Newton's conception of time has had a profound influence upon science, particularly psychology. Five characteristics of explanation have devolved from Newton's temporal framework: objectivity, continuity, linearity, universality, and reductivity. These characteristics are outlined in the present essay and shown to be central to psychological theories and methods. Indeed, Newton's temporal framework is so central that it often goes unexamined in psychology. Examination is important, however, because recent critics of Newton's framework - including both scientists and philosophers - have questioned its (...) validity and usefulness. (shrink)

Summary A study of the metallurgy and manufacturing techniques of a group of eight astrolabes using non-destructive methods has produced the earliest evidence for systematic use of high-zinc brass. To produce this alloy, the brass industry supplying the Lahore instrument makers must have co-melted metallic copper and zinc. This brass-making technology was previously believed to have been developed on an industrial scale in the nineteenth century in Europe. This work hypothesizes that this technology was used in Lahore on an industrial (...) scale as early as ad 1601. In addition, this work hypothesizes that the α + β brass alloy was used specifically for its ease in manufacturing the thin sheet brass required for astrolabe-component manufacture. (shrink)

Early versions of satellite and radiosonde datasets suggested that the tropical surface had warmed more than the troposphere, while climate models consistently showed tropospheric amplification of surface warming in response to human-caused increases in greenhouse gases. We revisit such comparisons here using new observational estimates of surface and tropospheric temperature changes. We find that there is no longer a serious discrepancy between modeled and observed trends in the tropics. Our results contradict a recent claim that all simulated temperature trends in (...) the tropical troposphere are inconsistent with observations. This claim was based on the use of older radiosonde and satellite datasets and on two methodological errors: the neglect of observational trend uncertainties introduced by interannual climate variability and application of an inappropriate statistical “consistency test”.This emerging reconciliation of models and observations has two primary explanations. First, because of changes in the treatment of buoy and satellite information, new surface temperature datasets yield slightly reduced tropical warming relative to earlier versions. Second, recently developed satellite and radiosonde datasets now show larger warming of the tropical lower troposphere. In the case of a new satellite dataset from remote sensing systems, enhancedRSS warming is due to an improved procedure of adjusting for inter-satellite biases. When the RSS-derived tropospheric temperature trend is compared with four different observed estimates of surface temperature change, the surface warming is invariably amplified in the tropical troposphere, consistent with model results. Even if we use data from a second satellite dataset with smaller tropospheric warming than in remote sensing systems RSS, observed tropical lapse rates are not significantly different from those in all model simulations.Our results contradict a recent claim that all simulated temperature trends in the tropical troposphere and in tropical lapse rates are inconsistent with observations. This claim was based on the use of older radiosonde and satellite datasets and on two methodological errors: the neglect of observational trend uncertainties introduced by interannual climate variability and application of an inappropriate statistical “consistency test”. (shrink)

Merleau-Ponty had projected a work of considerable dimensions, according to Lefort, which was to have borne the title now given to this posthumous volume. Though the chapters he had actually written out and the notes de travail selected by Lefort for this edition seem to be only introductory parts and suggestions of the larger work, they are already considerable in richness, depth and difficulty. Here we find Merleau-Ponty returning to the problems of his earlier works, showing why the problems posed (...) in the Phenomenology of Perception were "insoluble"; examining in ever greater depth the thought of Descartes, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Sartre; uncovering the naiveté of scientific thinking and the false sophistication of reflective, dialectical and intuitionistic philosophies. He has moved well beyond phenomenology in the strict sense, toward his own interrogation ontologique and a theory of logic. Lefort has done an extraordinary and exemplary job of organizing, editing and annotating the manuscripts. —A. B. D. and C. D. (shrink)

This first article is intended as a brief introduction to the general philosophical assumptions of Newton: namely, his mathematicism, empiricism, positivism, reductionism, and dualism. These five "isms" provide an important background to the main articles that are also briefly described.

Evidence suggests that psychedelics bring about their therapeutic outcomes in part through the subjective or qualitative effects they engender and how the individual interprets the resulting experiences. However, psychedelics are contraindicated for individuals who have been diagnosed with certain mental illnesses, on the grounds that these subjective effects may be disturbing or otherwise counter-therapeutic. Substantial resources are therefore currently being devoted to creating psychedelic substances that produce many of the same biological changes as psychedelics, but without their characteristic subjective effects. (...) In this article, we consider ethical issues arising from the prospect of such potential “nonsubjective” psychedelics. We are broadly supportive of efforts to produce such substances for both scientific and clinical reasons. However, we argue that such nonsubjective psychedelics should be reserved for those special cases in which the subjective effects of psychedelics are specifically contraindicated, whereas classic psychedelics that affect subjective experience should be considered the default and standard of care. After reviewing evidence regarding the subjective effects of psychedelics, we raise a number of ethical concerns around the prospect of withholding such typically positive, meaningful, and therapeutic experiences from most patients. (shrink)

This is a compact, comparative analysis of Western and Chinese thought according to distinctive styles of thought and attitudes toward the world and what can be known of it. The model of Western Philosophy is presented as an abstract whole beyond experience—the Kantian ideal; the model of Chinese thought is a concrete whole found in experience. Chinese thought, as amply represented by passages from Confucius, Mencius and others, always has a feeling for the concrete, for a particular fact intuitively suggesting (...) a universal law; and it always has a predilection for paradox. The author thinks that abstract Western thought is still under the sway of Kant's concepts and forms of judgment, even in its current tendency toward the concrete.—A. B. D. (shrink)

Edith Stein was Husserl's student and private secretary. This study of empathy was originally her doctoral dissertation. After a reduction to pure consciousness, she describes the essence of empathy as a kind of perception sui generis, both like and unlike other acts of consciousness. Different theories of experiencing the other are briefly evaluated. The second part of the book is devoted to the role of empathy in the constitution of the psycho-physical individual and, ultimately, of the person. Written in short, (...) numbered paragraphs, the analysis tends to be jerky and without direction. But there is a sustained description of the living body, antedating Merleau-Ponty's corps vécu by thirty years. The translation seems too literal, and typographical errors abound.—A. B. D. (shrink)

This collection of Professor S. Sastri's work indicates the depth of his contribution to Indian philosophy. The reader will find his development of Bradley's Idealism in the light of the Advaita tradition to be of special philosophic interest.--D. P. B.

Father Dougherty's textbook is relatively indistinguishable from a host of similar Thomistic manuals. There are the invariable definitions of being, substances, causality, etc., followed by the usual refutations of alien philosophies plus the inevitable series of pedagogical questions at the end of each chapter. It is curious that despite the continual fulminations of certain neo-Thomists against textbook Thomism, there appears a new harvest of such textbooks every year.—D. J. B.

We apply an online optimization process based on machine learning to the production of Bose-Einstein condensates. BEC is typically created with an exponential evaporation ramp that is optimal for ergodic dynamics with two-body s-wave interactions and no other loss rates, but likely sub-optimal for real experiments. Through repeated machine-controlled scientific experimentation and observations our ’learner’ discovers an optimal evaporation ramp for BEC production. In contrast to previous work, our learner uses a Gaussian process to develop a statistical model of the (...) relationship between the parameters it controls and the quality of the BEC produced. We demonstrate that the Gaussian process machine learner is able to discover a ramp that produces high quality BECs in 10 times fewer iterations than a previously used online optimization technique. Furthermore, we show the internal model developed can be used to determine which parameters are essential in BEC creation and which are unimportant, providing insight into the optimization process of the system. (shrink)

This volume begins a series in which the editor intends to do for sociologists what Schilpp has done for philosophers. Sorokin as sociologist, philosopher, anthropologist, sexologist, and political theorist is the topic of the critical essays by international experts in these fields. Sorokin himself contributes a sociological autobiography and a "Reply to My Critics."--A. B. D.

A swift, journalistic run-through of what many great men and many experts have said about the above emotions, with asides by the author.—A. B. D.