Some have argued that certain claims about the natural world, e.g., the laws of nature, are not metaphysically necessary, but they are necessary in some more restricted, natural sense. In this paper, I give preliminary arguments for the existence of social necessities, i.e., claims about social reality that are necessary. I then argue that many social necessities are not metaphysically necessary and cannot be explained in terms of metaphysical necessity. Thus, there is a kind of modality distinct from metaphysical modality, i.e., social modality. In turn, this has important methodological upshots. Questions about what is socially possible are best raised and resolved from the perspective and interests of social inquirers trying to understand historical and causal specificities of the actual world. Moreover, the arguments I give raise pressing questions about modal injustice, i.e., how a person or group can be harmed in virtue of what social possibilities exist for them.
The article shows that the process of revising the foundations of fundamental physics is currently underway. It is necessary to take into account that modern physics is based on the established concepts of macrophysics, which extend to microphysics and megaphysics, while at present there is a conviction that it is necessary to develop an independent system of concepts and patterns inherent in the physics of the microworld and megaworld, from which the concepts of the macroworld follow. In this case, it is most important to derive from the sought-after concepts of the microand megaworld the concepts of classical space-time, which underlies macrophysics. It is proposed to use the theory of binary systems of complex relations as the initial concepts of the microworld, which also affect the foundations of the physics of the megaworld. It is shown that in the theory of the megaworld, the key role is played by Mach’s principle, which is not properly taken into account in modern cosmology.
Gravitationally bound systems in curved space-time are considered. The objects subject to quantization are graviatoms, the early Universe, external fields, geometry in general, and space-time itself.
The article examines the history of the creation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which is a modern theory of strong interactions and part of the standard model in elementary particle physics. The main stages in this development associated with the turning events on the way to QCD are identified and studied: 1) the creation of the quark model (1964); 2) detection of quasipoint objects inside nucleons in experiments on deep-inelastic scattering of leptons on nucleons and the hypothesis of partons (1968-1969); 3) proof of the renormalizability of gauge theories (1971); 1. the creation of the gauge theory of quarks and gluons (the achievement of M. Gell-Mann with colleagues, 1971-1973); 5) the discovery of the phenomenon of asymptotic freedom as the physical basis of QCD (D. Gross et al., 1973). The conclusion is made about the importance and consistency of the achievements of each of these groups at the end of the QCD.
The paper considers the analogy between binary complex systems of relations in binary geometrophysics and monads in Leibniz’s philosophical system. It is shown that in physical reality, elementary processes described by binary systems of complex relations play the role of material projections of monads. The interpretation of various types of monads from the point of view of binary geometrophysics is discussed. A model of the multiverse based on the formation of successive chains of elementary processes is proposed.
The article demonstrates how the properties of the quantum world can be noncontradictory explained without using mathematical apparatus. They are generally considered incompatible with the logic of classical macroscopic physics. Indeed, wave-particle duality, magnetic pulses, negative energy, non-locality, entanglement, and other phenomena are not fit into the usual picture of the world. However, just one assumption provides the key to understanding most quantum paradoxes. If we assume that there is real and equal forward and backward in time movement in the microcosm, then we can find a simple explanation that is compatible with the principles of causality, conservation and symmetry.
A brief review of experimental works is given, which lead to the idea of the existence of longitudinal-scalar waves. Experiments performed on the Mozhaisk reservoir are considered in detail, and demonstrating the possibility of propagation of electromagnetic waves between the transmitting and receiving modules at a distance of 150-200 m (1000 or more wavelengths) at a depth of 4 m (27 wavelengths). The obtained result and the design of the antenna system used allow us to assume that the communication between the transmitting and receiving modules was carried out using longitudinal-scalar waves. The possibility of signal propagation through the “water- air ” and “air-water ” interfaceis shown.
One of the main tasks of the metarelational approach to the description of spacetime and physical interactions is the derivation of space-time quantities from more fundamental laws describing the most basic physical processes in the microworld. Such processes, in particular, include acts of emission and absorption of electromagnetic radiation by elementary particles. It was previously shown that statistical accounting of all possible acts of electromagnetic interactions in a system of particles with discrete spectra of hydrogen atoms leads to the possibility of determining the scales of distances and time in such a system. This result was compared with the presence of accompanying and proper coordinates in cosmology, and also led to an expression for the scale factor linking these systems. In this paper, this result is generalized: it is shown that the distribution function of emitter and absorber configurations is related to the metric in the classical theory of gravity, and the key role of the extended (strong) Mach principle is demonstrated.
The article analyzes the development of the metaphysical approach from Pythagoras to Leibniz and Mach. The general trend in the views of these great thinkers on the foundations and structure of the surrounding world is discussed.
A brief description of the theory of measurement problems as physical and mathematical problems for the solution of which the initial data are obtained by measurements is given. The results of applying this theory to the analysis of data on the redshift of SNIa supernovae in the format of the cosmological distance scale model used as evidence of the “acceleration of the expansion of the Universe” using the programs “MMK-stat” are considered. An alternative interpretation of these data can be the action of gravitational dipoles of large-scale inhomogeneity of the Universe.
The article presents the results of the most significant theoretical and experimental works in the field of using electromagnetic high-frequency waves in the marine environment, published in the 20th and early 21st centuries. The main characteristics of wave propagation, observed effects, and recommendations for the development and design of effective underwater antennas are briefly described.
In classical mechanics, the motion of a body is characterized by scalar and vector measures of motion. The scalar measure of motion is kinetic energy, the vector measure is momentum. Both of these measures obey the conservation law. In the theory of relativity, a formula is derived that gives the relationship between the mass of a body and its energy (E = mc2 ) . Thisformula fits the value of the kinetic energy of a moving body, but there is still no answer to the question of how to interpret the energy, which is equivalent to the mass of a body at rest, i.e. when m = m0 . An attempt to answer it led the author to the conclusion that in the energy balance of a physical body one must take into account its external and internal energy, which, in turn, should be seen as a combination of kinetic and potential energy. To draw such a conclusion, we had to turn to the analysis of Newton’s law of inertia, and then to its generalization based on the study of the phenomenon of red shift of electromagnetic radiation in astrophysics. The article describes a quantum approach to the phenomenon of redshift in the spectra of galaxies, and then this approach is complemented by conclusions that follow from the two-spin interpretation of the solution to the quantum relativistic Dirac equation, which describes the free motion of an electron. Among the fundamental results is a new, unorthodox approach to constructing a cosmological picture of the world.
The initial idea of potential-vortex electrodynamics theory is discussed. Differential equations of generalized electrodynamics and wave equations describing both transverse and longitudinal electromagnetic waves are presented. The process of radiation of both types of waves by a half-wave Hertz vibrator is described. It is shown that longitudinal electromagnetic waves propagate in electrically conducting media. A short review of publications containing the results of experiments with longitudinal waves is given.
The focus of this paper is on the metaphysical nature of multidimensional properties, properties like virtue, beauty, or health which can be had in different ways and to different degrees. Do such properties form their own sui generis kind, as existing discussions seem to suggest, or can we rather reductively account for them, relying on notions which may already be present in our ontology or ideology? In this paper, I will introduce a reductionist account of multidimensional properties, making a partial case for Reductionism.
While Aristotle counts many things as members of the category of substances that seem intuitively to be substances, one wonders whether Aristotle is right not to include social entities like families, city-states, or mobs, in any of his explications of substances. According to Aristotle, the persons who are in a social entity bear active powers, but he is silent on whether the social entity itself can. In this paper, I examine whether Aristotle rightly and intentionally does not include social entities in his list of things that are substances and can thus have active powers. I argue that either communities are substances in virtue of their status as bearers of powers or Aristotle is wrong that only substances are the bearers of powers. To make this argument, I begin with a primer on Aristotle’s discussion of active powers, followed by an account of how Aristotle regards social entities in the Politics. Next, I discuss one contemporary view on the ontology of social entities with an eye for how this account shapes our understanding of the actions and powers of social entities. Putting these pieces together, the paper will articulate Aristotle’s plural power problem, which will require defenders of Aristotle to pick a horn of the dilemma to make Aristotle’s views compatible with a more accurate understanding of social entities.
Over the last decade it has been pointed out by several philosophers that not all Status Function Declarations are synchronic: some such declarations are directed toward the absolute past. Such Status Function Declarations are perplexing if one is an ontic realist with respect to institutional properties and states of affairs. If successful, such Status Function Declarations seem to change the absolute past; at the very least, they seem to involve some form of absolute backward generation. Both consequences look problematic: the notions that the absolute past can change and that there is absolute backward generation are both regularly accused of being contradictory or entailing implausible metaphysics. In this paper, I argue that both issues can be avoided if the ‘results’ of absolutely backward-directed declarations are analysed in terms of mere Cambridge changes realised in B-time. A key upshot of the account is that ‘institutional properties’ are neither identifiable nor perfectly correlated with enablements and constraints, contrary to what is sometimes argued in the literature.
Timothy Williamson’s is a fascinating and challenging paper and I am afraid that in my short response I cannot do full justice to much of what he says. What I would like to do is to deal with four central issues raised by his paper. The first concerns the question of how to characterize the two theses that he finds in ‘Essence and Modality’ (henceforth referred to as E&M); the second is whether or how the use of functional expressions might lead us into mistakenly accepting certain essentialist judgements; the third is whether the error he finds in these cases might extend to the kinds of case considered in E&M; and the fourth is whether, on the basis of essentialist considerations, philosophers have reacted with undue haste in rejecting the intensional paradigm.
