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arXiv Open Access 2026
Does Quantum Cosmology Predict the Age of the Universe?

Álvaro Mozota Frauca

The problem of time of quantum gravity has been argued to make canonical approaches unsatisfactory. In this article I study how it affects quantum cosmology and reach the same conclusion. The advantage of studying the cosmological case is that its simplicity makes the discussion much clearer and less technical. The classical models I will be concerned with describe how two degrees of freedom, the scale factor and a scalar field, evolve with respect to a time variable. After quantizing the model, this time variable just disappears, and I argue that this is problematic. Indeed, this variable in the classical model allowed us to make claims like `the universe is 13.8 billion years old' and I will argue that these claims are physically meaningful predictions that are lost in quantum cosmology. I will analyze some of the relational positions in the quantum gravity and quantum cosmology literature that tend to deny the physical meaning of time variables and I will argue against them for the case of classical cosmology. I conclude that the age of the universe is a physical prediction of classical cosmological models, that it is missing from quantum cosmology, and that this should make us suspect that there is something wrong with this sort of approach.

en physics.hist-ph, gr-qc
arXiv Open Access 2025
Holistic Versus Fragmented Multiverses: Empirical Access via Causal and Grounding Signatures

Baptiste Le Bihan

Can multiverse hypotheses ever receive empirical support? Critics argue that multiverse scenarios posit unobservable entities, face severe underdetermination, or fall outside the bounds of science. This chapter challenges that view by offering a naturalistic metaphysical counterpoint to Bayesian approaches, distinguishing fragmented from holistic multiverses. Scientific proposals are almost always holistic: they embed universes within a unifying physical or metaphysical structure that can, in principle, leave empirical signatures inside the universes. I develop a typology of such signatures and show how it applies to leading scenarios from quantum theory, cosmology, and string theory. This framework clarifies why objections such as the `this universe' objection and a newly articulated generalization, the epistemic isolation objection, fail against scientifically motivated multiverses. The upshot is a qualified defence: while fragmented multiverses remain empirically inaccessible, certain holistic multiverses could, in principle, be supported by the same epistemic standards used elsewhere in physics.

en physics.hist-ph
arXiv Open Access 2025
Timaeus' Puzzle of the Innumerable Interstices in a Universe Without Void

Luc Brisson, Salomon Ofman

Some of the most challenging problems in Timaeus' cosmology arise from the geometry of a universe without any void. On the one hand, the universe is spherical in shape; on the other hand, it must be entirely filled with the four basic particles that make up all bodies in the universe, each shaped like one of four regular polyhedra (cubes, tetrahedra, octahedra and icosahedra). The faces of all these particles are composed of right triangles. However, this leads to two mathematical impossibilities. 1. Obtaining a spherical surface from linear surfaces, as it is impossible to create a circle from straight lines. 2. Obtaining a complete tiling of a sphere using regular polyhedra, without any voids or intersections between these polyhedra. The first problem is addressed in another article slated for publication. In the present one, our focus will be on the second problem, for which we will present a solution within the framework of Timaeus' cosmology. The crux of this solution lies in a feature of Timaeus' universe that sets it apart from almost all ancient cosmologies. Instead of being composed of rigid parts, it is a dynamic living body in which all basic components are in constant motion, continuously undergoing both destruction and reconstruction. In the first part, we examine the main features of Timaeus' cosmology relevant to our issue. In the second part, we analyze the paradox in details and its consequences for Timaeus' cosmology. We then discuss the common 'solutions' and highlight their shortcomings. Finally, we propose a solution that we believe is consistent with Plato's text and independent of the choice of the major schools of interpretation of the Timaeus.

en math.HO, physics.hist-ph
S2 Open Access 1962
A History of Greek Philosophy

W. Guthrie

All volumes of Professor Guthrie's great history of Greek philosophy have won their due acclaim. The most striking merits of Guthrie's work are his mastery of a tremendous range of ancient literature and modern scholarship, his fairness and balance of judgement and the lucidity and precision of his English prose. He has achieved clarity and comprehensiveness.

625 sitasi en Philosophy
arXiv Open Access 2024
How do we Observe Relational Observables?

Emily Adlam

In theories with a diffeomorphism symmetry, such as general relativity and canonical quantum gravity, it is often proposed that the empirical content is encoded in relational observables. But how do relational observables actually make contact with experience? I argue that this question can only be answered by providing a schematization of the observer which is appropriate for the context of a diffeomorphism-invariant theory. I suggest that this may require us to move away from a `passive awareness' conception of consciousness towards a more agential conception, because there is a clear sense in which an embodied agent must experience herself as localised at a time. Finally, I consider what this means for the prospects of using quantum reference frames to address the problem of time, arguing that the way in which quantum reference frames are standardly described does not give us adequate resources to model agency, so some other kind of internal reference frame may be required to fully explain how we observe relational observables in the quantum context.

en physics.hist-ph, quant-ph
DOAJ Open Access 2024
The relationship between effort-reward imbalance and quality of working life among medical caregivers: mediating effects of job burnout

Huang Qi, Sun Hongyan, He Song et al.

BackgroundTo determine the relationship between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and quality of working life (QWL) among medical caregivers and the mediating role of job burnout.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional survey. A total of 787 medical caregivers at seven hospitals from Sichuan and Chongqing, China, between May to September 2023 were included in this observational study. The General Information Questionnaire, Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERI), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), and Quality of Working Life Scale (QWL7-32) were used for data collection. SPSS 26.0 and PROCESSv3.3 were used for all data analyses, including descriptive statistics.ResultsA total of 820 questionnaires were distributed, of which only 787 were valid (return rate; 95.98%). The QWL score of medical caregivers was 126.94 ± 16.69. However, QWL scores were significantly different depending on age, number of children, family support status, department, years of experience, night shift status, number of night shifts per month, number of hours worked per day, monthly income, and occurrence of errors or adverse events (p < 0.05). Furthermore, job burnout and ERI were negatively correlated with QWL (p < 0.01). Job burnout mediated (95% CI = -0.365, −0.260) the relationship between ERI and QWL, accounting for 58.65% of the total effect.ConclusionMedical caregivers have a medium level of QWL. Job burnout partially mediates the relationship between ERI and QWL. Medical caregiver managers can improve QWL by directly intervening in occupational stress and indirectly intervening in job burnout.

DOAJ Open Access 2024
Identity Politics and the Militarisation of Constitutional Law

Giuseppe Martinico

In this article, I shall focus on the legal consequences of one of the most obvious features of populisms: identity politics. In particular, I shall explore how populists in power use constitutional law to identify and fight the alleged enemy, thus confirming their Schmittian flavour. In Schmitt, public law becomes part of a constitutional narrative that represents the people as forged by a static identity that goes back to the mythological origin of the legal system. This reconstruction is based on an organicistic reading of the concept of the people. This identitarian public law makes instrumental use of the moral argument, the historical argument and the religious argument. Populists in government tend to militarise constitutional law in many ways and in this article I will focus on two strategies: one that looks backwards, consisting of the instrumentalisation of the argument of constituent power; and one that looks forward and leverages the use of constitutional amendment.

Political science, Jurisprudence. Philosophy and theory of law
arXiv Open Access 2022
Reopening the Hole Argument

Klaas Landsman

This expository paper relates the Hole Argument in general relativity (GR) to the well-known theorem of Choquet-Bruhat and Geroch (1969) on the existence and uniqueness of globally hyperbolic solutions to the Einstein field equations. Like the Earman-Norton (1987) version of the Hole Argument (which is originally due to Einstein), this theorem exposes the tension beween determinism and some version of spacetime substantivalism. But it seems less vulnerable to the campaign by Weatherall (2018) and followers to close the Hole Argument on the basis of ``mathematical practice'', since the theorem only talks about isometries and hence does not make the pointwise identifications via diffeomorphisms that Weatherall objects to. Among other implications of the theorem for the philosophy of GR, we reconsider Butterfield's (1987) influential definition of determinism. This should be amended if its goal is to express the idea that \GR\ is deterministic in the absence of Cauchy horizons, although its original form does capture the way GR is indeterministic in their presence! Furthermore, in GR isometries come out as gauge symmetries, as do Poincar'e transformations in special relativity. Finally, I discuss some implications of the theorem for the philosophy of science: accepting the determinism horn still requires a choice between Frege-style abstractionism and Hilbert-style structuralism; and, within the latter, between structural realism and empiricist structuralism (which I favour).

en gr-qc, math-ph
DOAJ Open Access 2022
"I could easily get professional help if I wanted to": Professional help-seeking intentions and the Theory of planned behaviour

Naumova Katerina

This study used path analysis to evaluate the ability of the Theory of planned behaviour to predict professional help-seeking intentions in an adult community sample (N = 470, 51% female, age range: 18–64 years). The results showed that perceived behavioural control was the most significant antecedent of help-seeking intentions, positive attitudes increased the likelihood to seek professional help, however, their effect was small, while subjective norms were not relevant. Past help-seeking had a small direct effect on intentions, yet equally strong as the total indirect effect via attitudes and perceived behavioural control. Psychological distress affected intentions only indirectly. Difficulties with self-disclosure were the only barrier that had a partially mediated effect on intentions through perceived behavioural control. The findings are discussed with respect to the utility of the TPB model, as well as in the wider context of professional help-seeking and interventions to encourage the utilization of mental health services.

DOAJ Open Access 2022
The spiritual experience of Chinese Muslim minorities post-1998 reformation: A study of Chinese Muslims becoming Indonesians

Acep Aripudin, Mohammad T. Rahman, Dede Burhanudin et al.

This article describes a new method of viewing a historical phenomenon based on its social significance. This method enabled the classification and analysis of a group in a context simultaneously and chronologically. Using historical phenomenology, the authors found a polarisation of Chinese Muslims’ thoughts and practices in the Indonesian context. As an example, the technique of classification of Islamic thoughts is illustrated to discover Chinese Muslim figures’ religious activities. This method allows an improved social investigation to probe deeply into Chinese Muslims’ formal religious life. The evaluation of the effectiveness of the new method is confirmed by the calculation of the polarisation of Chinese Muslim religiousness, leading to the fragmentation and diversification of Indonesian Chinese Muslims in the realms of politics, economic practices or Islamic rituals. New research results improve the understanding of how a social history of an ethnicity could grow and assimilate in a context. The assimilation could contribute to religious harmony in such a pluralistic country such as Indonesia and can be used for making better social decisions, especially related to the lives of minorities, who urgently need policymakers and stakeholders to accommodate the rights of those who are still in the process of gaining fairer recognition. Contribution: Using historical phenomenology, this article tries to classify and study a group in a setting concurrently and chronologically. An in-depth social inquiry into the formal religious life of Chinese Muslims discovered a calculation of religious Chinese Muslims’ polarisation, which led to the dispersion and diversification of Indonesian Chinese Muslims’ politics, economic practices and Islamic rituals. New policy proposals can be made by evaluating religious polarisation.

The Bible, Practical Theology
arXiv Open Access 2021
Spacetime is material

Luciano Combi

Space and time are central concepts for understanding our World. They are important ingredients at the core of every scientific theory and subject of intense debate in philosophy. Albert Einstein's Special and General theories of Relativity showed that space and time blend in a single entity called spacetime. Even after a century of its conception, many questions about the nature of spacetime remain controversial. In this chapter, we analyze the ontological status of spacetime from a realistic and materialistic point of view. We start by outlining the well-known controversy between substantivalism and relationalism and the evolution of the debate with the appearance of General Relativity. We analyze how to interpret spacetime as a physical system and how to model its properties in a background-free theory where spacetime itself is dynamical. We discuss the concept of change, energy, and the ontology of spacetime events. In the last section, we review the mereology of spacetime and its relevance in cosmology.

en physics.hist-ph, gr-qc
S2 Open Access 1989
The American Evasion of Philosophy

C. West

Part 1 The Emersonian prehistory of American pragmatism: Emerson on power (and tradition) Emerson on provocation (and the market) Emerson on personality (and race) Emerson as organic intellectual. Part 2 The historic emergence of American pragmatism: Peirce on scientific method, community and Christian love James on individuality, reconciliation and heroic energies. Part 3 The coming-of-age of American pragmatism - John Dewey: Dewey on historical consciousness, critical intelligence nad creative democracy. Part 4 The dilemna of the mid-century pragmatic intellectual: the Deweyan political intellectual, Sidney Hook the Neo-Deweyan radical social critic, C.Wright Mills the Jamesian organic intellectual, W.E.B. Du Bois the Jamesian cultural critic, Reinhold Niebuhr the pragmatist as Arnoldian literary critic, Lionel Trilling. Part 5 The decline and resurgence of American pragmatism - W.V. Quine and Richard Rorty. Part 6 Prophetic pragmatism - cultural criticism and political engagement: Roberto Unger and third-wave left romanticism the challenge of Michel Foucault tragedy, tradition and political praxis prophetic pragmatism and postmodernity.

478 sitasi en Political Science, Sociology
arXiv Open Access 2020
Large gauge transformations, gauge invariance, and the QCD $θ_{\text{YM}}$-term

Henrique Gomes, Aldo Riello

The eliminative view of gauge degrees of freedom -- the view that they arise solely from descriptive redundancy and are therefore eliminable from the theory -- is a lively topic of debate in the philosophy of physics. Recent work attempts to leverage properties of the QCD $θ_{\text{YM}}$-term to provide a novel argument against the eliminative view. The argument is based on the claim that the QCD $θ_{\text{YM}}$-term changes under "large" gauge transformations. Here we review geometrical propositions about fiber bundles that unequivocally falsify these claims: the $θ_{\text{ YM}}$-term encodes topological features of the fiber bundle used to represent gauge degrees of freedom, but it is fully gauge-invariant. Nonetheless, within the essentially classical viewpoint pursued here, the physical role of the $θ_{\text{YM}}$-term shows the physical importance of bundle topology (or superpositions thereof) and thus weighs against (a naive) eliminativism.

en physics.hist-ph, hep-th

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