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13Introduction: John Woods in ProfileIn Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. pp. 1-12. 2005.
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37The purpose of this paper is to pick up the threads of a debate about the ontology of becoming in spacetime that was triggered by a provocative article published by Nicholas Maxwell in 1985. This debate is itself merely a recent episode in a long dialogue that goes back at least as far as the time of Parmenides and Heraclitus. Here is the question around which this debate centres: is change or becoming the distinguishing feature of the natural or physical world, as suggested obscurely by Heracli…Read more
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151On the edge of a paradigm shift: Quantum nonlocality and the breakdown of peaceful coexistenceInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 12 (2). 1998.I present a thought experiment in quantum mechanics and tease out some of its implications for the doctrine of “peaceful coexistence”, which, following Shimony, I take to be the proposition that quantum mechanics does not force us to revise or abandon the relativistic picture of causality. I criticize the standard arguments in favour of peaceful coexistence on the grounds that they are question-begging, and suggest that the breakdown of Lorentz-invariant relativity as a principle theory would be…Read more
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3Christopher Norris, Quantum Theory and the Flight From Realism: Philosophical Responses to Quantum Mechanics Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 22 (2): 138-140. 2002.
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24A New Look at SimultaneityPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992. 1992.It is generally believed that an invariant notion of a global present or "Now" cannot be defined in special relativity, because of the relativity of optical simultaneity. I argue that this may be a non sequitur since it is not necessarily the case that the psychological "Now" should be thought of as associated with constant time slices in spacetime. By considering a science fictional version of the Twin Paradox due to Robert A. Heinlein, I argue that it is psychologically plausible to associate …Read more
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37Is the human species itself the ultimate Untenable Absurdity? This paper will be a serious (for which I apologize) but rambling philosophical reflection on the grim prospects for our species in the face of peak oil, climate change, warfare, overpopulation, and other looming ecological catastrophes.
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7IndexIn Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. pp. 521-533. 2005.
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8ContributorsIn Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. pp. 511-516. 2005.
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2Book reviews (review)International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 13 (2): 195-204. 1999.Naturalism in Mathematics PENELOPE MADDY, 1997 Oxford, Oxford University Press viii + 254 pp., $CAN91, ISBN 0–19–823573–9 Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: an Appraisal JAMES T. CUSHING, ARTHUR FINE & SHELDON GOLDSTEIN, 1996 Dordrecht, Kluwer viii + 403, pp., US$159.00, ISBN 0–7923–4028–0 Pragmatism as a Principle and Method of Right Thinking: the 1903 Harvard Lectures on Pragmatism CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE, 1997 Edited and introduced, with a commentary, by PATRICIA ANN TURRISI Albany, State U…Read more
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69The quantum revolution: a historical perspectiveGreenwood Press. 2008.The twilight of certainty -- Einstein and light -- The Bohr atom and old quantum theory -- Uncertain synthesis -- Dualities -- Elements of physical reality -- Creation and annihilation -- Quantum mechanics goes to work -- Symmetries and resonances -- "The most profound discovery of science" -- Bits, qubits, and the ultimate computer -- Unfinished. business.
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8PrefaceIn Kent A. Peacock & Andrew D. Irvine (eds.), Mistakes of reason: essays in honour of John Woods, University of Toronto Press. 2005.
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3Eric Katz, Andrew Light and David Rothenberg, eds., Beneath the Surface: Critical Essays in the Philosophy of Deep Ecology Reviewed byPhilosophy in Review 23 (2): 110-112. 2003.
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77I explore the application of the “no-go” theorems of quantum mechanics to the problem of the openness of the future. The notion of fatalism can be made precise if we think of it as a claim that the future has a Boolean property structure. However, if this is correct, then it may be the case that by the “no-go” theorems of quantum mechanics the future must be at least partially open in the precise sense that there cannot be a fact of the matter at a given time about some events at later times.
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Logic and Philosophy of Logic |
Philosophy of Biology |
Philosophy of Physical Science |