 20632 | In QED, electro-magnetism exists in quantum states, emitting and absorbing electrons [Close] |
| 20642 | Photon exchange drives the electro-magnetic force [Close] |
| 20639 | Quantum fields contain continual rapid creation and disappearance [Close] |
| 20631 | Dirac showed how electrons conform to special relativity [Close] |
| 20641 | Electrons get their mass by interaction with the Higgs field [Close] |
| 20626 | Modern theories of matter are grounded in heat, work and energy [Close] |
| 20633 | The Higgs field is an electroweak plasma - but we don't know what stuff it consists of [Close] |
| 20640 | Space-time is indeterminate foam over short distances [Close] |