Aristotle
milhayser | January 10, 2014Aristotle thought that there could be no lasting void in the natural order, that any emptiness would be instantaneously filled. Of course Aristotle was full of batty ideas. But this one came to be rephrased by philosophers and Vulcans alike as "nature abhors a vacuum," enduring as a powerful metaphor if not a precisely factual truth. In terms of critical thinking, scientists too abhor a vacuum, and are usually eager to fill in the blanks. On Pharyngula, PZ Myers criticizes a review of long-established brain anatomy, freshened with primary colors and a hypothesis that makes no sense.…
stoat | April 11, 2012And now for something almost completely different. This all begins at History of the infinite where I said it might be fun to work out why his [Aristotle's] "proof" that the continuum can't be composed of indivisibles is wrong. This lead on to Aristotle against the continuum - reply (wherein you will find Aristotle's proof that the continuum cannot be composed just of points, laid out reasonably comprehensibly). There is also The history of the continuum and Another argument against indivisibles (which is a less viable attempt via addition).
Anyway, to summarise: thinking about infinity is…
rallain | May 17, 2010Galactic Binder (a Star Wars fan site) invited me to write an article for them. Obviously, I said "yes". But what to write about? I decided to write a different version of my flying R2-D2 post. What is different? In my original post, I go into a lot of details. Essentially, that post is like most of my other ones where I am thinking out loud. I used to work out the answer and then write the post, but I like it this way better.
Here is the Galactic Binder post:
Aristotle, Newton, and R2-D2
So, in this Galactic Binder post, I don't go into the details. Basically, I just use the flying…
rallain | October 6, 2009Many textbooks are pumped up about Newton's 3 laws of motion. For me, not so much. First, (as many other's point out) these are really Newton's ideas about force. Second, the first law is pretty much a special case of the second law. Here are the first two laws (in my words):
Newton's First Law:
The natural state of an object is constant motion.
Yes. I know that is not how it is normally written.
Newton's Second Law:
The rate of change of an object's speed is proportional to the amount of net force on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
This could also be…
bcohen | March 18, 2009This post was written by guest contributor Jody Roberts.
Follow this link for his most recent contribution to The World's Fair.
The philosopher Marjorie Grene passed away on Monday, 16 March, at the age of 98. Grene's life is difficult to sum up in a few words, and I don't want to do that anyhow, since plenty of others have and surely will in much better fashion than I can muster. But since I imagine most will be unfamiliar with her work, I quote here from a letter composed by Richard Burian, a dear friend and colleague:
Marjorie Grene passed away March 16 at age 98 after a brief illness…