35 ideas
| 21687 | It seems obvious to prefer the simpler of two theories, on grounds of beauty and convenience [Quine] |
| 21688 | There are four suspicious reasons why we prefer simpler theories [Quine] |
| 20014 | Actions include: the involuntary, the purposeful, the intentional, and the self-consciously autonomous [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20019 | Maybe bodily movements are not actions, but only part of an agent's action of moving [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20021 | Is the action the arm movement, the whole causal process, or just the trying to do it? [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20022 | To be intentional, an action must succeed in the manner in which it was planned [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20023 | If someone believes they can control the lottery, and then wins, the relevant skill is missing [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20025 | We might intend two ways to acting, knowing only one of them can succeed [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20031 | On one model, an intention is belief-desire states, and intentional actions relate to beliefs and desires [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20028 | Groups may act for reasons held by none of the members, so maybe groups are agents [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20027 | If there are shared obligations and intentions, we may need a primitive notion of 'joint commitment' [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20016 | Strong Cognitivism identifies an intention to act with a belief [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20017 | Weak Cognitivism says intentions are only partly constituted by a belief [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20018 | Strong Cognitivism implies a mode of 'practical' knowledge, not based on observation [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20012 | Maybe the explanation of an action is in the reasons that make it intelligible to the agent [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20029 | Causalists allow purposive explanations, but then reduce the purpose to the action's cause [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20013 | It is generally assumed that reason explanations are causal [Wilson/Schpall] |
| 20624 | Work degrades into heat, but not vice versa [Close] |
| 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] |
| 20642 | Photon exchange drives the electro-magnetic force [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] |
| 20639 | Quantum fields contain continual rapid creation and disappearance [Close] |
| 20641 | Electrons get their mass by interaction with the Higgs field [Close] |
| 20631 | Dirac showed how electrons conform to special relativity [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] |