1. 27554.181049
    Marletto and Vedral [Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 040401 (2020)] propose that the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phase is locally mediated by entanglement between a charged particle and the quantized electromagnetic field, asserting gauge independence for non-closed paths. Using quantum electrodynamics (QED), we critically analyze their model and demonstrate that the AB phase arises from the interaction with the vector potential A, not from entanglement, which is merely a byproduct of the QED framework. We show that their field-based energy formulation, intended to reflect local electromagnetic interactions, is mathematically flawed due to an incorrect prefactor and involves fields inside the solenoid, failing to support local mediation of the phase. Its equivalence to qv · A holds only in the Coulomb gauge, undermining their claim of a gauge-independent local mechanism. Furthermore, we confirm that the AB phase is gauge-dependent for non-closed paths, contradicting their assertion. Our analysis reaffirms the semi-classical interpretation, where the AB phase is driven by the vector potential A, with entanglement playing no causal role in its generation.
    Found 7 hours, 39 minutes ago on PhilSci Archive
  2. 27583.181161
    This paper reconsiders the metaphysical implication of Einstein algebras, prompted by the recent objections of Chen (2024) on Rosenstock et al. (2015)’s conclusion. Rosenstock et al.’s duality theorem of smooth manifolds and smooth algebras supports a conventional wisdom which states that the Einstein algebra formalism is not more “relationalist” than the standard manifold formalism. Nevertheless, as Chen points out, smooth algebras are different from the relevant algebraic structure of an Einstein algebra. It is therefore questionable if Rosenstock et al.’s duality theorem can support the conventional wisdom. After a re-visit of John Earman’s classic works on the program of Leibniz algebras, I formalize the program in category theory and propose a new formal criterion to determine whether an algebraic formalism is more “relationalist” than the standard manifold formalism or not. Based on the new formal criterion, I show that the conventional wisdom is still true, though supported by a new technical result. I also show that Rosenstock et al. (2015)’s insight can be re-casted as a corollary of the new result. Finally, I provide a justification of the new formal criterion with a discussion of Sikorski algebras and differential spaces. The paper therefore provides a new perspective for formally investigating the metaphysical implication of an algebraic formalism for the theory of space and time.
    Found 7 hours, 39 minutes ago on PhilSci Archive
  3. 27600.181184
    This dissertation defends Causal Decision Theory(CDT) against a recent (alleged) counterexample. In Dicing with Death (2014), Arif Ahmed devises a decision scenario where the recommendation given by CDT apparently contradicts our intuitive course of action. Similar to many other alleged counterexamples to CDT, Ahmed’s story features an adversary with fantastic predictive power—Death himself, in this story. Unlike many other alleged counterexamples, however, Ahmed explicitly includes the use of a costly randomization device as a possible action for the agent. I critically assess these two features of Ahmed’s story. I argue that Death’s fantastic predictive power cannot be readily reconciled with the use of randomization device. In order to sustain Dicing with Death as a coherent decision scenario, background explanations must be given about the nature of Death’s fantastic predictive power. After considering a few such explanations, however, it becomes unclear if the initial intuition which CDT apparently contradicts still holds up. Finally, I consider two contrasting decision scenarios to illustrate why Ahmed’s intuition in this case is ultimately false. I conclude that biting the bullet can perhaps be a legitimate response from CDT to many similar cases where evidentially correlated but causally isolated acts seem to force CDT to give counterintuitive recommendations.
    Found 7 hours, 40 minutes ago on PhilSci Archive
  4. 27619.181199
    This paper critically examines Ian Hacking’s account of looping effects and human kinds, focusing on three related arguments defended by Hacking: (1) the looping effects of human science classifications render their objects of classification inherently unstable, (2) looping effects preclude the possibility of generating stable projectable inferences (i.e., reliable predictions) based on human kind terms, and (3) looping effects can demarcate human science classifications from natural science classifications. Contra-Hacking, I argue that: (1) some objects of human science classifications (viz., biological kinds) remain stable despite the feedback generated by their classifications, (2), human science classifications that individuate biological kinds yield stable projectable inferences, and (3) looping effects are a problematic criterion for distinguishing human science classifications from natural science classifications.
    Found 7 hours, 40 minutes ago on PhilSci Archive
  5. 27640.181249
    This paper aims to resolve the incompatibility between two extant gauge-invariant accounts of the Abelian Higgs mechanism: the first account uses global gauge symmetry breaking, and the second eliminates spontaneous symmetry breaking entirely. We resolve this incompatibility by using the constrained Hamiltonian formalism in symplectic geometry. First we argue that, unlike their local counterparts, global gauge symmetries are physical. The symmetries that are spontaneously broken by the Higgs mechanism are then the global ones. Second, we explain how the dressing field method singles out the Coulomb gauge as a preferred gauge for a gauge-invariant account of the Abelian Higgs mechanism. Based on the existence of this group of global gauge symmetries that are physical, we resolve the incompatibility between the two accounts by arguing that the correct way to carry out the second method is to eliminate only the redundant gauge symmetries, i.e. those local gauge symmetries which are not global. We extend our analysis to quantum field theory, where we show that the Abelian Higgs mechanism can be understood as spontaneous global U(1) symmetry breaking in the C -algebraic sense.
    Found 7 hours, 40 minutes ago on PhilSci Archive
  6. 79818.181281
    Some authors maintain that we can use causal Bayes nets to infer whether X → Y or X ← Y by consulting a probability distribution defined over some exogenous source of variation for X or Y . We raise a problem for this approach. Specifically, we point out that there are cases where an exogenous cause of X (Ex) has no probabilistic influence on Y no matter the direction of causation — namely, cases where Ex → X → Y and Ex → X ← Y are probabilistically indistinguishable. We then assess the philosophical significance of this problem and discuss some potential solutions.
    Found 22 hours, 10 minutes ago on Reuben Stern's site
  7. 80732.181313
    Very short summary: I discuss Cass Sunstein’s recent article on the “AI calculation debate.” I agree with Sunstein that an omniscient AI is impossible, but I nonetheless argue that a “society of AIs” with a division of cognitive labor would probably be better at tackling the knowledge problem than humans. …
    Found 22 hours, 25 minutes ago on The Archimedean Point
  8. 113412.181328
    [Editor’s Note: The following new entry by Klaas Kraay replaces the former entry on this topic by the previous author.] The topic of divine freedom concerns the extent to which a divine being — in particular, the supreme divine being, God — can be free. There are, of course, many different conceptions of who or what God is. This entry will focus on one enormously important and influential model, according to which God is a personal being who exists necessarily, who is essentially omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good, and perfectly rational, and who is the creator and sustainer of all that contingently exists.[ 1 ] (For more discussion of these attributes, see the entries on omnipotence, omniscience, perfect goodness, and creation and conservation.)
    Found 1 day, 7 hours ago on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  9. 123215.181342
    The paper argues for a non-disjunctivist account of reference in episodic memory. Our account provides a uniform theory of reference for episodic memories that root in veridical and non-veridical experiences. It is independent from the particular mechanisms that subserve the respective source experiences. We reject both relationalist and intentionalist analyses of memory and build our approach on Werning and Liefke’s theory of referential parasitism and Werning’s theory of trace minimalism. The motivation for our non-disjunctivist account is the assumption that perceptual and non-perceptual memories with an episodic character share a uniform underlying causal mechanism and thus make up one and the same natural kind.
    Found 1 day, 10 hours ago on Markus Werning's site
  10. 134999.181357
    Say that a structure N that has a distinguished element 0, a unary function S, and binary operations + and ⋅ is a causal Robinson Arithmetic (CRA) structure iff: The structure N satisfies the axioms of Robinson Arithmetic, and For all objects x and y in N, x is a partial cause of the object x + Sy. …
    Found 1 day, 13 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  11. 137372.181372
    Canonical is a solver for type inhabitation in dependent type theory, that is, the problem of producing a term of a given type. We present a Lean tactic which invokes Canonical to generate proof terms and synthesize programs. The tactic supports higher-order and dependently-typed goals, structural recursion over indexed inductive types, and definitional equality. Canonical finds proofs for 84% of Natural Number Game problems in 51 seconds total.
    Found 1 day, 14 hours ago on Jeremy Avigad's site
  12. 141427.181385
    Suppose human beings are deterministic systems. Then quite likely there are many cases where the complex play of associations combined with a specific sensory input deterministically results in a behavior in a way where the connection to the input doesn’t make rational sense. …
    Found 1 day, 15 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  13. 147206.1814
    Suppose the U.S. Constitution mandated unilateral free trade with no exceptions. Much could go wrong. A pessimist could fairly ask all of the following: What if other countries take advantage of our unilateralism to drastically raise their tariffs? …
    Found 1 day, 16 hours ago on Bet On It
  14. 191587.181413
    Visual illusions provide a means of investigating the rules and principles through which approximate number representations are formed. Here, we investigated the developmental trajectory of an important numerical illusion – the connectedness illusion, wherein connecting pairs of items with thin lines reduces perceived number without altering continuous attributes of the collections. We found that children as young as 5 years of age showed susceptibility to the illusion and that the magnitude of the effect increased into adulthood. Moreover, individuals with greater numerical acuity exhibited stronger connectedness illusions after controlling for age. Overall, these results suggest the approximate number system expects to enumerate over bounded wholes and doing so is a signature of its optimal functioning.
    Found 2 days, 5 hours ago on Sam Clarke's page
  15. 193712.18143
    Common sense tells us that biological systems are goal-directed, and yet the concept remains philosophically problematic. We propose a novel characterization of goal-directed activities as a basis for hypothesizing about and investigating explanatory mechanisms. We focus on survival goals such as providing adequate nutrition to body tissues, highlighting two key features—normativity and action. These are closely linked inasmuch as goal-directed actions must meet normative requirements such as that they occur when required and not at other times. We illustrate how goal-directed actions are initiated and terminated not by environmental features and goals themselves, but by markers for them. For example, timely blood clotting is the essential response to injury, but platelet activation, required for clotting, is initiated not by the injury itself but by a short sequence of amino acids (GPO) that provides a reliable marker for it. We then make the case that the operation of markers is a prerequisite for common biological phenomena such as mistake-proneness and mimicry. We go on to identify properties of markers in general, including those that are genetically determined and those that can be acquired through associative learning. Both provide the basis for matching actions to changing environments and hence adaptive goal-directedness. We describe how goal-directed activities such as bird nest construction and birdsong learning, completed in anticipation of actions in the environment, have to be evaluated and practiced against a standard of correctness. This characterization of goal-directedness is sufficiently detailed to provide a basis for the scientific study of mechanisms.
    Found 2 days, 5 hours ago on David S. Oderberg's site
  16. 213465.181444
    The causal exclusion argument requires us to deny that there is systematic overdetermination between mental and physical causes. But it is interesting to note that in the real world there is systematic overdetermination of physical movements. …
    Found 2 days, 11 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  17. 228741.18146
    Given the extreme importance that Wittgenstein attached to the aesthetic dimension of life, it is in one sense surprising that he wrote so little on the subject. It is true that we have the notes assembled from his lectures on aesthetics given to a small group of students in private rooms in Cambridge in the summer of 1938 (Wittgenstein 1966, henceforth LA) and we have G. E. Moore’s record of some of Wittgenstein’s lectures in the period 1930–33 (Moore 1972). Of Wittgenstein’s own writings, we find remarks on literature, poetry, architecture, the visual arts, and especially music and the philosophy of culture more broadly scattered throughout his writings on the philosophies of language, mind, mathematics, and philosophical method, as well as in his more personal notebooks; a number of these are collected in Culture and Value (Wittgenstein 1980a).
    Found 2 days, 15 hours ago on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  18. 286397.181473
    [Editor’s Note: The following new entry by Sam Cowling and Daniel Giberman replaces the former entry on this topic by the previous author.] Nominalism is an exclusionary thesis in ontology. It asserts that there are no entities of certain sorts. Precisely which entities it excludes depends on the relevant variety of nominalism, but nominalist theses typically deny the existence of universals or abstract entities. For those who accept nominalism, a central challenge in metaphysics is to make sense of phenomena that anti-nominalist theories explain via universals or abstract entities.
    Found 3 days, 7 hours ago on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  19. 290400.181487
    The desirable gambles framework provides a rigorous foundation for imprecise probability theory but relies heavily on linear utility via its coherence axioms. In our related work, we introduced function-coherent gambles to accommodate nonlinear utility. However, when repeated gambles are played over time—especially in intertemporal choice where rewards compound multiplicatively— the standard additive combination axiom fails to capture the appropriate long-run evaluation. In this paper we extend the framework by relaxing the additive combination axiom and introducing a nonlinear combination operator that effectively aggregates repeated gambles in the log-domain. This operator preserves the time-average (geometric) growth rate and addresses the ergodicity problem. We prove the key algebraic properties of the operator, discuss its impact on coherence, risk assessment, and representation, and provide a series of illustrative examples. Our approach bridges the gap between expectation values and time averages and unifies normative theory with empirically observed non-stationary reward dynamics. Keywords. Desirability, non-linear utility, ergodicity, intertemporal choice, non-additive dynamics, function-coherent gambles, risk measures.
    Found 3 days, 8 hours ago on Gregory Wheeler's site
  20. 311446.1815
    In my previous two posts I focused on the difficulty of God creating an infinite causal regress of indeterministic causes as part of an argument from theism to causal finitism. In this post, I want to drop the indeterministic assumption. …
    Found 3 days, 14 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  21. 314345.181515
    Suppose that a dod is a critter that chancily, with probability 1/2, causes one offspring during its life. The lifespan of a dod is one year. Further, imagine that like Sith, there are only ever one or two dods at a time, because each dod dies not long after reproducing, and if there were two or more mature dods at once, they’d fight to the death. …
    Found 3 days, 15 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  22. 315939.181531
    Philosophers interested in medicine and healthcare research should focus on the choice of health concepts. Conceptual choice is akin to conceptual engineering but, in addition to assessing whether a concept suits an objective, or offering a better one, it evaluates objectives, ranks them, and discusses stakeholders’ entitlement. To show the importance of choosing health concepts, I summarize the internal debate in medicine, showcasing definitions, constructs, and scales. To argue it is a philosophical task, I analyze the medical controversy over health as adaptation and self-management. I conclude with a to-do list of conceptual choice tasks, generalizable beyond medicine.
    Found 3 days, 15 hours ago on PhilSci Archive
  23. 315959.181545
    Since Andrew Jameton first introduced the concept of moral distress, a growing theoretical literature has attempted to identify its distinctive features. This theoretical work has overlooked a central feature of morally distressing situations: disempowerment. My aim is to correct this neglect by arguing for a new test for theories of moral distress. I call this the disempowerment requirement: a theory of moral distress ought to accommodate the disempowerment of morally distressing situations. I argue for the disempowerment requirement and illustrate how to apply it by showing that recent responsibility-based theories of moral distress fail to pass the test.
    Found 3 days, 15 hours ago on PhilSci Archive
  24. 320199.181559
    I wrote these words about 20 years ago. They seem especially apt these days. Leaders have been known to inspire blind faith. Michels (1962: 93) refers to "the belief so frequent among the people that their leaders belong to a higher order of humanity than themselves" evidenced by "the tone of veneration in which the idol's name is pronounced, the perfect docility with which the least of his signs is obeyed, and the indignation which is aroused by any critical attack on his personality." …
    Found 3 days, 16 hours ago on Bet On It
  25. 346840.181572
    A firm wishes to persuade a patient to take a drug by making either positive statements like “if you take our drug, you will be cured”, or negative statements like “anyone who was not cured did not take our drug”. Patients are neither Bayesian nor strategic: They use a decision procedure based on sampling past cases. We characterize the firm’s optimal statement, and analyze competition between firms making either positive statements about themselves or negative statements about their rivals. The model highlights that logically equivalent statements can differ in effectiveness and identifies circumstances favoring negative ads over positive ones.
    Found 4 days ago on Ariel Rubinstein's site
  26. 459410.181586
    Chinese Daoism is a Chinese philosophy of natural practice structured around a normative focus on dào (道 path, way). This naturalist philosophical project treated dào as a structure of natural possibility for living beings. Unlike similar Western naturalisms, e.g., pragmatism, Daoism’s foil was contemporary: the Confucian-Mohist (Ru-Mo) dialectic about human (人 rén human, social) dào. Daoism’s critique of Ru-Mo debate concerns the role of natural (天 tiān sky-nature) dào vs human dào (socially constructed guidance). Daoism’s founding personages[ 1 ] ( Laozi and Zhuangzi) did not coin their “-ism.” The two Classical texts, credited to their titled masters (子 son), emerged during the Classical period (5th to 3rd C. BC).
    Found 5 days, 7 hours ago on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  27. 488915.181599
    In this paper, we investigate the treatment of the direction of time in Bohmian mechanics. We show how Bohmian mechanics can account for the direction of time in different ways. In particular, we argue that Bohmian mechanics can be employed to accommodate reductionism, because there always is an asymmetry in the initial conditions when forward and backward evolutions of the configuration of matter are compared. It can also be employed to accommodate primitivism and relationalism due to the fact that Bohmian mechanics is a first order theory that recognizes only position as a primitive physical magnitude. We show how this fact can be employed to support a primitive direction of time by assuming Leibnizian relationalism, which reduces the direction of time to change in the configuration of matter with that change being directed as a primitive matter of fact.
    Found 5 days, 15 hours ago on PhilSci Archive
  28. 488942.181613
    The capacity for purposeful choice among genuine alternatives—commonly termed free will— presents a profound challenge to a scientific worldview often perceived as deterministic. Understanding how seemingly goal-directed actions, observed across the spectrum of life from bacteria navigating chemical gradients (chemotaxis) to humans deliberating complex decisions, can arise from underlying physical and chemical processes is a central question in both philosophy and science. This paper explores the possibility of naturalizing free will by conceptualizing it as emergent autonomy: a capacity rooted in the unique organization of life itself, an organization that unfolds dynamically in real, lived time (Mascolo & Kallio, 2019; Moore, 2023). Foundational work by thinkers like Kauffman & Clayton (2006) on emergence and organization provides crucial groundwork for such an approach.
    Found 5 days, 15 hours ago on PhilSci Archive
  29. 493127.181628
    Causal Finitism—the thesis that nothing can have an infinite causal history—implies that there is a first cause, and our best hypothesis for what a first cause would be is God. Thus: - If Causal Finitism is true, God exists. …
    Found 5 days, 16 hours ago on Alexander Pruss's Blog
  30. 517468.181642
    Very short summary: This essay reflects on how the state and its bureaucratic machinery can shape social reality. The state is unique among human institutions for its performative power. This power is however not unlimited and its use can have adverse consequences. …
    Found 5 days, 23 hours ago on The Archimedean Point