Altruism Giving alms to the poor is often considered an altruistic action. Altruism or selflessness is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a core aspect of various religious traditions and secular worldviews, though the concept of "others" toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism can be distinguished from feelings of loyalty. Much debate exists as to whether "true" altruism is possible. The notion of altruism[edit] The concept has a long history in philosophical and ethical thought. Individual variations[edit] A certain individual may behave altruistically in one case and egoistically in another situation. A 1986 study estimated that altruism was half-inherited. Scientific viewpoints[edit] Anthropology[edit] Marcel Mauss's book The Gift contains a passage: "Note on alms." Evolutionary explanations[edit] Giving alms to beggar children Some of the proposed mechanisms are:
How Do You Know You Exist? A Mind-Bending Animated Homage to Descartes Exploring the Conundrum of Reality – The Marginalian By Maria Popova “We don’t need to credit an all-seeing God with the creation of life and matter,” wrote Douglas Rushkoff, “to suspect that something wonderfully strange is going on in the dimension we call reality.” But what is the thing we call reality, exactly, and how are we even sure it is in the first place? This pleasantly mind-bending animation from James Zucker and TED-Ed turns our most fundamental sense of certainty on its head by directing Descartes’s inquiry at the most seemingly solid bastion of reality — the self: How do you know you’re real? When you’re awake, you know you’re awake. Complement with Alan Watts on what we really mean by “reality”, Mark Strand’s poetic ode to dreams, and a wonderful animated take on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which remains humanity’s greatest parable about the nature of reality, then find a necessary counterpoint in astrophysicist Marcelo Gleiser’s beautiful case for living with mystery in a culture obsessed with certitude.
Encyclopedia of Earth Positivism Positivism is the philosophy of science that information derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience is the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge,[1] and that there is valid knowledge (truth) only in this derived knowledge.[2] Verified data received from the senses are known as empirical evidence.[1] Positivism holds that society, like the physical world, operates according to general laws. Introspective and intuitive knowledge is rejected, as is metaphysics and theology. Although the positivist approach has been a recurrent theme in the history of western thought,[3] the modern sense of the approach was developed by the philosopher Auguste Comte in the early 19th century.[4] Comte argued that, much as the physical world operates according to gravity and other absolute laws, so does society.[5] Etymology[edit] Overview[edit] Antecedents[edit] Auguste Comte[edit] Antipositivism[edit] Main article: antipositivism In historiography[edit]
Questions d'épistémologie - Pouvons-nous connaître le réel ? « Que puis-je connaître ? » Pouvons-nous connaître le réel ?Nos représentations sont-elles le reflet du réel ?Comment connaissons-nous ? Dogmatisme, relativisme et pragmatisme, entre doutes et évidences Dogmatisme Le dogmatisme est la doctrine selon laquelle l’homme peut aboutir à des certitudes, marquées par leur incontestabilité (des dogmes). Rationalisme : certitude incontestable <= raisonEmpirisme : certitude incontestable <= expérience sensiblePositivisme : certitude incontestable <= scienceThéisme(s) : certitude incontestable <= Dieu Ces certitudes sont objectives, évidentes et universelles. En réalité, ces affirmations (« la source de la vérité est Dieu », « la source de la vérité est notre expérience sensible », « la source de la vérité est notre raison »…) sont de l’ordre de la métaphysique. Autrement dit, lorsqu’il est question d’évidences incontestables, la problématique ultime est d’ordre métaphysique. Sommes-nous des cerveaux dans une cuve ? Relativisme Pragmatisme Sémantique
What are bacteria? | Bacteria Written by Dr. T.M. Wassenaar Bacteria are living things that are neither plants nor animals, but belong to a group all by themselves. See bacteria multiply in just a few hours in a 520 k time lapse movie. Bacteria are prokaryotes (single cells that do not contain a nucleus). Microbiology is the study of prokaryotes, eukaryotes (as long as the organism is microscopically small) and viruses. Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. Epicurus Ancient Greek philosopher, founder of Epicureanism Epicurus (, EH-pih-KURE-əs; Ancient Greek: Ἐπίκουρος Epikouros; 341–270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy; it asserted that philosophy's purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain tranquil lives, characterized by freedom from fear and the absence of pain. Epicurus advocated that people were best able to pursue philosophy by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends; he and his followers were known for eating simple meals and discussing a wide range of philosophical subjects at "The Garden", the school he established in Athens. Epicurus taught that although the gods exist, they have no involvement in human affairs. Of the over 300 works said to have been written by Epicurus about various subjects, the vast majority have been lost. Upbringing and influences [edit] Map of Greece showing locations associated with Epicurus Epicurus rejected immortality.
Literary forms of philosophy (Helen De Cruz) RADIATION INSULATION The Apollo spacecraft was a masterpiece of temperature control technology. It had to be, to protect astronauts from temperatures that ranged 400 degrees above and below zero Fahrenheit. A prime element of the environmental control system that permitted astronauts to work inside the Command Module in shirtsleeves was a highly effective radiation barrier. Made of aluminized polymer film, it barred or let in heat to maintain a consistent temperature in an environment where ordinary insulative methods would not have sufficed. The key was aluminization of the material, which provided a reflective surface that kept more than 95 percent of the radiated energy from reaching the spacecraft interior. The radiation barrier has since been used on virtually all spacecraft, including unmanned spacecraft where delicate instruments need protection from extremes of temperature. Super"Q" and Cool Wall are registered trademarks of Quantum International Corporation.
List of philosophers The alphabetical list of philosophers is so large it had to be broken up into several pages. To look up a philosopher you know the name of, click on the first letter of his or her last name. To find philosophers by core area, field, major philosophical tradition, ethnicity, or time periods, see the subheadings further below. General[edit] List of Women philosophers Lists of philosophers by core area[edit] Lists of philosophers by field[edit] Lists of philosophers by major philosophical Tradition[edit] Lists of philosophers by philosophical theory[edit] Lists of philosophers by era[edit] Timelines[edit] Lists of philosophers by language, nationality, religion, or region[edit] See also[edit]
The Repugnant Conclusion (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) 1. Arriving at the Repugnant Conclusion Parfit is not the first philosopher to have noticed that influential moral views may have implications of the sort outlined in the Repugnant Conclusion. Henry Sidgwick was close to acknowledging the implication when he pointed out that “… the point up to which, on utilitarian principles, population ought to be encouraged to increase, is not that at which the average happiness is the greatest possible—as appears to be often assumed by political economists of the school of Malthus—but that at which the happiness reaches its maximum” (Sidgwick 1907 p. 418; for other early sources, see Broad 1930 pp. 249–250; McTaggart 1927 pp. 452–53; Narveson 1967). However, it is Parfit who has brought the conclusion to recent philosophical attention both by stressing the importance of the conclusion and by showing how difficult it is to avoid it (Parfit 1984). What ought the women to do in the two cases? Figure 1 The blocks above represent two populations, A and Z.
The Uncertainty Principle 1. Introduction The uncertainty principle is certainly one of the most famous aspects of quantum mechanics. The notion of “uncertainty” occurs in several different meanings in the physical literature. 2. 2.1 Heisenberg’s road to the uncertainty relations Heisenberg introduced his famous relations in an article of 1927, entitled Ueber den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik. Why was this issue of the Anschaulichkeit of quantum mechanics such a prominent concern to Heisenberg? Formally, matrix mechanics remains close to classical mechanics. QP−PQ=iℏ where ℏ=h/2π, h denotes Planck’s constant, and boldface type is used to represent matrices (or operators). It came as a big surprise, therefore, when one year later, Erwin Schrödinger presented an alternative theory, that became known as wave mechanics. Even so, the two approaches differed greatly in interpretation and spirit. Understandably, Heisenberg was unhappy about this development. δpδq∼h δtδE∼h δwδJ∼h 3. 4.
Pantheism Pantheism is the belief that the universe (or nature as the totality of everything) is identical with divinity,[1] or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God.[2] Pantheists thus do not believe in a distinct personal or anthropomorphic god.[3] Some Eastern religions are considered to be pantheistically inclined. Definitions[edit] Pantheism is derived from the Greek roots pan (meaning "all") and theos (meaning "God"). There are a variety of definitions of pantheism. As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism.[5] From this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God.[2] All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, or identical with it.[7] Others hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. History[edit] The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza is often regarded as pantheism, although he did not use that term.[4][23] Recent developments[edit] "Mr.