The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog
On The Phenomenology of Spirit, ch. 3, “Force and the Understanding.”
What is “force” as physics describes it? And scientific law? Do these terms denote objects in the world, or models for how we describe the world?
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Continuing on The Phenomenology of Spirit ch. 3, “Force and the Understanding.”
We start off by considering the players in force: the thing exerting the force and the thing receiving. By arguing that these are not so different, Hegel moves to arguing that knowledge and the world are likewise not sharply distinguished.
On The Phenomenology of Spirit ch. 3, “Force and the Understanding.”
What is “force” as physics describes it? And scientific law? Do these terms denote objects in the world, or models for how we describe the world?
Because German science held such a prominent place in culture before WWI, it could not escape the fallout when the war ended in disaster. German physicists needed a way to reestablish their prestige, and this meant repudiating their prewar past in order to make room for an up-to-date theory that would not be tarnished by earlier failures.A new mania for a romantic “life philosophy,” which rejected the mechanical and mechanistic attitudes of the British in favor of an experience-based, intuitive holism became fashionable. In physics, the new model incorporated the values of “life philosophy” by rejecting causality as the principle explanatory mechanism.
[Editor’s Note: Thanks to Wayne for this plug for a new Not School group for November that’s it’s not too late for YOU to go join. Sign up for Not School and get in it.] Manuel De Landa is one of the most prominent and clear interpreters of Giles Deleuze, and we’re exploring DeLanda’s book Intensive Science & Virtual Philosophy. Continue Reading …
We were left at an impasse on the episode regarding the part of the argument from design referring to the fine-tuning of the universe to support life. Dawkins didn’t give enough detail about this for us really to understand, much less critique it, yet it seemed like a lot of what we were concerned about hinged on this argument. You Continue Reading …
Passing on this video posted today on openculture.com. In considering the cosmological argument on the God episode, we made no attempt to say how or if modern cosmology affects the challenge we discussed in comparing the mental satisfaction of “the universe was caused by God, who is special and doesn’t need a cause in turn” vs. “the origin of the Continue Reading …
Via Conor Friedersdorf blogging for Andrew Sullivan, here’s a short Bloggingheads TV discussion on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics: See the whole episode here and more here.
