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312Defending the structural concept of representationTheoria 21 (55): 7-19. 2006.The aim of this paper is to defend the structural concept of representation, as defined by homomorphisms, against its main objections, namely: logical objections, the objection from misrepresentation, theobjection from failing necessity, and the copy theory objection. The logical objections can be met by reserving the relation
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228Chains of meaning: A model for concept formation in contemporary physics theoriesSynthese 105 (3). 1995.The rationality of scientific concept formation in theory transitions, challenged by the thesis of semantic incommensurability, can be restored by theChains of Meaning approach to concept formation. According to this approach, concepts of different, succeeding theories may be identified with respect to referential meaning, in spite of grave diversity of the mathematical structures characterizing them in their respective theories. The criterion of referential identity for concepts is that they me…Read more
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198Animal minds and the possession of conceptsPhilosophical Psychology 20 (3). 2007.In the recent literature on concepts, two extreme positions concerning animal minds are predominant: the one that animals possess neither concepts nor beliefs, and the one that some animals possess concepts as well as beliefs. A characteristic feature of this controversy is the lack of consensus on the criteria for possessing a concept or having a belief. Addressing this deficit, we propose a new theory of concepts which takes recent case studies of complex animal behavior into account. The main…Read more
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166Toward a theory of visual consciousnessConsciousness and Cognition 8 (2): 225-59. 1999.The visual brain consists of several parallel, functionally specialized processing systems, each having several stages (nodes) which terminate their tasks at different times; consequently, simultaneously presented attributes are perceived at the same time if processed at the same node and at different times if processed by different nodes. Clinical evidence shows that these processing systems can act fairly autonomously. Damage restricted to one system compromises specifically the perception of …Read more
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147Modern essentialism and the problem of individuation of spacetime pointsErkenntnis 45 (1): 25--43. 1996.In this paper Modern Essentialism is used to solve a problem of individuation of spacetime points in General Relativity that has been raised by a New Leibnizian Argument against spacetime substantivalism, elaborated by Earman and Norton. An earlier essentialistic solution, proposed by Maudlin, is criticized as being against both the spirit of metrical essentialism and the fundamental principles of General Relativity. I argue for a modified essentialistic account of spacetime points that avoids t…Read more
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104Objects or events?: Towards an ontology for quantum field theoryPhilosophy of Science 66 (3): 184. 1999.The recent work of Paul Teller and Sunny Auyang in the philosophy of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) has stimulated the search for the fundamental entities in this theory. In QFT, the classical notion of a particle collapses. The theory does not only exclude classical, i.e., spatiotemporally identifiable particles, but it makes particles of the same type conceptually indistinguishable. Teller and Auyang have proposed competing ersatz-ontologies to account for the 'loss of particles': field quanta vs.…Read more
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80Why metrical properties are not powersSynthese 190 (12): 2001-2013. 2013.What has the dispositional analysis of properties and laws (e.g. Molnar, Powers, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003; Mumford, Laws in nature, Routledge London, 2004; Bird, Nature’s metaphysics, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 2007) to offer to the scientific understanding of physical properties?—The article provides an answer to this question for the case of spacetime points and their metrical properties in General Relativity. The analysis shows that metrical properties are not ‘powers’, i.e. they c…Read more
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68Holism in the philosophy of physics: an introductionStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 35 (4): 597-599. 2004.
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57Explaining the modal force of natural lawsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 6. 2018.In this paper, I will defend the thesis that fundamental natural laws are distinguished from accidental empirical generalizations neither by metaphysical necessity, 147–155, 2005, 2007) nor by contingent necessitation. The only sort of modal force that distinguishes natural laws, I will argue, arises from the peculiar physical property of mutual independence of elementary interactions exemplifying the laws. Mutual independence of elementary interactions means that their existence and their natur…Read more
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38Perception of temporal asymmetries in dynamic facial expressionsFrontiers in Psychology 6. 2015.
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37Defending the structural concept of representationTheoria 21 (1): 7-19. 2006.The paper defends the structural concept of representation, defined by homomorphisms, against the main objections that have been raised against it: Logical objections, the objection from misrepresentation, the objection from failing necessity, and the copy theory objection. Homomorphic representations are not necessarily ‘copies’ of their representanda, and thus can convey scientific insight.
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36Explaining Referential Stability of Physics Concepts: The Semantic Embedding Approach (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 41 (2). 2010.The paper discusses three different ways of explaining the referential stability of concepts of physics. In order to be successful, an approach to referential stability has to provide resources to understand what constitutes the difference between the birth of a new concept with a history of its own, and an innovative step occurring within the lifetime of a persisting concept with stable reference. According to Theodore Arabatzis' 'biographical' approach (Representing Electrons 2006), the histor…Read more
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34Roberto Torretti, philosophy of physics, cambridge university press, cambridge, 2000Erkenntnis 55 (1): 127-132. 2001.
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32Defending the Structural Concept of RepresentationTheoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 21 (1): 7-19. 2006.The aim of this paper is to defend the structural concept of representation, as defined by homomorphisms, against its main objections, namely: logical objections, the objection from misrepresentation, theobjection from failing necessity, and the copy theory objection. The logical objections can be met by reserving the relation ‘to be homomorphic to’ for the explication of potential representation (or, of the representational content). Actual reference objects (‘targets’) of representations are d…Read more
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30Nature, Science and Life in a Silent Universe: Bernulf KanitscheiderJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 49 (3): 243-259. 2018.
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29Kausalität ohne vorhersagbarkeit — eine these Des empirismus im konflikt mit der allgemeinen relativitätstheorieJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 18 (1-2): 50-60. 1987.Empiricists mostly prefer an epistemic notion of causality intending thereby to avoid metaphysical entanglements. General relativity however provides examples for causality without predictability, i. e. world models in which for geometrical reasons there exist no spacelike hypersurfaces containing traces of all future events. Yet local determinism for every single event remains valid in these cases. Therefore the problem arises how to account for a causal structure that implies local but not glo…Read more
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29Nikos K. Logothetis University of Manchester, Manchester, UK In binocular rivalry, the visual percept alternates stochastically between two dichoptically presented stimuli. It is established that both processes related to the eye of origin and binocular, stimulus-related processes account for these fluctuations in conscious perception. Here we studied how their relative contributions vary over time. We applied brief disruptions to rivalry displays, concurrent with an optional eye swap, at varying…Read more
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29fMRI is a tool to study brain function noninvasively that can reliably identify sites of neural involvement for a given task. However, to what extent can fMRI signals be related to measures obtained in electrophysiology? Can the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal be interpreted as spatially pooled spiking activity? Here we combine knowledge from neurovascular coupling, functional imaging and neurophysiology to discuss whether fMRI has succeeded in demonstrating one of the most established funct…Read more
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25Defending the structural concept of representationTheoria 21 (1): 7-19. 2010.The paper defends the structural concept of representation, defined by homomorphisms, against the main objections that have been raised against it: Logical objections, the objection from misrepresentation, the objection from failing necessity, and the copy theory objection. Homomorphic representations are not necessarily ‘copies’ of their representanda, and thus can convey scientific insight.
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23Explaining the modal force of natural lawsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 1-15. 2018.In this paper, I will defend the thesis that fundamental natural laws are distinguished from accidental empirical generalizations neither by metaphysical necessity (e.g. Ellis 1999, 2001; Bird in Analysis, 65(2), 147–155, 2005, 2007) nor by contingent necessitation (Armstrong 1983). The only sort of modal force that distinguishes natural laws, I will argue, arises from the peculiar physical property of mutual independence of elementary interactions exemplifying the laws. Mutual independence of e…Read more
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15Quantum Field Theory: A Case for Event Ontologies?Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 76 327-342. 2000.
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13Conscious perception of flickering stimuli in binocular rivalry and continuous flash suppression is not affected by tACS-induced SSR modulationConsciousness and Cognition 82 102953. 2020.
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13Erfahrung ohne BegriffeIn Joachim Bromand & Guido Kreis (eds.), Was Sich Nicht Sagen Lässt: Das Nicht-Begriffliche in Wissenschaft, Kunst Und Religion, Akademie Verlag/de Gruyter. pp. 219-234. 2010.
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11Bedeutungsketten. Ein Modell der Begriffsbildung in gegenwärtigen physikalischen TheorienIn Julian Nida-Rümelin & Georg Meggle (eds.), Analyomen 2, Volume I: Logic, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, De Gruyter. pp. 342-349. 1997.
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9Kausalität ohne Vorhersagbarkeit — Eine These des Empirismus im Konflikt mit der Allgemeinen RelativitätstheorieZeitschrift Für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 18 (1-2): 50-60. 1987.
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9Naturgesetze in einer kausalen Weltmentis. 2015.How can the laws of nature, that determine how objects behave, be understood as natural objects themselves? The answer that transpires from the analysis of modern theories of the laws of nature is: laws of nature are due to the causal structure of our world. They express the causal efficiacy of fundamental properties of nature. In contrast to rivaling theories, this answer does justice to the fact that laws of nature determine the course of natural events without having to appeal to the strong a…Read more