page 21: Matter and spirit
Table of contents
21.1: A theological paradigm change: Judaism to Christianity
21.2: A new paradigm: science sees divinity
21.3: Do we have a spiritual soul?
21.4: Is our soul really immortal?
21.5: How does intelligence work? Mind and Universe
21.6: The spiritual density of matter
21.7: The ordinal number of the Universe
21.8: The cardinal number of the Universe
21.9: Teilhard de Chardin: Evolution, complexification and spirituality
21.1: A theological paradigm change: Judaism to Christianity
Christianity began in the Roman province of Judea about 30 CE. Its founder, Jesus of Nazareth, and his first followers were all Jewish so Christianity began as a variant of Judaism. The big difference was that the rather remote and jealous God of Israel, who spoke to Moses on top of Mount Sinai, now had a Son who appeared on Earth as Jesus of Nazareth and preached a new interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. Exodus 32: The Lord orders Moses to slaughter the worshippers of the Golden Calf, English versions of the Nicene Creed - Wikipedia
Keith Hopkins estimates that there may have been less than 10 000 Christians by 100 CE and maybe 200 000 by 200 CE. By that time the Christian divorce from Judaism was well under way. Keith Hopkins (2001): A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity
Initially the Hebrew Bible was Christianity's main source of inspiration. Jesus knew it well. About a century after Jesus was crucified Christianity had developed its own identity and its own literature and come to the attention of the Roman government and intelligentsia. It endured brief periods of persecution by Rome but early in the fourth century Constantine saw the advantage of incorporating it into his empire and assembled a council of bishops at Nicea to produce a dogmatic statement of belief that became the Nicene Creed. Constantine the Great and Christianity - Wikipedia, Nicene Creed - Wikipedia
One of its most prolific Roman authors of Christianity was Augustine of Hippo (354-430). The theoretical development of this site begins with Augustine's treatise on the Trinity, completed in about 428 CE: page 8: The theology of the Trinity. Augustine's explanation of the Trinity was recast in terms of Aristotelian psychology by medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). On the Trinity - Wikipedia, Augustine (419, 1991): The Trinity, Aquinas, Summa, I, 27, 1: Is there procession in God?
The initial philosophical foundation for Christianity was built on Neo-Platonism. This was the best science available in the early centuries, but embedded a false understanding of the relationship between spirit and matter into Western culture which has remained with us ever since. Platonism - Wikipedia
Constantine took over Christianity to provide spiritual unity to the Empire and founded what became a military-theological dynasty whose hegemony peaked with the Crusades from 1096 to 1487 CE. These military adventures created an immense demand for money which seriously corrupted the Church, leading to the Protestant Reformation and a further century of religious war in Europe. A byproduct of the Crusades was the introduction of the work of Aristotle from the Eastern empire into the new European Universities. Crusades - Wikipedia, Recovery of Aristotle - Wikipedia, European wars of religion - Wikipedia, Medieval university - Wikipedia
Even though it was nearly 1600 years since Aristotle died, his work was still the best science available in the Middle ages. Some of his writing, like his physics, biology and astronomy has now been superseded, but much else like his work on logic, interpretation, politics, poetics, rhetoric and metaphysics are still studied. Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): Aristotle
Unfortunately the interpretation of Aristotle reinforced the Platonic view in the Church that matter is to be opposed to spirit and knowledge. Correction of this error leads us to the conclusion that the structureless initial singularity knows nothing, as explained on page 11: Quantization: the mathematical theory of communication. The evolutionary process of creation is the development of material structure within the initial singularity to represent and reveal the spirit of the divine Universe. Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia
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21.2: A new paradigm: science sees divinity
Aristotle and his contemporaries believed, in the absence of a creator, that the the Universe is eternal. Aristotle proceeded by observing phenomena, collecting and criticizing opinions about the phenomena and attempting to resolve the puzzles that presented themselves. In this approach, he acted like a modern scientist. On the whole the later theologians who used his work were not particularly critical and his opinions often achieved quasi dogmatic status. Galileo devoted much energy to refuting ancient Aristotelian views but Aristotle's core belief, that we live in an eternal universe that is completely self sufficient remains intact. Our picture of the divine universe has simply grown immense and complex beyond anything Aristotle could have known. The key to our new vision is quantum mechanics and the precision instrumentation this science has made possible.
A principal issue since antiquity has been the role of the heavens in human affairs. This had two aspects. First, there are the everyday matters of agriculture, navigation and nightlife, which depended on the seasons, the positions of the stars and planets and the phases of the moon. Second are deeper issues of human life and politics which are, it was believed, governed by some sort of heavenly influence. These matters are the subjects of astrology. Since antiquity the relationship between astrology and astronomy had been a strong motivation for astronomical observation. This led, from a scientific point of view, to a need to explain and predict heavenly motion. By the time of Galileo this had come to a critical question: Is the obvious fact that Sun revolves around the Earth true, or does the Earth revolve around the Sun? Astrology - Wikipedia
Aristotle naturally ssumed that the Sun revolved around the Earth, but as often happens with false hypotheses, there were complications. As seen from Earth against the background of the stars, planets sometimes seemed to move backwards in their orbits: retrograde motion. As observations became more precise the system of epicycles became more complex until Copernicus saw that the system could be greatly simplified by placing the Sun at the centre. Deferent and epicycle - Wikipedia
Galileo, using his telescopes, saw the evidence necessary to answer this question. He observed the moons of Jupiter and the phases of Venus. The phases of Venus show that it revolves around the Sun inside the orbit of the Earth. This conflicted with the classical and Biblical view, and led to the Galileo Affair. Galileo was forced to recant to save his life, but ancient opinions and theology were ultimately defeated. Modern science was on its way. Galileo affair - Wikipedia, Galileo Galilei: Recantation of Galileo (June 22, 1633)
From this time on the mainline theologians of Catholic Church have abandoned the path pioneered by Aquinas and have no longer sought to harmonize theology with science. The Church gradually hardened its position. In the late nineteenth century it defined itself to be infallible and has since taken a stand against almost all things modern: evidence based knowledge, human rights, the identity of female and male spirits, the fluidity of gender, the theory of evolution and democratic governance. From a scientific, political and intellectual point of view, it has quietly retreated into the shadows, depending for its power on the deception of uneducated people. Infallibility - First Vatican Council, Pope Pius X: Lamentabili Sane: The Syllabus of Errors (Condemning the Errors of the Modernists) Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, July 3, 1907
It is therefore time for a paradigm change in theology. The first step is to postulate that the Universe is divine. Theology can then become a real empirical science. Then, since the Universe is one and consistent, we can safely assume that physics and theology must be mutually consistent and attempt to demonstrate this compatibility, as Aquinas did for Aristotle's physics and the Church's view of theology.
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21.3: Do we have a spiritual soul?
Aristotle was very interested in life and knowledge. He devoted his book On the Soul to the treatment of the special form (psyche, ψυχή), which he understood to be the principle that gives life to an organic body. His psychology is an extension of his theory of hylomorphism. He distinguished three levels of life, plants, animals and humans, with corresponding souls. Aristotle - On the Soul - The Internet Classics Archive, Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy a): Aristotle's Psychology
He applied hylomorphism not only to the substantial structure of living creatures, but also to their abilities or potentials. So the vegetative soul has the ability to reproduce, assimilate food and grow the organism to which it belongs. The sensitive soul adds the ability to collect information through its senses and move, using this information to guide its activities. The special ability of the human soul is intelligence, the conscious ability to discern meaning in sensory input which marks the soul of a philosopher, a person seeking wisdom. He writes, at the beginning of Metaphysics:
The difference between art and science and the other kindred mental activities has been stated in the Ethics; the reason for our present discussion is that it is generally assumed that what is called Wisdom is concerned with the primary causes and principles, so that, as has been already stated, the man of experience is held to be wiser than the mere possessors of any power of sensation, the artist than the man of experience, the master craftsman than the artisan; and the speculative sciences to be more learned than the productive. Aristotle: Metaphysics book 1: 981b sqq.
From the hylomorphic point of view, a sense is matter specially adapted to accept the forms of sensible events and transmit this information to the animal for it to use. Unlike bronze, which requires an outside agent to change it from a sword to a ploughshare, a sense is itself an organic agent moved by the animal able, like eyesight, to collect moving images. The important point is that an eye is not predisposed to see anything in particular, it is open to all visible input even though it is a material organ, Greek οργανον, organon = tool. Organon - Wikipedia
Aristotle sees that the universality of intellect raises a problem for a material organ so an immaterial organ may be required. To deal with this problem he introduces an active mind or intellect (nous poiêtikos) which he describes as being separate and unaffected and unmixed, being in its essence actuality. It is also deathless and everlasting. Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy b): The Active Mind of De Anima III 5
In his commentary on this passage of De Anima Aquinas notes that Aristotle concludes that the soul’s intellectual part alone is immortal and perpetual. This conclusion from Aristotle is essential to the Christian story. The promises of Christianity could make no sense if we do not possess and immortal soul. This claim is already implicit in the dogma defined by the Nicene Creed, where it states that The one Lord Jesus Christ . . . will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. Commentary on Aristotle De Anima 430a10-430a25
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21.4 Is our soul really immortal?
As outlined above, the source of the traditional argument for an immortal spiritual soul is derived from the existence of universal intelligence. Aquinas states this view succinctly:
For it is clear that by means of the intellect man can have knowledge of all corporeal things. Now whatever knows certain things cannot have any of them in its own nature; because that which is in it naturally would impede the knowledge of anything else. Aquinas, Summa, I, 75, 2: Is the human soul something subsistent?
Aristotelian science reinforces Christian belief, but is the immortality of the human soul credible? Aquinas claims that it is so in the Summa, using an argument reminiscent of Plato. First, he establishes that the soul is a subsistent form, capable of independent existence, like a Platonic form. And then he claims that such a form is incorruptible, because it is impossible for a form to be separated from itself. This argument carries weight only if we accept the Platonic position. From a scientific point of view, there is no evidence for this position because we cannot see a Platonic form. Some may feel that they are in contact with people who have died. The Catholic Church finds evidence for the continued existence of the souls of the dead in the claim that deceased saints can encourage God to perform miracles. In our real world, where it appears that almost anything is possible, the existence of real miracles is moot. The evidence suggests that we must abandon both the Platonic theory of knowledge and the Aristotelian theory of intelligence and reject the idea that we have immortal souls. Aquinas, Summa, I, 75, 6: Is the human soul is incorruptible?
In other words, because we are an assembly of different parts, we die. As life goes on the probability of encountering a fatal error rises as our immune system, situational awareness and ability to move decreases. Few of us live far beyond a hundred years. We live on in our children, in our durable productions like houses, books and websites, in the memories of our friends and in photographs, videos, holograms and other records. In the process of coming to terms with the fact that I was not immortal I explored the idea of my formal self becoming embodied in a sufficiently large dynamic memory, perhaps housed in a neutron star. Now that I feel my mind weakening, I hope to finish my theological project in the near future and my fear of death revolves around the inconveniences it will cause my friends and family. My mother held resolutely to her belief in an afterlife where she would meet head dead children again, but I feel that I can safely say that the Roman Catholic promise of eternal life in heaven is totally false.
From my point of view, any reasonable consumer protection law would completely proscribe religions that cannot guarantee the delivery of the benefits they promise.
The Catholic Church believes it has a duty to induce everyone to hear and accept its version of the Gospel. This is a natural foreign policy for an imperialist organization whose size and power increases in proportion to its membership. But the modern world expects any corporation promoting itself in the marketplace to deliver value for value. People contributing to the sustenance of the Church and following its beliefs and practices need reliable evidence that they will indeed receive the eternal life promised to them. As far as we can tell, this is not possible.Ad Gentes (Vatican II): Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church, Lumen Gentium (Vatican II): Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
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21.5: How does intelligence work? Brain and Universe
Aristotle was particularly in love with sight, but he had no idea about how it works, except that it was necessary for the eye to be colourless in order to see colour otherwise it would be blinded by its own colour. A similar argument holds for the immateriality of intellect: if intellect is to know all material things it must be immaterial.
We know now, however, that our intellect is managed by our brain, a very complex network of specialized cells. We discussed the structure and functioning of the brain on page 7: Networks, brains and consciousness. The basic mechanism described there is identical to the mechanism of quantum mechanics, superposition. Neurons in the brain receive input through synapses. This input is integrated in the neuron to decide whether it will "fire" and send a signal along its axon to all the other neurons to which it is connected. Each neuron, therefore, makes its decision on the basis of a real time superposition of the flow of signals it receives from other neurons and sense organs and delivers its decisions to other neurons or to transducers such as muscles and glands. Human brain - Wikipedia, Neuron - Wikipedia, Synapse - Wikipedia
The superposition in quantum mechanics is linear. The superposition in the brain may be non-linear, modulated by the state of each particular synapse connecting to each particular neuron. As described on page 7, the connectivity of the brain is determined by an evolutionary process. An unlimited field of connections is gradually pruned through the first twenty years or so of life by a process of selection which eliminates unnecessary connections.
We are working toward a scientific theology founded on the notion that the observable Universe is divine, with the consequence that physics and theology are describing the same entity. As the authors wrote at Genesis I:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. Here, in the divine Universe, we see that we are created in the image of the Universe. We can compare the functioning of our minds to the physical history of the Universe described on this page, beginning on page 8: The theology of the Trinity. Overall, the evolution of the Universe is a very long slow process. The evolution of brains has enabled the evolution of ideas in our minds. Mental evolution works much faster to keep up as nearly as possible with the everyday demands of life. Nevertheless the radical large scale change of our view of the world wrought by quantum theory is now more than a century old and only just beginning to reveal itself as a vehicle of knowledge and computation, something like the mind of the Universe. Nielsen & Chuang (2016): Quantum Computation and Quantum Information"
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21.6: The spiritual density of matter
A brain is a physical organ. Aristotle was worried that a material intelligence would be limited in its information carrying capacity. We represent information with marks or symbols, like the alphabet of this text. These symbols are always material, so we consider real information to be a material entity. The ancients thought matter was a passive and amorphous, the enemy of spirit. In reality matter is the bearer of spirit, and we might measure the density of spirit in the world by the scale of its material representation. A printed page of ordinary text may carry a few thousand symbols. A big book, with a thousand pages might weight a kilogram and carry 5 million symbols. Rolf Landauer (1999): Information is a Physical Entity
Printing is an amazing invention and totally changed the transport and dissemination of information and ultimately enabled billions of people to read. It was a huge step in the material storage and copying of information. Now we store information electronically, and the symbols that make this storage possible are about a thousandth of a millimetre in size. A million million of these memory units can be constructed in a few cubic centimetres of matter weighing a few grams. The density of information storage here is so great that a few grams of silicon can store as much information as many tonnes of books. University of Arizona: The Role of Printing in Medieval and Reformation Europe
We are still just beginning to scratch the surface of the information storage capacity of matter. The nucleus in the centre of an atom may comprise hundreds of tiny elementary symbols, quarks and gluons. It is is about a trillionth of a millimetre in diameter and all the elements of the nucleus are material symbols capable of representing information. We can only conclude that spirit of the Universe, measured in the information which represents it, is enormous.
The ancients had no way to examine features of material objects that were too small to see. Ancient engravers may have used lenses for magnification but there is no record of their scientific use. The first detailed exploration of fine material structure, particularly of living tissue, began in the seventeenth century with simple compound microscopes. In the middle of the nineteenth century Carl Zeiss began to mass produce microscopes and they became essential tools for the study of organic and inorganic microscopic structure down to the wavelength of visible light, about one a thousandth of a millimetre. This is about the size of a small living cell. Sines & Sakellarakis (1987): Lenses in Antiquity, Microscope - Wikipedia
The resolution of a microscope depends upon the wavelength of the energy used to illuminate the subject viewed. The energy of a visible photon is two to three electron volts. Early in the twentieth century microscopes were invented that use beams of electrons accelerated to thousands of electron volts to illuminate their subjects. These devices began to show us the detailed interior structure of living cells down to size of molecules. We began to get a clear idea of the enormous complexity of life.
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21.7: The ordinal number of the universe
Galileo helped to put Aristotle aside and lay the foundations of modern dynamics by experimenting with moving bodies and measuring their behaviour with rulers and clocks. He learnt from his work and from astronomers like de Brahe, Copernicus and Kepler that the ideal language for describing the physical world is mathematics. Isaac Newton exploited Galileo's insight with his model of the solar system. Newton invented calculus for his work, but even up to his time the core of mathematics was mainly arithmetic and geometry. Descartes united these two subjects by inventing coordinate geometry, which made it much easier to visualize algebraic equations. Isaac Newton (1736): Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series with its Application to the Geometry of Curve-Lines, Cartesian coordinate system - Wikipedia
We owe the modern era of complex mathematics to the work of Georg Cantor toward the end of the nineteenth century. The foundation of spirit is material complexity. The mathematical description of complexity is Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers which exploits the powers of combination and permutation. Cantor's theorem - Wikipedia, Combination - Wikipedia, Permutation - Wikipedia
Nineteenth century mathematics was preoccupied with functions, calculus and continuity and one of the tools to study these problems was the method developed by Fourier to deal with the physics of heat transfer in conducting bodies. A key question was whether discontinuous functions could be represented by Fourier series and Cantor began to work on this question. This led him deep into the study of continuity conceived as a property of closely spaced points. Fourier analysis - Wikipedia
Cantor invented set theory to explain the structure of the geometric line. Much of nineteenth century mathematics was taken up with trying to put the ideas of continuity and calculus on a logically sound footing. Since the discovery of the Pythagorean theorem it has been known that numbers like the square root of two cannot be represented by fractions, and so a new field of numbers was developed, the real numbers, intended to provide a number corresponding to every point in a continuous line. Thomas Jech (1997): Set Theory
Cantor devised two representations of a set. The first is its cardinal number, the number of elements it contains. The second he called its ordinal type, an abstract representation of the structure of the set:
Thus the ordinal type of S is itself an ordered set whose elements are units which have the same order of precedence amongst one another as the corresponding elements of S from which they are derived by abstraction.
The key idea here is abstraction. Although real sets contain real physical objects, mathematical sets are not physical but formal. Cantor's formalism opened the way for an ideal mathematical theory of infinity which may be logically consistent, but cannot be physically true. Aristotle realized long ago that actual infinities cannot exist. Everything we observe is just that, a thing with finite boundaries, a quantum. Georg Cantor (1897, 1955): Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers, page 112
Cantor goes on to write:
The concept of "ordinal type" developed here, when it is transferred in like manner to "multiply ordered aggregates" embraces, in conjunction with the concept of "cardinal number" or "power" . . . everything capable of being numbered that is thinkable, and in this sense cannot be further generalized. Contributions: page 117
Isaac Newton knew that we can approximate a curve with short straight lines. The approximation becomes more perfect as the segments approach zero length. This idea revived the old arguments for the impossibility of motion devised by Zeno. Zeno was supporting Parmenides' idea that motion is an illusion by trying to prove that it is impossible. The resulting problem occupied many nineteenth century mathematicians, who wanted so save both calculus and motion. They gradually refined the notion of a continuous function. Calculus - Wikipedia, Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, Limit of a function - Wikipedia, Karl Weierstrass - Wikipedia
Georg Cantor, working in this milieu, sought to represent the cardinal of the continuum: how many points does it take to make a continuum? Cantor applied set theory to the study of this infinity. He found no clear answer to his question. Nevertheless set theory took on a life of its own and became a foundation of mathematics. Georg Cantor - Wikipedia, Set theory - Wikipedia
Cantor took the formalist approach and saw that even though it could not be physically realized there was no logical inconsistency involved in imagining the set of all the natural numbers. This set in endless (unfinite) since there is no last natural number. Since its cardinal cannot be any natural number Cantor represented the cardinal of the set of natural numbers with the new symbol ℵ0. Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia
He then went on to prove that the cardinal of the set of subsets of the set of natural numbers is greater than ℵ0. He called this new infinity ℵ1. He saw that this and similar proofs based on arranging the elements of a set in different way could be applied recursively to produce an endless hierarchy of transfinite cardinals, ℵ0, ℵ1, . . ..
A proof of Cantor's theorem proceeds by forming the power set P(S) of a set S and establishing that the cardinal of the power set is greater than the cardinal of S. Cantor proved that card P(S) > card S even if S is infinite. If S is the set of natural numbers card S ≈ ℵ0 so card P(S) ≈ ℵ1. If we think in terms of permutations, we may say that the cardinal of the set of permutations of the natural numbers ℵ0! is equivalent to the second transfinite cardinal ℵ1, and in the spirit of Cantor we see that ℵ1! is ℵ2 and so on. We can interpret this Cantor universe as a layered hierarchy of permutation groups, each constructed by permuting the elements of the group before it. The subscripts on the alephs number the layers in this structure. Since all groups are subsets of the permutation (symmetric) groups it is not surprising that when we study the world we find the theory of groups very useful. Cantor's theorem - Wikipedia, Axiom of power set - Wikipedia, Permutation group - Wikipedia
It is clear, from their method of development, that the higher transfinite numbers are enormously complex. As Cantor notes, they can be placed into correspondence with anything enumerable, so that we may envisage, for instance the transfinite layer corresponding to a human being, or to the whole system of the Earth, including all its life forms. For the purposes of this site, we may imagine the ordinal numbers as representing a computer network. Cantor's theorem shows us how to invent all possible codes, the majority of which may be nonsense but some of which may represent coherent programs which serve to control the interactions in the universal network and be selected for survival by an evolutionary process.
His progress toward the transfinite numbers began with a notion he called a derived set, a set of limit points. The real numbers are the derived set of the rational numbers. This idea led him to suspect that there was an unbounded hierarchy of ever more dense collections of points hidden in the geometric line. If the derived set of the rational numbers is the real numbers there maybe an even greater set whose derived set is beyond the real numbers, and so on. In other words there exists transfinite hierarchy of even greater numbers within the real numbers. Joseph Dauben (1990): Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite, page 41.
In the years after its publication set theory was discovered to harbour a number of paradoxes which led to refinement of the theory. Cantor was very interested in theology and thought that the transfinite numbers brought us close to the absolute divinity. This brought him to Cantor's paradox. As long as this theorem was correct, there could be no absolutely greatest transfinite number, maybe no absolute divinity. Cantor's paradox - Wikipedia
Cantor's motivation for developing the transfinite numbers was to find a representation of the cardinal of the continuum. In 1980 Cohen showed that the continuum hypothesis is independent of the Zermelo-Franklin axioms of set theory with the axiom of choice included. This is not surprising. Cantor "tamed" the infinite by putting it in boxes (sets) and invoking a correspondence principle to compare sets, but there is nothing in the nature of a set to determines how many elements it may contain, so we might not expect it to have anything to say about the continuum hypothesis. Paul Cohen (1980): Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis
Here this is not a problem because I assume that formal infinity is a mathematical ideal that does not exist. Cantor's theorem nevertheless shows us that there is a logical route to very large cardinal numbers associated with very complex structures that can be created by combinations and permutations of elements. Consequently these large numbers of points can represent large volumes of information.
The difficulties with mathematical efforts to prove the continuum hypothesis, that there is no infinite quantity lying between the cardinal of the natural numbers and the cardinal of the continuum, adds support to the ideas developed on page 18: Fixed points, laws and symmetries that the effort to describe continuity in terms of isolated points is self-contradictory. An alternative definition of continuity would follow Aristotle's idea that entities are continuous if they have ends in common.
This leads us to the notion of logical continuity which is commonly found in communication and quantum systems. Machines communicate with one another by reading from and writing to shared memory locations.
We take this idea a little further on page 12: The quantum creation of Minkowski space. Hilbert space, as we understand it here, is prior to and outside of Minkowski spacetime. There is no physical distance in Hilbert space. The distances are formal, measured by a complex inner product. This, we feel, explains the peculiar metric of Minkowski space, which enables the existence of massless particles travelling on null geodesics which are effectively outside space and time, carrying quantum states from one point in spacetime to another, thus fufilling the Aristotelian criterion for continuity.
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21.8: The cardinal number of the universe
In previous pages I have proposed that the initial singularity at the root of the Universe is pure action. This singularity then proceeds to reproduce itself as formal, distinct orthogonal quanta of action (see page 9: The active creation of Hilbert space). From quantum mechanics, we learn that these quanta are the smallest possible atoms of action, invisible in everyday life but crucial to our understanding of the world at the elementary microscopic level.
Their size is measured by Planck's constant h ≈ 6 × 10−34 Joule.second. A Joule is approximately the amount of energy required to lift two eggs from the floor to a tabletop. Even a tiny event, an almost invisible speck dust falling slowly through the air is executing trillions of quanta per second. Planck's constant sets the scale of the Universe, and because it serves as the fundamental information carrying symbol its tiny size indicates the enormous density and rate of transmission of information (and spirituality) in our world. Planck constant - Wikipedia.
On the other hand, the Universe is huge and old, and there seems to be no reason for it not to be eternal. Very large numbers are needed to measure the ratio between the quantum of action and the life of the universe. The mass of the Universe may be about 1053 kilograms. From the equation
f = mc2 / h
we estimate that the universe executes about 1093 quanta per second. In its 14 billion years of existence this has amounted to about 4 × 10110 quanta of action. Universe - Wikipedia, Action (physics) - Wikipedia
The quantum is not so much a thing as an event, and the life of an eternal Universe may be understood as an infinite pattern of events. To fully describe the Universe, we need a model that provides a place and time for every one of these events, ideally in an unlimited (ie infinite) spacetime.
These numbers show that the Universe is a structure of exquisite complexity. We wish to model this structure with a network that can address and process every quantum of action by analogy to the way the internet addresses and processes every bit of data exchanged by its billions of users.
In quantum mechanics, energy is the rate of action. Here we interpret the cardinal number of the Universe as its energy, the number of quanta of action being executed per second. If we take the spiritual density of the universe as a represented by its ordinal number, that is the "transfinite" density of its structure, its energy measures the rate at which this structure is being transformed as time goes by. Insofar as we consider the quantum of action to be a logical operator, the energy of the Universe is in effect a measure of how quickly the divine mind is operating.
The interpretation of the relationship between matter and spirit presented here is in effect an extension of Wigner's idea of the utility of mathematics from calculus and related subjects to logic, computation and the matrix approach to quantum theory. Mathematics is not simply a useful tool for us to describe our observations of physical behaviour, the logical method of mathematics is also involved in this task, since we are interpreting the Universe as a cognitive mind, analogous to the action of our own minds, which include the minds of mathematicians. This observation may provide an explanation for the unreaonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences. Eugene Wigner (1960): The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
We measure the quantum of action and classical spacetime in Minkowski space. The next step is to consider the relationship between Hilbert space and Minkowski space on the universal scale.
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21.9: Teilhard de Chardin: Evolution, complexification and spirituality
After its defeat by Galileo and the astronomical community on the relationship between Sun and Earth, the Roman Catholic Church effectively dropped out of the scientific community. The Papal Academy of Sciences claims a historical origin in the Academy of the Lynxes (Accademia dei Lincei) which was founded in Rome in 1603. Galileo became a member of the Academy in 1610. It was reestablished in by Pope Pis IX in 1847 and reconstituted by Pius XI in 1936. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences: History
The modern Academy covers everything from research to the ethical and environmental responsibility of the scientific community. It also appears to keep watch for scientific developments which might conflict with Catholic dogma. Although the Church now accepts that the Earth revolved around the Sun, its claim that we have a spiritual soul specially created by its God makes it impossible for it to accept that our species, Homo sapiens is a product of evolution.
In 1996 Pope John Paul II addressed the Academy on the Origins and early evolution of life. He says
I am pleased with the first theme you have chosen, that of the origins of life and evolution, an essential subject which deeply interests the Church, since Revelation, for its part, contains teaching concerning the nature and origins of man. How do the conclusions reached by the various scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in what direction do we look for their solution? We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth. . . .
He then turns to the treatment of evolution by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Humani generis. Pius prefaces his remarks with a claim that the Church knows things that are beyond the reach of human minds:
For though, absolutely speaking, human reason by its own natural force and light can arrive at a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, Who by His providence watches over and governs the world, and also of the natural law, which the Creator has written in our hearts, still there are not a few obstacles to prevent reason from making efficient and fruitful use of its natural ability. The truths that have to do with God and the relations between God and men, completely surpass the sensible order and demand self-surrender and self-abnegation in order to be put into practice and to influence practical life. Now the human intellect, in gaining the knowledge of such truths is hampered both by the activity of the senses and the imagination, and by evil passions arising from original sin. Hence men easily persuade themselves in such matters that what they do not wish to believe is false or at least doubtful.
After an extended criticism of modern thought which carries may echoes of pope Pius X's Syllabus Errorum (§2 above), Pius concludes with a clear statement science must submit to the teaching authority of the Church:
For these reasons the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter - for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God. However, this must be done in such a way that the reasons for both opinions, that is, those favorable and those unfavorable to evolution, be weighed and judged with the necessary seriousness, moderation and measure, and provided that all are prepared to submit to the judgment of the Church, to whom Christ has given the mission of interpreting authentically the Sacred Scriptures and of defending the dogmas of faith. Pope Pius XII (1950): Humani Generis
Paul II then goes on to repeat the demand for obedience to Catholic doctrine:
The Church’s Magisterium is directly concerned with the question of evolution, for it involves the conception of man: Revelation teaches us that he was created in the image and likeness of God. . . .
Consequently, theories of evolution which, in accordance with the philosophies inspiring them, consider the mind as emerging from the forces of living matter, or as a mere epiphenomenon of this matter, are incompatible with the truth about man. Nor are they able to ground the dignity of the person. Pope John Paul II (22 October 1996): Address to Plenary Session on 'The Origins and Early Evolution of Life'
The hypothesis at the foundation of this site is ultimately based on the words of Genesis I:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. . I differ from the Catholic opinion by assuming that the Universe is divine and we can best understand its divinity by seeing it in the same logical and psychological terms as we use to understand our own intelligence. We are our image of God. From this point of view I trace the many weaknesses in quantum field theory to the assumption that we can explain the world as a dumb material entity in terms of calculus and continua, rather than going deeper into the mathematics of logic and proof. My foundation for this approach is the view that quantum mechanics is in fact a theory of communication and computation, that is intelligence. Genesis 1:27: God creates humans, Nielsen & Chuang 2016: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
The Church made Galileo suffer for defending astronomical truth against its ancient errors. The Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was one of the victims of the Church's inability to comprehend evolution. When he was young he read Henri Bergson's Evolution Creatrice and said later that the only effect that brilliant book had upon me was to provide fuel at just the right moment, and very briefly, for a fire that was already consuming my heart and mind. His paleontological studies consolidated his knowledge of evolution and he began to combine evolutionary ideas into his spiritual thought and writing. He continued to develop these ideas for the rest of his life. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia, Henri Bergson (1911, 2009): Creative Evolution
On a number of occasions the Church forbade him to teach and did its best to prevent the publication and circulation of his works, particularly his most famous work, The Phenomenon of Man. Teilhard de Chardin did not deny the spirituality of the human soul but he certainly asserted and strongly defended that spiritual value of the evolved Universe. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1965): The Phenomenon of Man
These foolish doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church coupled with its dogmatic stance against the spiritual equivalence of men and women and all forms of life on Earth are a dead weight on the global spirit. This impediment has been in place since emperors like Constantine replaced the natural selection understood by Darwin with a form of epistemological selection based on the torture, murder and genocide of people whose ideas are inconsistent with the demands of the imperium. The fight against falsehood will always be with us. Deception is an element of the toolkit of evolutionary survival. Nevertheless we can have faith that science that couples us to reality will eventually prevail.
Power may corrupt. Speaking truth to power is a trustworthy route to salvation. Christopher Shea (2012): Why Power Corrupts
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Notes and references
Further readingBooks
Augustine (419, 1991), and Edmond Hill (Introduction, translation and notes), and John E Rotelle (editor), The Trinity, New City Press 399-419, 1991 Written 399 - 419: De Trinitate is a radical restatement, defence and development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Augustine's book has served as a foundation for most subsequent work, particularly that of Thomas Aquinas.
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Bergson (1911, 2009), Henri, Creative Evolution, General Books LLC 1911, 2009 ' Long absent from the center of discussion in Western philosophy, Bergson has recently made a reappearance. The Centennial Series of his works undertaken by Palgrave Macmillan thus comes at an opportune time, making it possible for those interested in Bergson's ideas to have access to newly annotated versions of several of his chief writings, freshly introduced and discussed. It is particularly good to see the republication of Mind-Energy, a treasure trove of Bergsonian insights long out of print.' - Pete A.Y. Gunter, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of North Texas
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Cantor (1897, 1955), Georg, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers (Translated, with Introduction and Notes by Philip E B Jourdain), Dover 1895, 1897, 1955 Jacket: 'One of the greatest mathematical classics of all time, this work established a new field of mathematics which was to be of incalculable importance in topology, number theory, analysis, theory of functions, etc, as well as the entire field of modern logic.'
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Cohen (1980), Paul J, Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis, Benjamin/Cummings 1966-1980 Preface: 'The notes that follow are based on a course given at Harvard University, Spring 1965. The main objective was to give the proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis [from the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms for set theory with the axiom of choice included]. To keep the course as self contained as possible we included background materials in logic and axiomatic set theory as well as an account of Gödel's proof of the consistency of the continuum hypothesis. . . .'
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Dauben (1990), Joseph Warren, Georg Cantor: His Mathematics and Philosophy of the Infinite, Princeton University Press 1990 Jacket: 'One of the greatest revolutions in mathematics occurred when Georg Cantor (1843-1918) promulgated his theory of transfinite sets. . . . Set theory has been widely adopted in mathematics and philosophy, but the controversy surrounding it at the turn of the century remains of great interest. Cantor's own faith in his theory was partly theological. His religious beliefs led him to expect paradox in any concept of the infinite, and he always retained his belief in the utter veracity of transfinite set theory. Later in his life, he was troubled by attacks of severe depression. Dauben shows that these played an integral part in his understanding and defense of set theory.'
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Hawking (1975), Steven W, and G F R Ellis, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, Cambridge UP 1975 Preface: Einstein's General Theory of Relativity . . . leads to two remarkable predictions about the universe: first that the final fate of massive stars is to collapse behind an event horizon to form a 'black hole' which will contain a singularity; and secondly that there is a singularity in our past which constitutes, in some sense, a beginning to our universe. Our discussion is principally aimed at developing these two results.'
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Hopkins (2001), Keith, A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity, Penguin Random House 2001 ' In this provocative, irresistibly entertaining book, Keith Hopkins takes readers back in time to explore the roots of Christianity in ancient Rome. Combining exacting scholarship with dazzling invention, Hopkins challenges our perceptions about religion, the historical Jesus, and the way history is written. He puts us in touch with what he calls “empathetic wonder”—imagining what Romans, pagans, Jews, and Christians thought, felt, experienced, and believed-by employing a series of engaging literary devices. These include a TV drama about the Dead Sea Scrolls; the first-person testimony of a pair of time-travelers to Pompeii; a meditation on Jesus’ apocryphal twin brother; and an unusual letter on God, demons, and angels.'
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Jech (1997), Thomas, Set Theory, Springer 1997 Jacket: 'This book covers major areas of modern set theory: cardinal arithmetic, constructible sets, forcing and Boolean-valued models, large cardinals and descriptive set theory. . . . It can be used as a textbook for a graduate course in set theory and can serve as a reference book.'
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Nielsen (2016), Michael A., and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2016 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002.
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Teilhard de Chardin (1965), Pierre, The Phenomenon of Man, Collins 1965 Sir Julian Huxley, Introduction: 'We, mankind, contain the possibilities of the earth's immense future, and can realise more and more of them on condition that we increase our knowledge and our love. That, it seems to me, is the distillation of the Phenomenon of Man.'
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Links
Action (physics) - Wikipedia, Action (physics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In physics, action is a numerical value describing how a physical system has changed over time. Action is significant because the equations of motion of the system can be derived through the principle of stationary action. In the simple case of a single particle moving with a specified velocity, the action is the momentum of the particle times the distance it moves, added up along its path, or equivalently, twice its kinetic energy times the length of time for which it has that amount of energy, added up over the period of time under consideration. For more complicated systems, all such quantities are added together. More formally, action is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory, also called path or history, of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths. Action has dimensions of energy × time or momentum × length, and its SI unit is joule-second (like the Planck constant h).' back |
Ad Gentes (Vatican II), Decree on the Mission Activity of the Church, 'Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them "a universal sacrament of salvation," the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men. The Apostles themselves, on whom the Church was founded, following in the footsteps of Christ, "preached the word of truth and begot churches." It is the duty of their successors to make this task endure "so that the word of God may run and be glorified (2 Thess. 3:1) and the kingdom of God be proclaimed and established throughout the world.' back |
Aquinas, Summa, I, 27, 1, Is there procession in God?, 'As God is above all things, we should understand what is said of God, not according to the mode of the lowest creatures, namely bodies, but from the similitude of the highest creatures, the intellectual substances; while even the similitudes derived from these fall short in the representation of divine objects. Procession, therefore, is not to be understood from what it is in bodies, either according to local movement or by way of a cause proceeding forth to its exterior effect, as, for instance, like heat from the agent to the thing made hot. Rather it is to be understood by way of an intelligible emanation, for example, of the intelligible word which proceeds from the speaker, yet remains in him. In that sense the Catholic Faith understands procession as existing in God.' back |
Aquinas, Summa, I, 75, 2, Is the human soul something subsistent?, ' I answer that, It must necessarily be allowed that the principle of intellectual operation which we call the soul, is a principle both incorporeal and subsistent. For it is clear that by means of the intellect man can have knowledge of all corporeal things. Now whatever knows certain things cannot have any of them in its own nature; because that which is in it naturally would impede the knowledge of anything else. . . .. Therefore the intellectual principle which we call the mind or the intellect has an operation per se apart from the body. Now only that which subsists can have an operation per se. For nothing can operate but what is actual: for which reason we do not say that heat imparts heat, but that what is hot gives heat. We must conclude, therefore, that the human soul, which is called the intellect or the mind, is something incorporeal and subsistent.' back |
Aquinas, Summa, I, 75, 6, Is the human soul is incorruptible?, ' For it is clear that what belongs to a thing by virtue of itself is inseparable from it; but existence belongs to a form, which is an act, by virtue of itself. Wherefore matter acquires actual existence as it acquires the form; while it is corrupted so far as the form is separated from it. But it is impossible for a form to be separated from itself and therefore it is impossible for a subsistent form to cease to exist. . . .. Moreover we may take a sign of this from the fact that everything naturally aspires to existence after its own manner. Now, in things that have knowledge, desire ensues upon knowledge. The senses indeed do not know existence, except under the conditions of "here" and "now," whereas the intellect apprehends existence absolutely, and for all time; so that everything that has an intellect naturally desires always to exist. But a natural desire cannot be in vain. Therefore every intellectual substance is incorruptible.' back |
Aristotle, Metaphysics book 1: 981b, ' The difference between art and science and the other kindred mental activities has been stated in the Ethics; the reason for our present discussion is that it is generally assumed that what is called Wisdom is concerned with the primary causes and principles, so that, as has been already stated, the man of experience is held to be wiser than the mere possessors of any power of sensation, the artist than the man of experience, the master craftsman than the artisan; and the speculative sciences to be more learned than the productive.' back |
Aristotle - On the Soul, On the Soul - The Internet Classics Archive, ' Holding as we do that, while knowledge of any kind is a thing to be honoured and prized, one kind of it may, either by reason of its greater exactness or of a higher dignity and greater wonderfulness in its objects, be more honourable and precious than another, on both accounts we should naturally be led to place in the front rank the study of the soul. The knowledge of the soul admittedly contributes greatly to the advance of truth in general, and, above all, to our understanding of Nature, for the soul is in some sense the principle of animal life. Our aim is to grasp and understand, first its essential nature, and secondly its properties; of these some are taught to be affections proper to the soul itself, while others are considered to attach to the animal owing to the presence within it of soul.' back |
Astrology - Wikipedia, Astrology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events. Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, and has its roots in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.' back |
Axiom of power set - Wikipedia, Axiom of power set - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, the axiom of power set is one of the Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms of axiomatic set theory. . . . succinctly: for every set x there is a set P(x) consisting precisely of the subsets of x. . . .
The axiom of power set appears in most axiomatizations of set theory. back |
Calculus - Wikipedia, Calculus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, '. . . Calculus is the study of change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of operations and their application to solving equations. . . .' back |
Cantor's paradox - Wikipedia, Cantor's paradox - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In set theory, Cantor's paradox is derivable from the theorem that there is no greatest cardinal number, so that the collection of "infinite sizes" is itself infinite. The difficulty is handled in axiomatic set theory by declaring that this collection is not a set but a proper class; in von Neumann–Bernays–Gödel set theory it follows from this and the axiom of limitation of size that this proper class must be in bijection with the class of all sets. Thus, not only are there infinitely many infinities, but this infinity is larger than any of the infinities it enumerates.' back |
Cantor's theorem - Wikipedia, Cantor's theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In mathematical set theory, Cantor's theorem is a fundamental result which states that, for any set A , the set of all subsets of A, the power set of A, has a strictly greater cardinality than A itself.
For finite sets, Cantor's theorem can be seen to be true by simple enumeration of the number of subsets. Counting the empty set as a subset, a set with n elements has a total of n 2 subsets, and the theorem holds because n2 > n for all non-negative integers.
Much more significant is Cantor's discovery of an argument that is applicable to any set, and shows that the theorem holds for infinite sets also.' back |
Cartesian coordinate system - Wikipedia, Cartesian coordinate system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In geometry, a Cartesian coordinate system in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of real numbers called coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, called coordinate lines, coordinate axes or just axes (plural of axis) of the system. The point where they meet is called the origin and has (0, 0) as coordinates.' back |
Christopher Shea (2012), Why Power Corrupts, ' “Power tends to corrupt,” said Lord Acton, the 19th-century British historian. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” His maxim has been vividly illustrated in psychological studies, notably the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, which was halted when one group of students arbitrarily assigned to serve as “prison guards” over another group began to abuse their wards.
But new scholarship is bringing fresh subtlety to psychologists’ understanding of when power leads people to take ethical shortcuts—and when it doesn’t. Indeed, for some people, power seems to bring out their best. After all, good people do win elective office, says Katherine A. DeCelles, a professor of management at the University of Toronto, and no few business executives want to do good while doing well. “When you give good people power,” DeCelles says she wondered, are they more able than others “to enact that moral identity, to do what’s right?” back |
Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy a), Aristotle's Psychology, ' In De Anima, Aristotle makes extensive use of technical terminology introduced and explained elsewhere in his writings. He claims, for example, using vocabulary derived from his physical and metaphysical theories, that the soul is a “first actuality of a natural organic body” (De Anima ii 1, 412b5–6), that it is a “substance as form of a natural body which has life in potentiality” (De Anima ii 1, 412a20–1) and, similarly, that it “is a first actuality of a natural body which has life in potentiality” (De Anima ii 1, 412a27–8), all claims which apply to plants, animals and humans alike.' back |
Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy b), The Active Mind of De Anima III 5 , ' After characterizingnous the mind (nous) and its activities in De Animaiii 4, Aristotle takes a surprising turn. In De Anima iii 5, he introduces an obscure and hotly disputed subject: the active mind or active intellect (nous poiêtikos). Controversy surrounds almost every aspect of De Anima iii 5, not least because in it Aristotle characterizes the active mind—a topic mentioned nowhere else in his entire corpus—as ‘separate and unaffected and unmixed, being in its essence actuality’ (chôristos kai apathês kai amigês, tê ousia energeia; DA iii 5, 430a17–18) and then also as ‘deathless and everlasting’ (athanaton kai aidion; DA iii 5, 430a23). This comes as no small surprise to readers of De Anima, because Aristotle had earlier in the same work treated the mind (nous) as but one faculty (dunamis) of the soul (psuchê), and he had contended that the soul as a whole is not separable from the body (DA ii 1, 413a3–5). back |
Christopher Shields (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Aristotle, First published Thu Sep 25, 2008; substantive revision Tue Aug 25, 2020
'Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: . . . A prodigious researcher and writer, Aristotle left a great body of work, perhaps numbering as many as two-hundred treatises, from which approximately thirty-one survive. His extant writings span a wide range of disciplines, from logic, metaphysics and philosophy of mind, through ethics, political theory, aesthetics and rhetoric, and into such primarily non-philosophical fields as empirical biology, where he excelled at detailed plant and animal observation and taxonomy. In all these areas, Aristotle's theories have provided illumination, met with resistance, sparked debate, and generally stimulated the sustained interest of an abiding readership.' back |
Combination - Wikipedia, Combination - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are three combinations of two that can be drawn from this set: an apple and a pear; an apple and an orange; or a pear and an orange. More formally, a k-combination of a set S is a subset of k distinct elements of S. So, two combinations are identical if and only if each combination has the same members. (The arrangement of the members in each set does not matter.) ' back |
Constantine the Great and Christianity - Wikipedia, Constantine the Great and Christianity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' During the reign of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (AD 306–337), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine's reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have often argued about which form of early Christianity he subscribed to. . . . Constantine's decision to cease the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was a turning point for early Christianity, sometimes referred to as the Triumph of the Church, the Peace of the Church or the Constantinian shift. In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church and raised the notions of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils, and the state church of the Roman Empire declared by edict in 380. He is revered as a saint and is apostolos in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and various Eastern Catholic Churches for his example as a "Christian monarch”.' back |
Crusades - Wikipedia, Crusades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Crusades were a series of intermittent military campaigns in the years from 1096 to 1487, sanctioned by various Popes. In 1095 the Byzantine Emperor, Alexios I, sent an ambassador to Pope Urban II requesting military support in the Byzantines' conflict with the westward migrating Turks in Anatolia. The Pope responded by calling Catholics to join what later became known as the First Crusade. One of Urban's stated aims was to guarantee pilgrims access to the holy sites in the Holy Land that were under Muslim control while his wider strategy was to reunite the Eastern and Western branches of Christendom, divided after their split in 1054, and establish himself as head of the united Church. This initiated a complex 200-year struggle in the region.' back |
Deferent and epicycle - Wikipedia, Deferent and epicycle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In the Hipparchian, Ptolemaic, and Copernican systems of astronomy, the epicycle (from Ancient Greek ἐπίκυκλος (epíkuklos) 'upon the circle', meaning "circle moving on another circle")[1] was a geometric model used to explain the variations in speed and direction of the apparent motion of the Moon, Sun, and planets. In particular it explained the apparent retrograde motion of the five planets known at the time. Secondarily, it also explained changes in the apparent distances of the planets from the Earth.' back |
Eamonn Wooster & Erick Liundgren, From meerkat school to whale-tail slapping and oyster smashing, how clever predators shape their world, ' In the 1980s a single humpback whale in the Gulf of Maine developed the “lobtail feeding method”. This unique hunting method of slapping the water’s surface appears to drive fish into dense schools, making it easier to consume them. Lobtail feeding caught on. Now many humpback whales are doing it.
Ecologists have long thought animals acted on instinct alone. But a growing body of evidence shows many animals, much like us, have complex brains and social lives.
In our new research, we argue the science of ecology can learn a great deal from the study of animal cognition and culture. Cognition is what goes on in the mind, which determines how animals perceive and respond to the world around them. Culture is the development and spread of socially learned behaviours. These are important – but generally overlooked – mechanisms influencing ecosystems.' back |
Electron microscope - Wikipedia, Electron microscope - Wikipedia, the free encylopedia, ' An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a higher resolving power than light microscopes and can reveal the structure of smaller objects. A scanning transmission electron microscope has achieved better than 50 pm resolution in annular dark-field imaging mode and magnifications of up to about 10,000,000× whereas most light microscopes are limited by diffraction to about 200 nm resolution and useful magnifications below 2000×.' back |
English versions of the Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, English versions of the Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Nicene Creed, composed in part and adopted at the First Council of Nicaea (325) and revised with additions by the First Council of Constantinople (381), is a creed that summarizes the orthodox faith of the Christian Church and is used in the liturgy of most Christian Churches. This article endeavours to give the text and context of English-language translations.' back |
Ethan Siegel, The 13 scales that define our physical Universe, ' The visible Universe extends 46.1 billion light-years from us, while we've probed scales down to as small as ~10^-19 meters.. . ..
From macroscopic scales down to subatomic ones, the sizes of the fundamental particles play only a small role in determining the sizes of composite structures. Whether the building blocks are truly fundamental and/or point-like particles is still not known, but we do understand the Universe from large, cosmic scales down to tiny, subatomic ones. The scale of quarks and gluons is the limit to how far we’ve ever probed nature.
On the right, the gauge bosons, which mediate the three fundamental quantum forces of our Universe, are illustrated. There is only one photon to mediate the electromagnetic force, there are three bosons mediating the weak force, and eight mediating the strong force. This suggests that the Standard Model is a combination of three groups: U(1), SU(2), and SU(3), whose interactions and particles combine to make up everything known in existence. With gravity thrown into the mix, there are a total of 26 fundamental constants required to explain our Universe, with four big questions still awaiting explanation. back |
Eugene Wigner (1960), The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, 'The first point is that the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and that there is no rational explanation for it. Second, it is just this uncanny usefulness of mathematical concepts that raises the question of the uniqueness of our physical theories.' back |
European wars of religion - Wikipedia, European war of religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The conflicts began with the minor Knights' Revolt (1522), followed by the larger German Peasants' War (1524–1525) in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation in 1545 against the growth of Protestantism. The conflicts culminated in the Thirty Years' War, which devastated Germany and killed one-third of its population, a mortality rate twice that of World War I. The Peace of Westphalia broadly resolved the conflicts by recognising three separate Christian traditions in the Holy Roman Empire: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.' back |
Exodus 32, The Lord orders Moses to slaughter the worshippers of the Golden Calf, '27 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbour'.” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day”.' back |
Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, Formalism (mathematics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In foundations of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of logic, formalism is a theory that holds that statements of mathematics and logic can be thought of as statements about the consequences of certain string manipulation rules.
For example, Euclidean geometry can be seen as a game whose play consists in moving around certain strings of symbols called axioms according to a set of rules called "rules of inference" to generate new strings. In playing this game one can "prove" that the Pythagorean theorem is valid because the string representing the Pythagorean theorem can be constructed using only the stated rules.' back |
Fourier analysis - Wikipedia, Fourier analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In mathematics, Fourier analysis is the study of the way general functions may be represented or approximated by sums of simpler trigonometric functions. Fourier analysis grew from the study of Fourier series, and is named after Joseph Fourier, who showed that representing a function as a sum of trigonometric functions greatly simplifies the study of heat transfer.
Today, the subject of Fourier analysis encompasses a vast spectrum of mathematics. In the sciences and engineering, the process of decomposing a function into oscillatory components is often called Fourier analysis, while the operation of rebuilding the function from these pieces is known as Fourier synthesis.' back |
Galileo affair - Wikipedia, Galileo affair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Galileo affair (Italian: il processo a Galileo Galilei) began around 1610 and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for his support of heliocentrism, the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the centre of the Solar System. ' back |
Galileo Galilei, Recantation of Galileo (June 22, 1633), ' Therefore, desiring to remove from the minds of your Eminences, and of all faithful Christians, this vehement suspicion, justly conceived against me, with sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure, curse, and detest the aforesaid errors and heresies, and generally every other error, heresy, and sect whatsoever contrary to the said Holy Church, and I swear that in the future I will never again say or assert, verbally or in writing, anything that might furnish occasion for a similar suspicion regarding me; ' back |
Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia, Galileo Galilei - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Galileo Galilei (. . . 15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly known as Galileo, was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of science", and "the Father of Modern Science".' back |
Genesis 1:27, God creates humans, ' 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ' back |
Georg Cantor - Wikipedia, Georg Cantor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor (March 3 [O.S. February 19] 1845 – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician, born in Russia. He is best known as the creator of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of one-to-one correspondence between sets, defined infinite and well-ordered sets, and proved that the real numbers are "more numerous" than the natural numbers. In fact, Cantor's theorem implies the existence of an "infinity of infinities". He defined the cardinal and ordinal numbers and their arithmetic. Cantor's work is of great philosophical interest, a fact of which he was well aware of.' back |
Human brain - Wikipedia, Human brain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the body, processing, integrating, and coordinating the information it receives from the sense organs, and making decisions as to the instructions sent to the rest of the body.' back |
Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Hylomorphism (Greek ὑλο- hylo-, "wood, matter" + -morphism < Greek μορφή, morphē, "form") is a philosophical theory developed by Aristotle, which analyzes substance into matter and form. Substances are conceived of as compounds of form and matter.' back |
On the Trinity - Wikipedia, On the Trinity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'On the Trinity (Latin: De Trinitate) is a Latin book written by Augustine of Hippo to discuss the Trinity in context of the logos. Although not as well known as some of his other works, it is arguably his masterpiece and of more doctrinal importance than the Confessions or City of God. . . . Arthur West Haddan inferred from [the] evidence that it was written between 400, when he was forty-six years old and had been Bishop of Hippo about four years, and 428 at the latest; but it probably had been published ten or twelve years earlier, in around 417.' back |
Infallibility - First Vatican Council, The Latin Text of Denzinger: Enchiridion Symbolorum, Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum, Denzinger 3074: 'Romanum Pontificem, cum ex cathedra loquitur, id est, cum omnium Christianorum pastoris et doctoris munere fungens pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab universa Ecclesia tenendam definit, per assistentiam divinam ipsi in beato Petro promissam, ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Ecclesiam suam in definienda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit; ideoque eiusmodi Romani Pontificis definitiones ex sese, non autem ex consensu Ecclesiae, irreformabiles esse.
Si quis autem huic Nostrae definitioni contradicere, quod Deus avertat: anathema sit.' back |
Irrational number - Wikipedia, Irrational number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, an irrational number is any real number that cannot be expressed as a ratio a/b, where a and b are integers, with b non-zero, and is therefore not a rational number.
Informally, this means that an irrational number cannot be represented as a simple fraction. Irrational numbers are those real numbers that cannot be represented as terminating or repeating decimals. As a consequence of Cantor's proof that the real numbers are uncountable (and the rationals countable) it follows that almost all real numbers are irrational.' back |
Isaac Newton (1736), Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series with its Application to the Geometry of Curve-Lines, 'The method of fluxions and infinite series
with its application to the geometry of curve-lines
by the inventor Sir Isaac Newton ... ; translated from the author's Latin original not yet made publick. To which is subjoin'd, A perpetual comment upon the whole work, consisting of annotations, illustrations, and supplements, to make this treatise a compleat institution for the use of learners. back |
Karl Weierstrass - Wikipedia, Karl Weierstrass - Wikipedia. the free encyclopedia, ' Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (German: Weierstraß 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a teacher, eventually teaching mathematics, physics, botany and gymnastics.
Weierstrass formalized the definition of the continuity of a function, proved the intermediate value theorem and the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem, and used the latter to study the properties of continuous functions on closed bounded intervals.' back |
Limit of a function - Wikipedia, Limit of a function - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The notion of a limit has many applications in modern calculus. In particular, the many definitions of continuity employ the concept of limit: roughly, a function is continuous if all of its limits agree with the values of the function. . . . In 1861, Weierstrass first introduced the epsilon-delta definition of limit in the form it is usually written today. back |
Lumen Gentium (Vatican II), Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 'THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH 1. Christ is the Light of nations. Because this is so, this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church. Since the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race, it desires now to unfold more fully to the faithful of the Church and to the whole world its own inner nature and universal mission.' back |
Medieval university - Wikipedia, Medieval university - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy, including the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples, and the Kingdoms of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries for the study of the arts and the higher disciplines of theology, law, and medicine. These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools,[3][4] and it is difficult to define the exact date when they became true universities, though the lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide.' back |
Microscope - Wikipedia, Microscope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' A microscope (from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós) 'small', and σκοπέω (skopéō) 'to look (at); examine, inspect') is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. . . . .. back |
Neuron - Wikipedia, Neuron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'A neuron or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. It is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. Plants and fungi do not have nerve cells. . . .
A typical neuron consists of a cell body (soma), dendrites, and a single axon. The soma is usually compact. The axon and dendrites are filaments that extrude from it. Dendrites typically branch profusely and extend a few hundred micrometers from the soma. The axon leaves the soma at a swelling called the axon hillock, and travels for as far as 1 meter in humans or more in other species.' back |
Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, Nicene Creed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Nicene Creed (Greek: Σύμβολον τῆς Νίκαιας, Latin: Symbolum Nicaenum) is the profession of faith or creed that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It forms the mainstream definition of Christianity for most Christians.
It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea (present day Iznik in Turkey) by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.
The Nicene Creed has been normative for the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion, and the great majority of Protestant denominations.' back |
Organon - Wikipedia, Organon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Organon (Greek: όργανον meaning instrument, tool, organ) is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logic. The name Organon was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics. They are as follows:
Categories
On Interpretation
Prior Analytics
Posterior Analytics
Topics
Sophistical Refutations. ' back |
Permutation - Wikipedia, Permutation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, the notion of permutation relates to the act of permuting, or rearranging, members of a set into a particular sequence or order (unlike combinations, which are selections that disregard order). For example, there are six permutations of the set {1,2,3}, namely (1,2,3), (1,3,2), (2,1,3), (2,3,1), (3,1,2), and (3,2,1). As another example, an anagram of a word, all of whose letters are different, is a permutation of its letters. The study of permutations of finite sets is a topic in the field of combinatorics.' back |
Permutation group - Wikipedia, Permutation group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, a permutation group is a group G whose elements are permutations of a given set M and whose group operation is the composition of permutations in G (which are thought of as bijective functions from the set M to itself). The group of all permutations of a set M is the symmetric group of M, often written as Sym(M). The term permutation group thus means a subgroup of the symmetric group. If M = {1,2,...,n} then, Sym(M), the symmetric group on n letters is usually denoted by Sn.
The way in which the elements of a permutation group permute the elements of the set is called its group action. Group actions have applications in the study of symmetries, combinatorics and many other branches of mathematics, physics and chemistry.' back |
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philosophical books.
He took part in the discovery of Peking Man. He conceived the vitalist idea of the Omega Point. With Vladimir Vernadsky he developed the concept of the noosphere.
In 1962, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemned several of Teilhard's works based on their alleged ambiguities and doctrinal errors. Some eminent Catholic figures, including Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, have made positive comments on some of his ideas since. The response to his writings by scientists has been divided. ' back |
Planck constant - Wikipedia, Planck constant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Since energy and mass are equivalent, the Planck constant also relates mass to frequency. By 2017, the Planck constant had been measured with sufficient accuracy in terms of the SI base units, that it was central to replacing the metal cylinder, called the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), that had defined the kilogram since 1889. . . . For this new definition of the kilogram, the Planck constant, as defined by the ISO standard, was set to 6.626 070 150 × 10-34 J⋅s exactly. ' back |
Platonism - Wikipedia, Platonism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In the 3rd century AD, Plotinus added additional mystical elements, establishing Neoplatonism, in which the summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things; in virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One. Many Platonic notions were adopted by the Christian church which understood Plato's Forms as God's thoughts (a position also known as divine conceptualism), while Neoplatonism became a major influence on Christian mysticism in the West through Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Catholic Church, who was heavily influenced by Plotinus' Enneads, and in turn were foundations for the whole of Western Christian thought. Many ideas of Plato were incorporated by the Roman Catholic Church.' back |
Pope John Paul II (22 October 1996), Address to Plenary Session on 'The Origins and Early Evolution of Life', ' John Paul II refers to Pius XI’s hope that the Academy would become a Senatus scientificus. In relation to the origins of life and the universe the Pope asks: ‘How do the conclusions reached by the various scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in what direction do we look for their solution?’ John Paul II surveys the Magisterium’s comments on the theory of evolution and adds that ‘to tell the truth, rather than the theory of evolution, we should speak of several theories of evolution’. Those theories of evolution which ‘consider the mind as emerging from the forces of living matter’ are ‘incompatible with the truth about man’. The human being, indeed, is ‘called to enter into eternal life’.' back |
Pope Pius X, Lamentabili Sane: The Syllabus of Errors (Condemning the Errors of the Modernists) Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, July 3, 1907, 'WITH TRULY LAMENTABLE RESULTS, our age, casting aside all restraint in its search for the ultimate causes of things, frequently pursues novelties so ardently that it rejects the legacy of the human race. Thus it falls into very serious errors, which are even more serious when they concern sacred authority, the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and the principal mysteries of Faith. The fact that many Catholic writers also go beyond the limits determined by the Fathers and the Church herself is extremely regrettable. In the name of higher knowledge and historical research, (they say), they are looking for that progress of dogmas which is, in reality, nothing but the corruption of dogmas. ... ' back |
Pope Pius XII (1950), Humani Generis, ' To our Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries enjoying peace and communion with the Holy See concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine.' back |
Recovery of Aristotle - Wikipedia, Recovery of Aristotle - Wikipedia, the free encclopedia
, ' The "Recovery of Aristotle" (or Rediscovery) refers to the copying or re-translating of most of Aristotle's books (of ancient Greece), from Greek or Arabic text into Latin, during the Middle Ages, of the Latin West. The Recovery of Aristotle spanned about 100 years, from the middle 12th century into the 13th century, and copied or translated over 42 books (see: Corpus Aristotelicum), including Arabic texts from Arabic authors, where the previous Latin versions had only two books in general circulation: Categories and On Interpretation (De Interpretatione).' back |
Rolf Landauer (1999), Information is a Physical Entity, 'Abstract: This paper, associated with a broader conference talk on the fundamental physical limits of information handling, emphasizes the aspects still least appreciated. Information is not an abstract entity but exists only through a physical representation, thus tying it to all the restrictions and possibilities of our real physical universe. The mathematician's vision of an unlimited sequence of totally reliable operations is unlikely to be implementable in this real universe. Speculative remarks about the possible impact of that on the ultimate nature of the laws of physics are included.' back |
Set theory - Wikipedia, Set theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Set theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets, which are collections of objects. Although any type of object can be collected into a set, set theory is applied most often to objects that are relevant to mathematics. The language of set theory can be used in the definitions of nearly all mathematical objects.
The modern study of set theory was initiated by Georg Cantor and Richard Dedekind in the 1870s. After the discovery of paradoxes in naive set theory, numerous axiom systems were proposed in the early twentieth century, of which the Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms, with the axiom of choice, are the best-known.' back |
Sines & Sakellarakis (1987), Lenses in Antiquity, ' A recent find in the Idaean Cave in Crete of two rock crystal lenses of unusually good quality led to this investigation of other lenses in antiquity. This led to an investigation of other lenses from antiquity. The evidence indicates that the use of lenses was widespread throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin over several millennia. The quality of some of these lenses was sufficient to permit their use as magnifying glasses. . . . The fine detail of Roman gold-glass portrait medallions and the discovery of a lens in the house of an artist in Pompeii and another in the house of an artist in Tania are presented as evidence for the use of lenses for magnifying purposes. Methods of producing optical quality lenses by simple procedures are also presented. back |
Synapse - Wikipedia, Synapse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron (or nerve cell) to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell (neural or otherwise). Santiago Ramón y Cajal proposed that neurons are not continuous throughout the body, yet still communicate with each other, an idea known as the neuron doctrine
The word "synapse" (from Greek synapsis "conjunction," from synaptein "to clasp," from syn- "together" and haptein "to fasten") was introduced in 1897 by English physiologist Michael Foster at the suggestion of English classical scholar Arthur Woollgar Verrall.' back |
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, History, ' The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has its roots in the Academy of the Lynxes (Accademia dei Lincei) which was founded in Rome in 1603 as the first exclusively scientific academy in the world. The Accademia dei Lincei achieved international recognition, and appointed Galileo Galilei as a member on 25 August 1610, but did not survive the death of its founder, Federico Cesi. In 1847 Pope Pius IX reestablished the Academy as the Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes. Pope Pius XI renewed and reconstituted the Academy in 1936, and gave it its present name. Since 1936 the Pontifical Academy of Sciences has grown increasingly international in character. While continuing to further the work of the separate sciences, it stresses the growing importance of interdisciplinary cooperation. Today the Academy's activities range from a traditional interest in pure research to a concern with the ethical and environmental responsibility of the scientific community.' back |
Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle De Anima 430a10-430a25, ' § 731. The reason why Aristotle came to postulate an agent intellect was his rejection of Plato’s theory that the essences of sensible things existed apart from matter, in a state of actual intelligibility. For Plato there was clearly no need to posit an agent intellect. But Aristotle, who regarded the essences of sensible things as existing in matter with only a potential intelligibility, had to invoke some abstractive principle in the mind itself to render these essences actually intelligible. . . ..
§ 732. Next, at ‘And this etc.’, he states four qualities or conditions of the agent intellect: first, its separation from matter; second, its impassibility; third, its purity, by which he means that it is neither made up of bodily natures nor conjoined with a bodily organ. Now these three qualities are also found in the potential intellect; but the fourth is proper to the agent intellect, and consists in its being essentially in act; whereas, the potential intellect is essentially potential and comes to act only by receiving an intelligible object.' back |
Universe - Wikipedia, Universe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Universe is all of spacetime and everything that exists therein, including all planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the smallest subatomic particles, and all matter and energy. Similar terms include the cosmos, the world, reality, and nature.
The observable universe is about 46 billion light years in radius. back |
University of Arizona, The Role of Printing in Medieval and Reformation Europe, ' Fifteenth-century Europe experienced a technological revolution in the invention of the printing press with movable type that bears comparison with that of computers today. Although in the earlier era dissemination of such an invention and the realization of its effects took several generations, its transformation of the processes of communication was drastic. Johann Gensfleisch Gutenberg (1397-1468), a goldsmith by craft, tried to conceal his manufacture of movable type and a machine for printing with it. There were in his day no patents or copyrights to shield the inventor against pirating. The length of time needed to carve the type compelled him to borrow money on which to live, and this eventually catapulted him into bankruptcy. Before the banker Johann Fust confiscated his press and began to use it himself, Gutenberg managed to produce his famed 42-line Bible, dated approximately 1455, and several smaller works. The Germans generally acknowledged the discovery of printing as Gutenberg’s and the method as a turning point.' back |
Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Zeno's paradoxes are a set of problems generally thought to have been devised by Zeno of Elea to support Parmenides's doctrine that "all is one" and that, contrary to the evidence of our senses, the belief in plurality and change is mistaken, and in particular that motion is nothing but an illusion.' back |
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