Without hierarchy : the scale freedom of the universe

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thalos, Mariam, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Causation--Philosophy.

Causation.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Physics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Other Title:

Without hierarchy: the scale freedom of the universe

Without Hierarchies

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This text argues that there is causation at every scale of measurement - countering the philosophical position that causation, or 'activity,' occurs only at the minutest scales of measurement (the scale of microphysics). Thalos's scale-free model, as she shows, is much more hospitable to the models of physicists than are the single-scale models proposed by both reductionists and emergentists.

Contents:

Towards a theory of science

Scale freedom recontextualized

Against the philosophy of a one-scale universe

Resheathing

Philosophical foundations of science and metaphysics

Multiple conceptions of fundamentality

Why causation is not the cement of the universe

Moves and movers: notes on the progress of science

Making sense of order: the true cement of the universe

Deployments

Logic of leading and following: dependence and independence among quantities

Microcosm of unity (of science) that is physics

Toward a more truth-illuminating metaphysics.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on Apr. 29, 2013).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version