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18Physical Time and Human TimeFoundations of Physics 54 (1): 1-17. 2023.This paper is a comment on both Bunamano and Rovelli (Bridging the neuroscience and physics of time arXiv:2110.01976. (2022)) and Gruber et al. (in Front. Psychol. Hypothesis Theory, 2022) and which discuss the relation between physical time and human time. I claim here, contrary to many views discussed there, that there is no foundational conflict between the way physics views the passage of time and the way the mind/brain perceives it. The problem rather resides in a number of misconceptions l…Read more
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7The causal universe (edited book)Copernicus Center Press. 2013.Written by philosophers, cosmologists, and physicists, this collection of essays deals with causality, which is a core issue for both science and philosophy. Readers will learn about different types of causality in complex systems and about new perspectives on this issue based on physical and cosmological considerations. In addition, the book includes essays pertaining to the problem of causality in ancient Greek philosophy, and to the problem of God's relation to the causal structures of nature…Read more
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Kenotic ethics and SETI : a present-day viewIn Douglas A. Vakoch (ed.), Extraterrestrial altruism: evolution and ethics in the cosmos, Springer. 2014.
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30Disgust: Sensory affect or primary emotional system?Cognition and Emotion 21 (8): 1799-1818. 2007.No abstract
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20Criteria for basic emotions: Seeking DISGUST?Cognition and Emotion 21 (8): 1829-1832. 2007.No abstract
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Theoretical cosmologyClassical and Quantum Gravity 37 (1). 2020.We review current theoretical cosmology, including fundamental and mathematical cosmology and physical cosmology (as well as cosmology in the quantum realm), with an emphasis on open questions.
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9Response to Part IV: The Debate on Top-Down Causation and EmergenceIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 377-408. 2021.In this response, George Ellis comments on the publications of Part IV. He responds first to James Woodward, Richard Healey, Jan Voosholz, Simon Friederich and Sach Mukherjee, before outlining his thoughts on Max Kistler’s piece.
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7Response to Part III: The View from the Life SciencesIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 363-375. 2021.In this response, George Ellis comments on the publications of part III. He responds first to Denis Noble, before outlining his thoughts on Larissa Albantakis’, Francesco Massari’s, Maggie Beheler-Amass’ and Giulio Tononi’s piece.
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9Response to Part II: The View from PhysicsIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 345-362. 2021.In this response, George Ellis comments on the publications of part II. He responds first to Barbara Drossel, before outlining his thoughts on Thomas Luss’s and Ulf-G. Meißner’s piece.
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17Responses to Part I: Applications of George Ellis’s Theory of CausationIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 329-344. 2021.In this response, George Ellis comments on the publications of Part I. He responds first to Sara Green and Robert Batterman, before outlining his thoughts on Otávio Bueno’s piece.
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20Physics, Determinism, and the BrainIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 157-214. 2021.This chapter responds to claims that causal closure of the underlying microphysics determines brain outcomes as a matter of principle, even if we cannot hope to ever carry out the needed calculations in practice. The reductionist position is that microphysics alone determines all, specifically the functioning of the brain. Here I respond to that claim in depth, claiming that if one firstly takes into account the difference between synchronic and diachronic emergence, and secondly takes seriously…Read more
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42Physical, Logical, and Mental Top-Down EffectsIn Jan Voosholz & Markus Gabriel (eds.), Top-Down Causation and Emergence, Springer Verlag. pp. 3-37. 2021.In this paper, we explore the architecture of downward causation on the basis of three central cases. We set out by answering the question of how top-down causation is possible in the universe. The universe is not causally closed, because of irreducible randomness at the quantum level. What is more, contextual effects can already be observed at the level of quantum physics, where higher levels can modify the nature of lower-level elements by changing their context, or even creating them. As one …Read more
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28Why Reductionism does not WorkIn Oliver Passon & Christoph Benzmüller (eds.), Wider den Reduktionismus -- Ausgewählte Beiträge zum Kurt Gödel Preis 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 51-92. 2021.Kurt Gödel opposed the reductionist viewpoint of logical positivism. The arguments I give below show he is correct. The reductionist explanation he opposed is doomed to failure.
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A History of cosmology 1917-1955In D. Howard & John Stachel (eds.), Einstein and the History of General Relativity, Birkhäuser. pp. 367--431. 1989.
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16The end of time: the next revolution in our understanding of the universeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 33 (2): 377-385. 2002.
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1On the Nature of Emergent RealityIn Philip Clayton & Paul Davies (eds.), The Re-Emergence of Emergence: The Emergentist Hypothesis From Science to Religion, Oxford University Press. 2006.
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60The Causal Closure of Physics in Real World ContextsFoundations of Physics 50 (10): 1057-1097. 2020.The causal closure of physics is usually discussed in a context free way. Here I discuss it in the context of engineering systems and biology, where strong emergence takes place due to a combination of upwards emergence and downwards causation. Firstly, I show that causal closure is strictly limited in terms of spatial interactions because these are cases that are of necessity strongly interacting with the environment. Effective Spatial Closure holds ceteris parabus, and can be violated by Black…Read more
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37Emergence in Solid State Physics and BiologyFoundations of Physics 50 (10): 1098-1139. 2020.There has been much controversy over weak and strong emergence in physics and biology. As pointed out by Phil Anderson in many papers, the existence of broken symmetries is the key to emergence of properties in much of solid state physics. By carefully distinguishing between different types of symmetry breaking and tracing the relation between broken symmetries at micro and macro scales, I demonstrate that the emergence of the properties of semiconductors is a case of strong emergence. This is d…Read more
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80Contextual Emergence of Physical PropertiesFoundations of Physics 50 (5): 481-510. 2020.Contextual emergence was originally proposed as an inter-level relation between different levels of description to describe an epistemic notion of emergence in physics. Here, we discuss the ontic extension of this relation to different domains or levels of physical reality using the properties of temperature and molecular shape as detailed case studies. We emphasize the concepts of stability conditions and multiple realizability as key features of contextual emergence. Some broader implications …Read more
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56Emergence of TimeFoundations of Physics 50 (3): 161-190. 2020.Microphysical laws are time reversible, but macrophysics, chemistry and biology are not. This paper explores how this asymmetry arises due to the cosmological context, where a non-local Direction of Time is imposed by the expansion of the universe. This situation is best represented by an Evolving Block Universe, where local arrows of time emerge in concordance with the Direction of Time because a global Past Condition results in the Second Law of Thermodynamics pointing to the future. At the qu…Read more
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25How Downwards Causation Occurs in Digital ComputersFoundations of Physics 49 (11): 1253-1277. 2019.Digital computers carry out algorithms coded in high level programs. These abstract entities determine what happens at the physical level: they control whether electrons flow through specific transistors at specific times or not, entailing downward causation in both the logical and implementation hierarchies. This paper explores how this is possible in the light of the alleged causal completeness of physics at the bottom level, and highlights the mechanism that enables strong emergence to occur.…Read more
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30The end of time: The next revolution in our understanding of the universe Julian Barbour, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 384pp., $16.95, ISBN 0195145925The life of the cosmos Lee Smolin, Oxford University Press, New York, 358pp., $16.95, ISBN 0195126645Just six numbers: The deep forces that shape the universe Martin Rees, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 208pp., $14.00, ISBN 0465036732 (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics. forthcoming.
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68Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free Will (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2009.The book includes contributions by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, George F. R. Ellis, Christopher D. Frith, Mark Hallett, David Hodgson, Owen D. Jones, Alicia Juarrero, J. A. Scott Kelso, Christof Koch, Hans Küng, Hakwan C. Lau, Dean Mobbs,...
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67Plato's Cave Revisited: Science at the InterfaceMind and Matter 7 (1): 9-36. 2008.Scientific exploration and thus our knowledge about the outside world is subject to the conditions of our experience.These conditions are condensed here into an interface model which,besides being physical,has an additional interface structure not reducible to physics. We suggest that this structure can dynamically be characterized by separate modes.Their selection and operation presupposes free will and a rudimentary concept of time and space. Based on some analogies with quantum networks it is…Read more
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53The arrow of time and the nature of spacetimeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (3): 242-262. 2013.This paper extends the work of a previous paper on the flow of time, to consider the origin of the arrow of time. It proposes that a ‘past condition’ cascades down from cosmological to micro scales, being realized in many microstructures and setting the arrow of time at the quantum level by top-down causation. This physics arrow of time then propagates up, through underlying emergence of higher level structures, to geology, astronomy, engineering, and biology. The appropriate spacetime picture t…Read more
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192On the philosophy of cosmologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 46 (1): 5-23. 2014.This paper gives an overview of significant issues in the philosophy of cosmology, starting off by emphasizing the uniqueness of the universe and the way models are used in description and explanation. It then considers, basic limits on observations; the need to test alternatives; ways to test consistency; and implications of the uniqueness of the universe as regards distinguishing laws of physics from contingent conditions. It goes on to look at the idea of a multiverse as a scientific explanat…Read more
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518Digital computers carry out algorithms coded in high level programs. These abstract entities determine what happens at the physical level: they control whether electrons flow through specific transistors at specific times or not, entailing downward causation in both the logical and implementation hierarchies. This paper explores how this is possible in the light of the alleged causal completeness of physics at the bottom level, and highlights the mechanism that enables strong emergence (the man…Read more
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36Revenge and forgiveness in the New South AfricaBehavioral and Brain Sciences 36 (1): 37-38. 2013.Insofar as South Africa underwent a rapid transformation from apartheid to democracy, it may provide a unique laboratory for investigating aspects of revenge and forgiveness. Here we suggest that observations and data from South Africa are partially consistent with the hypotheses generated by MCullough and colleagues. At the same time, the rich range of revenge and forgiveness phenomena in real-life settings is likely to require explanatory concepts other than specialized modules and their compu…Read more
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55The Standard Cosmological Model: Achievements and IssuesFoundations of Physics 48 (10): 1226-1245. 2018.The present day standard cosmological model is a great theoretical achievement. This chapter surveys the main themes that have arisen and issues that are still oustanding.
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