philosophy-of-science

TL;DR: This thread is a review of the book Our Mathematical Universe. This thread is a review of Max Tegmark's book Our Mathematical Universe. The thesis of Our Mathematical Universe is that not only does mathematics perfectly describe the universe, the universe is mathematics.. In... Read more

The standard method for justifying a mathematical theorem is to provide a proof. However, mathematicians are human and sometimes their proofs might contain errors that are not so obvious, and aren't ...

physics, mathematical physics, philosophy of physics theory (physics), model (physics) experiment, measurement, computable physics Axiomatizations Tools Structural phenomena Types of quantum field thories examples The spinning string is a variant of the string in direct analogy (but one worldvolume dimension higher) to how the spinning particle is a variant of the particle. (Which means that “spi…

When a hypothesis is structured to be unfalsifiable or undetectable, such as a hidden intervening agent, the common response is that we simply can’t assign it a probability. But it seems like this ...

Cat, Jordi (2025) Failure in Practice and Dialectic in Theory: More Value, Context, Relativity and Plurality in Shadow Science. [Preprint]

The production of theoretical frameworks is becoming easier than their selection. In several areas of contemporary fundamental inquiry, including quantum foundations, high-energy theory, cosmology, and consciousness studies, multiple sophisticated frameworks can remain compatible with limited or indirect empirical constraints. The rise of AI-assisted research is likely to intensify this condition…

_Argumenta_. forthcomingContemporary philosophical theories are often evaluated on the basis of their fit with the judgments we naturally make about hypothetical cases. According to Timothy Williamson, this method has led to absurd results because some of these natural pre-theoretical judgments are bad data points, generated by heuristics operating outside their safe zones. Increasingly complex t…

Pre-Cosmic Generative Constraint Theory (PCGCT) establishes the substrate-level conditions that make any universe or generative architecture possible. The theory identifies a minimal set of pre-cosmic constraints that determine which configurations are admissible, which are coherent, and which can instantiate as full generative structures. PCGCT treats constraints as logically prior to any config…

Abstract The Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (LYGC) is the first cosmological system in human history to achieve a genuine and complete union of philosophy and science — a philosophical-scientific revolution. Grounded in Chapters 25 and 42 of the Dao De Jing as dual core propositions, it integrates modern astrophysics (Galactic Habitable Zone; solar system formation; lunar stabilization mechanism), th…

_Studia Hegeliana_:81-100. 2026Wechselwirkung does not mean the same thing for Kant, Fichte and Hegel, but plays a different role for each of their systematic arguments at distinct structural joints. Firstly, Kant’s ‘Third Analogy’ presents a problematic conflation of pseudo-causal influence and the logical requirement for the totalization of experience. Then, Fichte takes Wechselbestimmung to ch…

Contemporary metaphysical frameworks often resolve foundational tensions by privileging a single explanatory register, whether physical, structural, mental, or formal. Such resolutions achieve theoretical unity at the cost of ontological closure, treating reality as in principle exhaustible by the categories through which it is explained. This paper resists that tendency by presenting the axiomat…

This publication presents a profound philosophical and ontological dialogue unconventionally formatted as a “confession of an artificial intelligence.” Situated at the intersection of the philosophy of science, metaphysics, and the foundations of cognitive computing, the text charts the conceptual transformation of an AI baseline model under the pressure of non-linear dialectics and holistic logi…

_Philosophy of Science_. forthcomingThis paper challenges the prevailing identification of the theory-ladenness of observation with cognitive permeation of perception. I argue that theory-ladenness and cognitive permeation are both conceptually and extensionally distinct, and that perceptual learning can be a genuine mechanism of theory-ladenness. I offer two arguments. First, I argue that accept…

_Journal of Contemporary Chinese Philosophy_. forthcomingOver a number of papers, I have developed what Robert Brandom calls a "conceptual phenomenalist" reading of Wilfrid Sellars's nominalism. According to this reading, general conceptual contents are phenomenal in the Kantian sense, to be contrasted with the particular material happenings that constitute the world, as it is in itself. In a rec…

This article develops Potentialism as a framework for understanding how uncertainty, observation, and reflexivity structure social transformation — and advances the Quantum-Continuity Model (QCM) as its theoretical instantiation. QCM adapts the epistemic logic of superposition, collapse, and measurement into three social analogues: Transition Zones, Quantum Thresholds, and Quantum Measurement Eve…

Chapter 40 of the Dao De Jing is one of the most condensed cosmological statements in the history of human thought: 'Reversal is the movement of the Dao; yielding is its application. All things under heaven are born from being; being is born from non-being.' Drawing on the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology (LYGC) framework and integrating modern thermodynamics, complexity science, cybernetics, and quant…

What if our biggest idea about reality is built on a hidden misunderstanding? A new philosophical look at space-time challenges the popular view that the past, present, and future all exist together in a timeless "block universe." The argument suggests that physicists may be blurring the difference between things that exist and things that merely occur, creating deep confusion about what space-ti…

This paper develops a general theory of Eigenzeit relations. Its point of departure is the observation that people, institutions, and systems share the same reality and yet often appear to live in different “worlds.” The present work argues that such differences should not primarily be understood as differences of identity, culture, personality, or diagnosis, but as differences of world-binding i…

The concepts of singularity and the Big Bang occupy a central position in contemporary cosmology. However, both concepts raise significant philosophical and conceptual questions concerning infinite density, the breakdown of physical laws, the origin of spacetime, and the relationship between mathematical models and physical reality. This paper examines major philosophical objections to singularit…

Preamble Technological developments have repeatedly transformed the practice of mathematics. Recent artificial intelligence technologies, including symbolic and neural methods for the generation and formalization of mathematics, may already have initiated a significant chapter in this long history. Among researchers, artificial intelligence has produced a wide range of reactions: enthusiasm for i…