Great Problems in Philosophy and Physics Solved?

by Bob Doyle

Overview

A college-level sourcebook and textbook on several problems in philosophy, physics, and metaphysics, with tentative solutions using the new methodology of information philosophy, which goes beyond logic and language to the underlying information structures. Chapters include metaphysics, ontology, free will, value, good and evil, god and immortality, epistemology, universals, induction, meaning, mind, mind-body, consciousness, self and other minds, mental causation, an information interpretation of quantum mechanics, measurement problem, determinism, collapse of the wave function, entanglement, decoherence, Schrödinger’s cat, arrow of time, microscopic irreversibility, recurrence, emergence, origins of life and information. Appendices included on information, entropy and the second law, quantum physics, chance, an experience recorder and reproducer, cosmic creation process, and biosemiotics. 456 pages, 45 figures, glossary, bibliography, index.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983580287
Publisher:	Information Philosopher
Publication date:	09/15/2016
Pages:	474
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.95(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3
New Ideas 4; Three Worlds 9; Material World 10;
Biological World 11;
World of Ideas 12; What Is Creation? 13
2. Metaphysics 15
Possible Worlds 22; Necessity 24; Actual
Possibles 25; Actualism 28; Identity 30; Criteria 30; Colocation 33;
Composition 38; Essences 45; Modal Logic 47
3. Ontology 55
Metaphysics 56; Continuous or Discrete? 58;
Meta-Ontology 61
4. Free Will 63
Two-Stage Model 64; What If? 65;
Problem 66; Temporal Sequence 71;
Argument Against 75;
Alternative Possibilities 76; Creativity 77
5. Value 79
Moral Code 84; Moral/Political
Message? 85; Social Contract? 87; Objective Values 89
6. Good 91
Objective Good? 92; Evil 93;
7. God and Immortality 97
No Creator, But Creation 98; Theodicy 98; Omniscience 98; Ergod 99;
Immortality 100
8. Epistemology 103
History 104; Knowledge 109
9. Universals 119
One and Many 122; Triads 126;
Knowledge 128; Triads 128; Tetrads 129
10. Induction 131
Scientific Method 137
11. Meaning 139;
Information 142
12. Mind 147
Scandal in Psychology 147; Mind as Immaterial 148;
Information Evolves to Mind 149; A Mind Model 150
13. Mind-Body Problem 155
Interactionists 156; Mind-Brain Identity 158; Eliminative
Materialism 159; Mind/Body and ERR 163
14. Consciousness 165
Binding Problem 166
15. Self and Other Minds 171
Mind Over Matter? 172; Other Minds 173
16. Mental Causation 177
Kim On 179;
Mind from Matter 179; Ribosomes 181; Ion Pumps 183;
Solving Problem. 185; "Bottom-up" 186; Molecular Machines 187
17. Information Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 189
"Possibilities Function" 194; Possibilities and Information 196;
Other Interpretations 198
18. Measurement Problem 201
Two Processes 205;
Apparatus 207; Irreversibility 208; Classical and Quantum 210; Conscious Observer 211; Three Steps 214; Collapses 215
19. Determinism 217
Indeterminism 219; Determination 220; Emergence
222; History 222
20. Collapse of Wave Function 225
What is Wave Function? 225; Information Physics Explains Two-Slit
Experiment 230
21. Entanglement 233
Nonlocality and Nonseparability 235; Conservation Laws 240; Special Frame? 242; Superdeterminism? 245; EPR "Loopholes"
and Free Will 246
22. Decoherence 249
Decoherence Program 251; Measurement Process 257;
Measurement Problem 259; What's Right 261; What's Wrong 263; Lasting
Information 263; Quantum to Classical 263;
Standard Quantum Mechanics 264
23. Schrödinger's Cat 269
24. Arrow of Time 277
Thermodynamic 277; Historical 281; Radiation
282; Cosmological 283
25. Irreversibility 285
Origin 287; Detailed Balancing 290
26. Recurrence Problem 293
Zermelo's Paradox 293; Improbability 295
27. Emergence 297
Emergence or Reduction? 297; History 298; Three
Kinds 302; In Body 305; In Brain 306; Immaterial Information
306; Determinism 307; Time with No
Determinism 308; Emergence Denied 309
28. Origin of Life 311
In Universe 312; Origin of Information 316;
Information in Biology 317; Biological Machines 319; Ribosomes 321; ATP
Synthase 323; Flagellum 324; Chaperones 326; Motive Power? 326;
Life, Love, and Death 327; Backwards in Time 327
A. Information 331
Universe 334; Entropy 342
B. Entropy and Second Law 345
Discrete Particles 345; Second Law349; Entropy
Flows 354; Positive and Negative 356
C. Quantum Physics 361
Basics 366; Principle of Superposition 367;
Axiom of Measurement 368; Projection Postulate 369; Dirac's Three
Polarizers 371; The Mystery 374;
The Explanation 375; Einstein 376
D. Chance 379
Calculus of Probabilities 381; Chance and Free Will 392
E. Experience Recorder and Reproducer 395
Binding Problem 398; Speed and Power 399; How It
Works 400; Consciousness 401; Four "Levels" 403;
What It's Like 404; Mental States? 405; Summary 406
F. Cosmic Creation Process 409
Fundamental Question 409; Two Steps 411; Flatness 414; Missing Mass 416; Horizon 417
G. Biosemiotics 419
Will Biologists Accept? 420