Paradigms in Mathematics, Physics, and Biology - their Philosophical Roots

DFM Strauss(2001)......Page 1
Preface......Page 3
An Initial Comment 1......Page 8
Background to neo-positivism 3......Page 10
Reaction 4......Page 11
Contemporary philosophy of science 5......Page 12
The Dynamics of Theory Formation 6......Page 13
Kuhn's critics 7......Page 14
Foundational problems and basic distinctions 8......Page 15
Non-distinctive characteristics 11......Page 18
The distinctive characteristic of scientific(theoretical) thought 12......Page 19
Is Philosophy a Science? 13......Page 20
Philosophy and the Special Sciences 14......Page 21
Philosophical Foundational Questions in the Special Sciences 15......Page 22
Introductory remarks 17......Page 24
Definitions of mathematics 19......Page 26
The Infinite in Greek Thought 21......Page 28
A few further contours from the history of the infinite 26......Page 33
Infinitesimals and the second foundational crisis of mathematics 28......Page 35
(a) Aristotle's objections against the actual infinite 32......Page 39
(b) Continuity in Aristotle and Cantor-Dedekind 34......Page 41
h = n – 1 + |a0| + |a1| + .......... + |an|......Page 43
Comment 37......Page 44
C  C  C  C!......Page 45
Divergence of opinion 39......Page 46
Questioning completed infinitude 42......Page 49
The influence of intuitionism on the approach of Dooyeweerd 45......Page 52
Brief systematic assessment of the relationship between the potential and the actual infinite 46......Page 53
The Prejudice against Prejudices 53......Page 60
Discrepancy between philosophers of science and the practitioners of science 54......Page 61
Property terms – the Achilles’ heel of positivism 55......Page 62
The measurement of time and modal time orders 56......Page 63
Time in the aspects of number and space 58......Page 65
The kinematical and the physical time order 59......Page 66
Perpetual motion 60......Page 67
Closer reflections on constancy and change 61......Page 68
The core of Einstein’s theory of relativity 62......Page 69
The theory of relativity and relativism 63......Page 70
Determinism and indeterminism 64......Page 71
Order and delimitation in physics 65......Page 72
The finite and limited cosmos in Greek culture 66......Page 73
Complementarity – limits to experimentation 67......Page 74
Entities with a physical qualification 68......Page 75
The unity and identity of an entity 73......Page 80
Physically qualified entities 74......Page 81
The wave particle duality and the idea of the typical totality structure of an entity 76......Page 83
Physically qualified structural interlacement 77......Page 84
Introduction 83......Page 89
Biotically qualified entities 84......Page 90
What guarantees the identity of living things? 85......Page 91
The origin of living things – a biological boundary question 87......Page 93
Are viruses a transitional form between material and living entities? 88......Page 94
Nominalist structural understanding in modern biological literature 90......Page 96
Structureless continuity versus structural discontinuity 92......Page 98
Continuity of descent? 94......Page 100
The structure of a nuclear living cell 97......Page 103
Physical-chemical constituents in the living cell 98......Page 104
Organelles – the different organs in the cell 100......Page 106
The quest for a basic denominator 101......Page 107
Conflicting views despite “the same facts”! 103......Page 109
Neo-Darwinism 104......Page 110
Vitalism 105......Page 111
Holism 107......Page 113
Pan-psychism 108......Page 114
Metabolism as first level of freedom 109......Page 115
Structural diversity founds structureless fantasies 110......Page 116
Structural dimensions of  the cell – an enkaptic structural whole 111......Page 117
Continuity or discontinuity between the various levels? 117......Page 123
Is the fossil-record conclusive? 119......Page 125
Is there anything distinctive to human tools? 124......Page 130
Do animals share the dimension of (human) logicality? 128......Page 134
The human being as “Homo symbolicus”? 132......Page 138
The anatomical conditions of human speech 133......Page 139
Does human experience of the world differ from that of the animals? 135......Page 141
The unspecialized traits of the human body 137......Page 143
Is the human being to be seen as a deficient creature? 139......Page 145
The ontogenetic uniqueness of being human 142......Page 148
Autonomous freedom versus natural causality 144......Page 150
Bridging the abyss teleologically 145......Page 151
Entelechie negatively described: the influence of Hans Driesch 146......Page 152
Freedom at the molecular level 148......Page 154
The rejection of structural conditions: nominalism 149......Page 155
The common root of diverging trends in modern philosophy 152......Page 158
Human freedom: a subjective response to normative conditions 154......Page 160
Conclusion 156......Page 162
Consulted Works......Page 165