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I point out a radical indeterminism in potential-based formulations of Newtonian gravity once we drop the condition that the potential vanishes at infinity (as is necessary, and indeed celebrated, in cosmological applications). This…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2016-04-13 David Wallace

This paper argues that the traditional opposition between determinism and indeterminism in physics is representational rather than ontological. Deterministic-stochastic dualities are available in principle, and arise in a non-contrived way…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-01-13 David Nolland

The example of the calculus is used to explain how simple, practical math was made enormously complex by imposing on it the Western religiously-colored notion of mathematics as "perfect". We describe a pedagogical experiment to make math…

History and Overview · Mathematics 2013-12-10 C. K. Raju

We argue that the main reason of crisis in quantum theory is that nature, which is fundamentally discrete and even finite, is described by classical mathematics involving the notions of infinitely small, continuity etc. Moreover, since…

General Physics · Physics 2021-01-06 Felix M. Lev

Contrary to our immediate and vivid sensation of past, present, and future as continually shifting non-relational modalities, time remains as tenseless and relational as space in all of the established theories of fundamental physics. Here…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2015-06-25 Joy Christian

The formalism of classical particle dynamics is reinvestigated according to the basic requirement of causal consistency, and a new equation of particle dynamics, which is more general and more in line with classical mechanics experiments…

Astrophysics · Physics 2016-02-03 ChiYi Chen

In this paper we approach the problem of superdeterminism from a novel point of view, highlighting its character as a more metaphysical than scientific proposition. First, we introduce a distinction between two types of superdeterministic…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-01-22 Gabriele Cafiero , Luca Molinari , Jonte R. Hance

The pros and cons of various forms of atomism and holism that are applicable both in physical science and today's philosophy of nature are evaluated. To this end, Lewis' thesis of Humean supervenience is presented as an important case study…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2009-05-06 Vassilios Karakostas

The stipulation that no measurable quantity could have an infinite value is indispensable in physics. At the same time, in mathematics, the possibility of considering an infinite procedure as a whole is usually taken for granted. However,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-12-07 Arkady Bolotin

Newtons Laws of Motion form the basis of classical mechanics, but misconceptions about their interrelationships persist in pedagogy. A prevalent misunderstanding is that Newtons First Law is a trivial consequence of the Second Law. This…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2025-08-05 Indresh Yadav , P. M. Geethu

General relativity treats spacetime as dynamical and exhibits its breakdown at singularities. This failure is interpreted as evidence that quantum gravity is not a theory formulated within spacetime; instead, it must explain the very…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-08-01 Mir Faizal , Lawrence M. Krauss , Arshid Shabir , Francesco Marino

We give a new proof for Godel's second incompleteness theorem, based on Kolmogorov complexity, Chaitin's incompleteness theorem, and an argument that resembles the surprise examination paradox. We then go the other way around and suggest…

Logic · Mathematics 2010-11-24 Shira Kritchman , Ran Raz

The no-supervenience theorem limits the capacity of physicalist theories to provide a comprehensive account of human consciousness. The proof of the theorem is difficult to formalize because it relies on both alethic and epistemic notions…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2024-11-13 Cathy M Reason

The nature of a physical law is examined, and it is suggested that there may not be any fundamental dynamical laws. This explains the intrinsic indeterminism of quantum theory. The probabilities for transition from a given initial state to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Jeeva S. Anandan

Since the particles such as molecules, atoms and nuclei are composite particles, it is important to recognize that physics must be invariant for the composite particles and their constituent particles, this requirement is called particle…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 H. Y. Cui

Fuzziness and randomicity widespread exist in natural science, engineering, technology and social science. The purpose of this paper is to present a new logic - uncertain propositional logic which can deal with both fuzziness by taking…

Logic · Mathematics 2015-06-11 Maokang Luo , Wei He

Classical logic predicts that everything (thus nothing useful at all) follows from inconsistency. A paraconsistent logic is a logic where an inconsistency does not lead to such an explosion, and since in practice consistency is difficult to…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2007-05-23 Jørgen Villadsen

Metaphysics is the science of being and asks the question ``What really exists?'' The answer to this question has been sought for by mankind since the beginning of recorded time. In the past 2500 years there have been many answers to this…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2007-05-23 B. M. McCoy

Mathematics is usually regarded as a kind of language. The essential behavior of physical phenomena can be expressed by mathematical laws, providing descriptions and predictions. In the present essay I argue that, although mathematics can…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2016-04-01 Christine Cordula Dantas

Recent critiques of the semantic conception of scientific theories suggest that a theory is not best formulated as a collection of models satisfying some set of kinematical or dynamical conditions. Thus it has been argued that additional…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-05-26 Sebastian De Haro