The concept of presence has been extensively explored in philosophy, yet the notion of particle presence within quantum theory remains under-examined. In this article, we explore particle presence through an analysis of a paradox arising from weak measurements. We show that the classical intuition about particle presence involves an erroneous logical combination of propositions from single-time weak values, leading to inconsistencies that result in the deduction of discontinuous trajectories. Instead, we argue that by treating presence as a property defined across time by measuring sequential weak values, the discontinuity paradox is resolved, providing a coherent, non-classical account of particle presence. We discuss some advantages and drawbacks of this account, and consider applications to other cases of trajectory discontinuity.
I revisit Roberto Torretti's "Spacetime Models for the World" [SHPMP 31 (2):171-186 (2000)] in the light of more recent work in (philosophy of) cosmology. I discuss the motivations for FLRW spacetimes as a natural starting point for inquiry, and I suggest contemporary cosmologists can avoid the rationalism that Torretti attributes to Einstein's early work in relativistic cosmology. I then discuss the senses in which FLRW models are idealized, and I show how those idealizations (and partial de-idealizations) have contributed to our understanding of the universe.
Raoni Arroyo, Lauro de Matos Nunes Filho, Frederik Moreira dos Santos
The processual consciousness interpretation (PCI), as developed in Arroyo (2024, chap. 5) and Arroyo, Nunes Filho, and Moreira dos Santos (2024), proposes a process ontology as a solution to the measurement problem. This article presents the standard interpretation taken to its ultimate ontological consequences; introduces the PCI; and offers reflections based on the questions raised about the PCI during the XX ANPOF Meeting, in the session of the WG on Philosophy of the Physical Sciences.
Fiona Preston-Whyte , Toshka Barnardo , Danica Marlin
et al.
Data gaps limit solutions and policy development for environmental issues. Citizen science offers a possible solution to reduce data gaps at a limited cost while enhancing environmental education (EE). While highly effective in the latter, citizen science campaigns rarely produce reliable, comparable, and meaningful data. This often results from fragmented awareness, varying data collection methods, and little training prior to data collection. This article explores how Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be used to train citizen scientists, increase the value of citizen science data, and ensure that resources invested in citizen science initiatives are used more efficiently. We use a beach macrolitter monitoring course developed by Sustainable Seas Trust (SST) (NGO/NPO) and GRID-Arendal (a research foundation) as a case study in Africa, since the marine litter issue has widespread public support, and beaches are pleasant locations that attract potential citizen scientists. Beach macrolitter surveys utilise everyday equipment, and monitoring methods are simple if individuals are supported with appropriate training. This is especially relevant in Africa, where plastic pollution is forecasted to increase faster than other regions, and resources for research can be limited. This article gives a modified problemsolution model (mPSM) perspective, considering the challenges and solutions of MOOC development by two organisations working in the same space with limited resources. Challenges to inclusivity for online training in Africa included language barriers and limited technological access. Using Africa as a case study, we show that by combining professional abilities, inclusive digital education can be achieved using data-light MOOCs, offline engagement and other inclusive strategies to overcome the challenges of m- (mobile) and e- (electronic) learning. This kind of EE can be a powerful tool in developing reliable data while enhancing citizens’ agency in working towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ObjectiveTo probe the heterogeneity and the influences of clinical nurses’ perceptions of differential atmosphere, and to investigate the relationship between each profile of differential atmosphere perception and organizational silence.MethodsWe adopted the General Information Questionnaire, the Differential Atmosphere Scale, and the Nurses’ Organizational Silence Assessment Questionnaire to survey 523 clinical nurses in three tertiary general hospitals in Shaanxi Province. And we estimated the potential categories of clinical nurses’ differential atmosphere perceptions via latent profile analysis, and quantified the influences on each profile via χ2 and logistic regression analyses, and probed the differences in the organizational silence scores of individuals with three differential atmosphere perception profiles through the least significant difference (LSD) method.ResultsThe differential atmosphere perception of clinical nurses was divided into “Insiders” (16.25%), “Go-betweens” (57.55%), and “Outsiders” (26.20%). Monthly income and years of working experience were the influencing factors of different categories of nurses’ differential atmosphere perceptions. There was a significant difference on the total organizational silence score and on the three profiles (p < 0.001), specifically, “Outsiders” > “Go-betweens” > “Insiders.”ConclusionThis study has identified three distinct subgroups in the differential atmosphere perception of nurses and their influencing factors. The findings demonstrated the heterogeneity among the clinical nursing population. Nursing managers may take prompt and targeted measures to reduce differential atmosphere perception, so as to improve the development of the nursing team.
Julian Rutten, Alexander Holland, Stanislav Roudavski
This research explores the idea of plants as designers and discusses approaches that humans can use to support plant’s productive agencies. It argues that plants have unique and valuable capabilities for creating and caring for their environments. Human interventions often overlook or constrain such capabilities. In response, the article proposes to use numerical modelling to better understand plants better while challenging the anthropocentric assumptions that are common in design. It focuses on large old trees in Tasmania as examples of outstanding plant-designers that need more recognition and protection. The article also raises open questions for further research on the ethical, ecological, and aesthetic implications of vegetal design.
This article originates from a KeyGroup presentation at the June 2022 Performance Philosophy Problems conference in Helsinki in which the performers of Different Light Theatre Company, a learning-disabled theatre company based in Christchurch, New Zealand, interrogated the conference process, proposing their own research questions for the conference participants as well as questions about theatre, Zoom, and thinking. At the conclusion of the presentation, Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, asked how ‘we’ (academics and the learning-disabled) can be together in conferences in meaningful and inclusive ways. Two separate pieces form a response to Maoilearca’s question: one from McCaffrey and the other from Maguire-Rosier and Gibson, all participants of the KeyGroup. McCaffrey starts and ends with videos of performance (and transcription). Firstly the video message sent by Different Light to the Helsinki conference and secondly The Journeyings of Different Light at the ADSA (Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies) conference at the University of Auckland, New Zealand in December 2022. The performance questions the company's self or ‘voice’ as determined by the negotiation between the learning-disabled artists, the facilitation of a non-disabled director, and the reception of the performance by a (primarily) non-disabled audience. The middle section is an account by McCaffrey as an ‘unreliable director’ of the processes and politics of making learning-disabled theatre. It performatively demonstrates how the voices of the performers are ‘problems’ for theatrical performance, for an academic conference, and for performance philosophy. Maguire-Rosier and Gibson’s easy-read “story” introduces a dance theatre project in Australia (Days Like These) and a socially engaged theatre project in the USA (To Whom I May Concern) to open up scholarship to people usually excluded from academia due to the density of academic language. Although we keep the offerings separate, both advance the idea that learning-disabled theatre and theatres where people show and share disability and diagnoses of dementia disturb some of the key assumptions of theatre and performance studies, notably ‘withness’ and ‘aboutness’. In terms of ‘withusness’, learning disabled theatre provokes a reconsideration of long-held assumptions concerning liveness and co-presence.
This is a short historical note about the visit of Prof. G. Klipping of Fritz Haber Institute, Germany, to the low temperature physics laboratory of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. During his visit in 1979, Klipping delivered a series of lectures on cryogenic practices and low temperature physics in the physics department. The authors, both Masters degree students at that time, with a specialization in cryogenics, attended these lectures arranged by Prof. R. Srinivasan then head of the Low Temperature laboratory. In this non technical note, the authors attempt to portray the research philosophy and attitudes of Klipping as captured through many wise remarks and snippets which formed an integral part of his lectures. In the 1970-80s Klipping made invaluable contributions to the development of cryogenics research in India.
Recent philosophical discussions about metaphysical indeterminacy have been substantiated with the idea that quantum mechanics, one of the most successful physical theories in the history of science, provides explicit instances of worldly indefiniteness. Against this background, several philosophers underline that there are alternative formulations of quantum theory in which such indeterminacy has no room and plays no role. A typical example is Bohmian mechanics in virtue of its clear particle ontology. Contrary to these latter claims, this paper aims at showing that different pilot-wave theories do in fact instantiate diverse forms of metaphysical indeterminacy. Namely, I argue that there are various questions about worldly states of affairs that cannot be determined by looking exclusively at their ontologies and dynamical laws. Moreover, it will be claimed that Bohmian mechanics generates a new form of modal indeterminacy. Finally, it will be concluded that ontological clarity and indeterminacy are not mutually exclusive, i.e., the two can coexist in the same theory.
Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) foi um renomado pesquisador alemão da segunda metade do século XIX e início do século XX. Parte de sua produção científica foi devotada a defender e divulgar as ideias darwinianas de modificação das espécies em seu país. Entre as ideias de Haeckel, destaca-se a Lei Biogenética Fundamental, na qual ele afirmava que os estágios de desenvolvimento pelos quais passam os embriões recapitulam a história evolutiva do filo. Para explicar essa ideia, na obra Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (História Natural da Criação) de 1868, Haeckel utilizou ilustrações de embriões que foram alvo de críticas e acusações de fraude e plágio. Este artigo tem por objetivos analisar o uso que Ernst Haeckel fez dessas ilustrações, relatando algumas das críticas de cientistas contemporâneas e posteriores e proporcionar um material para atividades pedagógicas voltadas ao ensino de evolução biológica e desenvolvimento embrionário. Em aproximação a análises realizadas por alguns historiadores da ciência, conclui-se que Haeckel se defendeu razoavelmente e que a motivação maior das críticas era o ataque ao darwinismo.
Biology (General), Epistemology. Theory of knowledge
Leonardo André Testoni, Vera Maria Nigro de Souza Placco
O contexto da educação básica brasileira caracteriza-se, de modo geral, na atuação de docentes com descompassos formativos, que ministram aulas de diversas disciplinas, no caso dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental, ou que lecionam disciplinas diversas de sua área de formação, no caso das séries finais e ensino médio. Nessa linha, diversos estudos apontam para a evidência de lacunas e imprecisões conceituais no planejamento de intervenções didáticas, devido ao precário desenvolvimento profissional. Desse modo, o presente artigo traz uma revisão teórica sistemática sobre o tema relacionado aos conhecimentos profissionais do magistério e busca contribuir com tal debate, trazendo como resultado a proposta de uma visão do processo de construção de saberes docentes com base em modelos do conhecimento pedagógico de conteúdo articulados com os processos de criação vigotskianos. Tal proposta possibilitou possíveis implicações das articulações apresentadas em associação com as pesquisas relacionadas à formação docente, bem como com propostas formativas, que levem em consideração o contexto cultural do professor, especificamente seus esquemas repertoriais, aqui representados pelo espectro criativo. Desse modo, pretende-se que os contextos formativos utilizem e incrementem o repertório professoral, repertório este fundamental para o desenvolvimento de novos Conhecimentos Pedagógicos de Conteúdo em um caráter transformativo, possibilitando práticas que permitam o desenvolvimento profissional docente.
Recent work on the status of astrophysical modeling in the wake of quantum gravity indicates that a 'fauxrizon' (portmanteau of 'faux horizon'), such as is relevant to understanding astrophysical black holes according to the fuzzball proposal within string theory, might ultimately solve the familiar black hole evaporation paradox. I clarify, with general upshots for the foundations of quantum gravity research, some of what this suggestion would amount to: identification of intertheoretic constraints on global spacetime structure in (observer-relative) semiclassical models of fuzzballs.