50 ideas
6161 | Structuralism is neo-Kantian idealism, with language playing the role of categories of understanding [Rowlands] |
6163 | If bivalence is rejected, then excluded middle must also be rejected [Rowlands] |
6155 | Supervenience is a one-way relation of dependence or determination between properties [Rowlands] |
15959 | If the substantial form of brass implies its stability, how can it melt and remain brass? [Alexander,P] |
15956 | The peripatetics treated forms and real qualities as independent of matter, and non-material [Alexander,P] |
6154 | It is argued that wholes possess modal and counterfactual properties that parts lack [Rowlands] |
6157 | Tokens are dated, concrete particulars; types are their general properties or kinds [Rowlands] |
6159 | Strong idealism is the sort of mess produced by a Cartesian separation of mind and world [Rowlands] |
17405 | If a theory can be fudged, so can observations [Scerri] |
17397 | The periodic system is the big counterexample to Kuhn's theory of revolutionary science [Scerri] |
17393 | Scientists eventually seek underlying explanations for every pattern [Scerri] |
15975 | Can the qualities of a body be split into two groups, where the smaller explains the larger? [Alexander,P] |
17403 | The periodic table suggests accommodation to facts rates above prediction [Scerri] |
6152 | Minds are rational, conscious, subjective, self-knowing, free, meaningful and self-aware [Rowlands] |
6173 | Content externalism implies that we do not have privileged access to our own minds [Rowlands] |
6174 | If someone is secretly transported to Twin Earth, others know their thoughts better than they do [Rowlands] |
6158 | Supervenience of mental and physical properties often comes with token-identity of mental and physical particulars [Rowlands] |
6168 | The content of a thought is just the meaning of a sentence [Rowlands] |
6167 | Action is bodily movement caused by intentional states [Rowlands] |
6177 | Moral intuition seems unevenly distributed between people [Rowlands] |
15963 | Science has been partly motivated by the belief that the universe is run by God's laws [Alexander,P] |
6156 | The 17th century reintroduced atoms as mathematical modes of Euclidean space [Rowlands] |
17394 | Natural kinds are what are differentiated by nature, and not just by us [Scerri] |
17421 | If elements are natural kinds, might the groups of the periodic table also be natural kinds? [Scerri] |
6170 | Natural kinds are defined by their real essence, as in gold having atomic number 79 [Rowlands] |
15951 | Alchemists tried to separate out essences, which influenced later chemistry [Alexander,P] |
17396 | The colour of gold is best explained by relativistic effects due to fast-moving inner-shell electrons [Scerri] |
17420 | The stability of nuclei can be estimated through their binding energy [Scerri] |
17411 | If all elements are multiples of one (of hydrogen), that suggests once again that matter is unified [Scerri] |
15981 | Absolute space either provides locations, or exists but lacks 'marks' for locations [Alexander,P] |
17391 | Periodicity and bonding are the two big ideas in chemistry [Scerri] |
17415 | A big chemistry idea is that covalent bonds are shared electrons, not transfer of electrons [Scerri] |
17404 | Chemistry does not work from general principles, but by careful induction from large amounts of data [Scerri] |
17407 | The electron is the main source of chemical properties [Scerri] |
17409 | Does radioactivity show that only physics can explain chemistry? [Scerri] |
17392 | How can poisonous elements survive in the nutritious compound they compose? [Scerri] |
17418 | It is now thought that all the elements have literally evolved from hydrogen [Scerri] |
17398 | 19th C views said elements survived abstractly in compounds, but also as 'material ingredients' [Scerri] |
17406 | Moseley, using X-rays, showed that atomic number ordered better than atomic weight [Scerri] |
17408 | Some suggested basing the new periodic table on isotopes, not elements [Scerri] |
17412 | Elements are placed in the table by the number of positive charges - the atomic number [Scerri] |
17414 | Pauli explained the electron shells, but not the lengths of the periods in the table [Scerri] |
17413 | Elements in the table are grouped by having the same number of outer-shell electrons [Scerri] |
17416 | Orthodoxy says the periodic table is explained by quantum mechanics [Scerri] |
17422 | The best classification needs the deepest and most general principles of the atoms [Scerri] |
17419 | Since 99.96% of the universe is hydrogen and helium, the periodic table hardly matters [Scerri] |
17395 | Elements were ordered by equivalent weight; later by atomic weight; finally by atomic number [Scerri] |
17417 | To explain the table, quantum mechanics still needs to explain order of shell filling [Scerri] |
17410 | Moseley showed the elements progress in units, and thereby clearly identified the gaps [Scerri] |
6178 | It is common to see the value of nature in one feature, such as life, diversity, or integrity [Rowlands] |