Identity in Physics
Identity in Physics

Author: Steven French

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-06-22

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 0199278245

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Can quantum particles be regarded as individuals, just like books, tables and people? According to the 'received' view - articulated by several physicists in the immediate aftermath of the quantum revolution - quantum physics itself tells us they cannot: quantum particles, unlike their classical counterparts, must be regarded as 'non-individuals' in some sense. However, recent work has indicated that this is not the whole story and that the theory is also consistent with theposition that such particles can be taken to be individuals, albeit at a metaphysical price.Drawing on philosophical accounts of identity and individuality, as well as the histories of both classical and quantum physics, the authors explore these two alternative metaphysical packages. In particular, they argue that if quantum particles are regarded as individuals, then Leibniz's famous Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles is in fact violated. Recent discussions of this conclusion are analysed in detail and, again, the costs involved in saving the Principle are carefullyconsidered.Taking the alternative package, the authors deploy recent work in non-standard logic and set theory to indicate how we can make sense of the idea that objects can be non-individuals. The concluding chapter suggests how these results might then be extended to quantum field theory.Identity in Physics brings together a range of work in this area and further develops the authors' own contributions to the debate. Uniquely, as the title indicates, it situates this work in the appropriate formal, historical, and philosophical contexts.

Seeing Double
Seeing Double

Author: Peter Pesic

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780262661737

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An exploration of the relationship between quantum theory and concepts of individuality and identity from ancient Greece to the present.

Physics Education and Gender
Physics Education and Gender

Author: Allison J. Gonsalves

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2021-04-25

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 9783030419356

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This Edited Volume engages with concepts of gender and identity as they are mobilized in research to understand the experiences of learners, teachers and practitioners of physics. The focus of this collection is on extending theoretical understandings of identity as a means to explore the construction of gender in physics education research. This collection expands an understanding of gendered participation in physics from a binary gender deficit model to a more complex understanding of gender as performative and intersectional with other social locations (e.g., race, class, LGBT status, ability, etc). This volume contributes to a growing scholarship using sociocultural frameworks to understand learning and participation in physics, and that seeks to challenge dominant understandings of who does physics and what counts as physics competence. Studying gender in physics education research from a perspective of identity and identity construction allows us to understand participation in physics cultures in new ways. We are able to see how identities shape and are shaped by inclusion and exclusion in physics practices, discourses that dominate physics cultures, and actions that maintain or challenge structures of dominance and subordination in physics education. The chapters offered in this book focus on understanding identity and its usefulness in various contexts with various learner or practitioner populations. This scholarship collectively presents us with a broad picture of the complexity inherent in doing physics and doing gender.

Quantum Ontology
Quantum Ontology

Author: Peter J. Lewis

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-06-13

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0190618795

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Metaphysicians should pay attention to quantum mechanics. Why? Not because it provides definitive answers to many metaphysical questions-the theory itself is remarkably silent on the nature of the physical world, and the various interpretations of the theory on offer present conflicting ontological pictures. Rather, quantum mechanics is essential to the metaphysician because it reshapes standard metaphysical debates and opens up unforeseen new metaphysical possibilities. Even if quantum mechanics provides few clear answers, there are good reasons to think that any adequate understanding of the quantum world will result in a radical reshaping of our classical world-view in some way or other. Whatever the world is like at the atomic scale, it is almost certainly not the swarm of particles pushed around by forces that is often presupposed. This book guides readers through the theory of quantum mechanics and its implications for metaphysics in a clear and accessible way. The theory and its various interpretations are presented with a minimum of technicality. The consequences of these interpretations for metaphysical debates concerning realism, indeterminacy, causation, determinism, holism, and individuality (among other topics) are explored in detail, stressing the novel form that the debates take given the empirical facts in the quantum domain. While quantum mechanics may not deliver unconditional pronouncements on these issues, the range of possibilities consistent with our knowledge of the empirical world is relatively small-and each possibility is metaphysically revisionary in some way. This book will appeal to researchers, students, and anybody else interested in how science informs our world-view.

Science Identities
Science Identities

Author: Henriette Tolstrup Holmegaard

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-01-23

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 3031176421

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This edited volume brings together a state-of-the-art collection of leading and emergent research on the burgeoning topic of science identities. It sets out how science identity can be productively used as a lens in understanding patterns and inequalities in science participation across different educational and international contexts. Its chapters reveal how intersections of social identities and inequalities shape participation and engagement in science. Particular attention is given to explicating issues of theory and method, identifying the potential and limitations of approaches and lacunae in existing knowledge. The book showcases research from a range of disciplinary areas, employing diverse methodological and conceptual approaches to investigate science identities across different fields and settings. The collection offers a rich and comprehensive understanding of how science identity can be used conceptually, methodologically and analytically to understand how learners and teachers relate to, and make sense of, science. It’s a valuable resource for students, researchers and academics in the field of science education and anyone who is interested in identity and education.

How Physics Makes Us Free
How Physics Makes Us Free

Author: J. T. Ismael

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-02-03

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0190269456

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In 1687 Isaac Newton ushered in a new scientific era in which laws of nature could be used to predict the movements of matter with almost perfect precision. Newton's physics also posed a profound challenge to our self-understanding, however, for the very same laws that keep airplanes in the air and rivers flowing downhill tell us that it is in principle possible to predict what each of us will do every second of our entire lives, given the early conditions of the universe. Can it really be that even while you toss and turn late at night in the throes of an important decision and it seems like the scales of fate hang in the balance, that your decision is a foregone conclusion? Can it really be that everything you have done and everything you ever will do is determined by facts that were in place long before you were born? This problem is one of the staples of philosophical discussion. It is discussed by everyone from freshman in their first philosophy class, to theoretical physicists in bars after conferences. And yet there is no topic that remains more unsettling, and less well understood. If you want to get behind the façade, past the bare statement of determinism, and really try to understand what physics is telling us in its own terms, read this book. The problem of free will raises all kinds of questions. What does it mean to make a decision, and what does it mean to say that our actions are determined? What are laws of nature? What are causes? What sorts of things are we, when viewed through the lenses of physics, and how do we fit into the natural order? Ismael provides a deeply informed account of what physics tells us about ourselves. The result is a vision that is abstract, alien, illuminating, and-Ismael argues-affirmative of most of what we all believe about our own freedom. Written in a jargon-free style, How Physics Makes Us Free provides an accessible and innovative take on a central question of human existence.

The Philosophy of Quantum Physics
The Philosophy of Quantum Physics

Author: Cord Friebe

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-06-21

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 3319783564

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This book provides a thorough and up-to-date introduction to the philosophy of quantum physics. Although quantum theory is renowned for its spectacular empirical successes, controversial discussion about how it should be understood continue to rage today. In this volume, the authors provide an overview of its numerous philosophical challenges: Do quantum objects violate the principle of causality? Are particles of the same type indistinguishable and therefore not individual entities? Do quantum objects retain their identity over time? How does a compound quantum system relate to its parts? These questions are answered here within different interpretational approaches to quantum theory. Finally, moving to Quantum Field Theory, we find that the problem of non-locality is exacerbated. Philosophy of quantum physics is aimed at philosophers with an interest in physics, while also serving to familiarize physicists with many of the essential philosophical questions of their subject.

Identity in Physics
Identity in Physics

Author: Steven French

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2006-06-22

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 0191535222

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Can quantum particles be regarded as individuals, just like books, tables and people? According to the 'received' view - articulated by several physicists in the immediate aftermath of the quantum revolution - quantum physics itself tells us they cannot: quantum particles, unlike their classical counterparts, must be regarded as 'non-individuals' in some sense. However, recent work has indicated that this is not the whole story and that the theory is also consistent with the position that such particles can be taken to be individuals, albeit at a metaphysical price. Drawing on philosophical accounts of identity and individuality, as well as the histories of both classical and quantum physics, the authors explore these two alternative metaphysical packages. In particular, they argue that if quantum particles are regarded as individuals, then Leibniz's famous Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles is in fact violated. Recent discussions of this conclusion are analysed in detail and, again, the costs involved in saving the Principle are carefully considered. Taking the alternative package, the authors deploy recent work in non-standard logic and set theory to indicate how we can make sense of the idea that objects can be non-individuals. The concluding chapter suggests how these results might then be extended to quantum field theory. Identity in Physics brings together a range of work in this area and further develops the authors' own contributions to the debate. Uniquely, as the title indicates, it situates this work in the appropriate formal, historical, and philosophical contexts.

The Physics of Quantum Fields
The Physics of Quantum Fields

Author: Michael Stone

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1461205077

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A gentle introduction to the physics of quantized fields and many-body physics. Based on courses taught at the University of Illinois, it concentrates on the basic conceptual issues that many students find difficult, and emphasizes the physical and visualizable aspects of the subject. While the text is intended for students with a wide range of interests, many of the examples are drawn from condensed matter physics because of the tangible character of such systems. The first part of the book uses the Hamiltonian operator language of traditional quantum mechanics to treat simple field theories and related topics, while the Feynman path integral is introduced in the second half where it is seen as indispensable for understanding the connection between renormalization and critical as well as non-perturbative phenomena.

The Physics of Brand
The Physics of Brand

Author: Aaron Keller

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-07-21

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1440342695

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Welcome to a brand-new way of thinking about branding. The Physics of Brand is an exploration of how brands evolve in time and space. Drawing on experience working with companies such as Patagonia, General Mills, Target, and more, this book provides an exciting new systems approach to branding. By focusing on how brands and people actually interrelate, you'll gain a new perspective on brand growth and interaction. Complete with case studies to illustrate these concepts and Thought Experiments to get you thinking conceptually, The Physics of Brand is your new textbook on brand theory.