Scientific Pluralism and the Mission of History and Philosophy of Science

Inaugural Lecture by Professor Hasok Chang, Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science.

This lecture was part of the Departmental Seminars in History and Philosophy of Science series and took place on 11 October 2012.

[modvs]

I would think that Bridgman's operationalism would pose a real threat to what philosophy is, how it is practiced and what it contributes to.

[jayarava]

Brilliant. A very important contribution to science.

[FTR]

I am deeply torn. While undoubtedly toleration has its benefits, a widespread acceptance of toleration in science would leave the door wide open for pseudo-sciences to "legitimately" claim the epistemological credentials of science.
The general public (of whom I am a member), and policy makers simply do not have the skills to differentiate legitimate from non-legitimate science. A general acceptance of pluralism would make harder the already diabolical problem of demarcation.

[bristol]

Consider this instead:

How platonic physics helps discover, not invent, the universe

Bach felt that he was discovering, not inventing or composing, music. Discovering the laws or
    cosmology of music. This is a most platonic attitude. Like Mozart, Bach was just writing down what he heard.

Platonic physics and Leibniz's Monadology give a structured outline of the way things are.


1. In the beginning, there was Nothing (Plato's One, or Mind) which is nonphysical (spaceless and timeless).
2. This Nothing that physicists speak of is nonphysical Mind, pure intelligence, awareness, and the capacity to do work.
3. The One then simply conceived of or engendered Leibniz's Many (quanta or monads), in the Big Bang, creating a dual.
4.  The physical world is entirely made of matter, the physical correspondents to Leibniz's mental monads or quanta.
5.  Thus Mind, the mental correspondent to the physical world, is an infinite collection of monads (quanta).
6. The physical world is not an illusion, it is simply the physical world, the domain of conventional science.
7. The physical world is not either physical or mental, it is both simultaneously. A dual.
8. The principles of monads are given in Leibniz's "Monadology".
9. The Monadology is thus a form of quantum mechanics, and contains uninvestigated possible new rules of quantum mechanics.
10. In it, all causation is mental, not physical, and is top-down (cybernetic), from plato's Mind.
11. Thus Mind controls the brain, not the reverse.
12. Life is mental, not physical, and so is part of all reality.
13. Life is nonphysical intelligence (Mind).
14. Gravity acts in the physical world, but it is mental, not physical, for there is no graviton.
15 Thus quantum gravity is not possible, because there is no physical graviton to correspond its possible monad, a quantum.
16. Mind creates all, and has created all  from the nonphysical Nothing, perceives all, and controls all cybernetically.
17. Time and space are physical, but are not ultimately real, because the ultimate reality, Mind, is timeless and spaceless.


--
Dr. Roger B Clough NIST (retired, 2000).

[jblock]

better yet you can just say that it's not science's job to prove or disprove anything about god. if people want to believe god created the universe...then fine, as long as the process (when described in material/physical terms) by which this "god" created the universe is consistent with the physical evidence. xD