The nature of cause and effect
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A proof that P ≠ NP would provide additional evidence that the Cobham-Edmonds Thesis correctly analyzes the pre-theoretical notion of feasibility.
Backwards time travel does not entail causal loops
Non-factorizability does not imply non-locality
(A ∧ ¬D) ∨ C is not necessary for B
(A ∧ ¬D) ∨ E is not necessary for B
A CNOT gate cannot copy a general linear superposition of qubit states
A Cartesian world would be qualitatively homogenous both at each instant and through time.
A body can enter a void because a void possesses only dimension, not matter.
A body cannot occupy the same space as another body because both possess matter and dimension, which together cause impermeability.
A body conserved by God in different places from moment to moment is in motion.
A body conserved by God in the same place from moment to moment remains at rest.
A body is first ensouled when the heat of the embryo is cooled by breath, so the soul can be viewed as a harmony of opposites.
A candidate answer A to a why-question should be evaluated by three criteria
A causal account of why X exists can be converted into a scientific definition of what X is.
A causal basis for a disposition D is a property or property-complex P such that, given the laws of nature, whenever an object x has P and undergoes the characteristic stimulus of D, it is causally necessary that x exhibits the characteristic manifestation of D.
A causal explanation based on an idealized model can still be explanatory because the idealized model omits only features irrelevant to the respective explanatory task.
A causal semantics is required to analyze Simpson's paradox
A coherent theory of bodily elements must be understood in terms of the extremes of qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry).
A completely divisible body is either nothing at all or composed of unextended point-parts.
A component of a system may have a function even if it was not designed or selected for that function
A condition is causally operative sufficient for some effect only if, given the laws of nature, whenever the condition is present it is causally necessary that the effect occurs.
A connectionist model of a psychological phenomenon captures, in an idealized way, how interconnected neurons might generate that phenomenon.
A contradiction threatens in Zeno's stadium paradox because the same process takes both some time and half that time.
A deterministic local theory is incompatible with quantum mechanics.
A dharma's activity (horizontal causality) individuates that dharma as a particular event of its kind.
A dharma's capability (vertical causality) further individuates that dharma as that very particular dharma.
A direction of time can be derived from causal directions inferred from macrostatistics.
A dissipative measurement using light to detect the molecule's location precludes a net conversion of heat into work in Szilard's engine.
A fraction of a force may not produce the same fraction of motion.
A full causal account of the human body must include both the final cause (divine purpose) and the material cause (building-blocks), not the final cause alone.
knowledge
Justified true belief — true belief that has been arrived at through the exercise of deliberative capacities, including comparison of and deliberation among alternatives.
cause
An event or state of things such that (a) if it happens or exists, the effect must happen or exist even if no further conditions are fulfilled, and (b) the effect cannot happen or exist unless the cause happens or exists.
intervention
An action or event I on a variable X that breaks the causal connection between X and its causes while leaving other causal mechanisms intact, or that does not affect Y via a causal route that does not go through X.
Spacetime
A physics concept combining space (location) and time into one continuous system—basically, every physical object exists somewhere at some moment in time.
causation
Event C causes event E if and only if there exists a chain C, D1, …, Dn, E such that each member (except C) is counterfactually dependent on the preceding event; causation is the ancestral of counterfactual dependence
Descartes
# Descartes René Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician from the 1600s who fundamentally changed how people think about knowledge and the mind. He's famous for the idea "I think, therefore I am" (cogito ergo sum), which means that the very fact that you can think proves you exist—a foundation for modern philosophy. He also invented the coordinate system used in mathematics (the x and y axes on a graph), which connects geometry and algebra in practical ways we still use today.
Quantum mechanics
The science of how the tiniest things in the universe (atoms, electrons, photons) behave—which turns out to work very differently than everyday objects.
counterfactual
A conditional statement concerning what would be the case if some antecedent condition were true, evaluated across possible worlds; contraposition does not hold in general for counterfactuals.
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