Scientific Revolutions & the Nature of Reality: Physics to Metaphysics
The Scientific Revolutions of the Twentieth Century
There have been three major revolutions that have changed the way we understand reality:
- Physics: Theories of relativity and quantum mechanics originated a new concept of the universe’s structure.
- Biology: Depicting life as a result of the complexity and self-organization of matter.
- Humanity: The digital revolution and the neuroscience of consciousness relate to physics and biology.
The Theory of Relativity
From the photoelectric effect, Einstein concluded that light behaves like both a wave and a particle, and its velocity is constant. According to the theory of relativity, there is no absolute motion, and therefore, there is space-time. The general theory of relativity explains the accelerated motion of bodies and gravity as a curvature of space-time, representing a four-dimensional space.
Quantum Theory
Quantum theory attempts to explain the structure of matter at the atomic and subatomic levels. Max Planck showed that matter absorbs or emits energy in limited units called “quanta.” Later, it was concluded that matter consists of atoms and these small particles are very near the limit of what is observable. These particles have a dual nature: sometimes behaving as mass points and other times like waves, so that only a mathematical equation can express it. This equation does not describe exact behavior.
The Big Bang and the New Face of the Universe
The great challenge of contemporary physics is the unification of quantum theory and relativity. The quantum revolution brought about the discovery of two new forces in addition to the already known gravity and electromagnetism: the strong and weak nuclear forces. Theories of the universe, such as the Big Bang, were proposed. George Gamow proposed an image of this expansion. The initial time was a huge explosion of a primary point of nearly infinite energy and mass near zero, and therefore of very high density and temperature. Space-time originated in the explosion, and primordial particles and nuclei (H and He) formed. Under the pull of gravity, these could be focused on stars and planets. The universe could continue to expand and end in an implosion.
The Digital Revolution
Theoretical research has never been separated from art; one would not exist without the other. We’ve coined the term “technoscience.” The digital revolution scans all information into a mathematical system based on two values, 1 and 0. These values are translated into electrical impulses. Any image or text can be converted into digits and processed on computers, allowing for inconceivable simulation technology. This creates cyberspace, a dense network of free connections where the human mind comes and goes when and where it wants. Cyberspace, television, and telephony play a mediating role between physical reality and the human mind. The neurons in our brains operate like tiny networked computers, and cyberspace acts as a cerebral activity performed by millions of artificial neurons. Direct connection between the computer and the brain is even being considered.
The Biological Revolution
The biological revolution is the result of the theory of evolution, the field of biochemistry, and genetics. Miller succeeded in synthesizing the building blocks of living matter. The connection between chemistry and life and the relationship between the origin of the universe and the origin of life are evident. From the Big Bang, oscillatory processes of energy and matter crystallized into tiny particles that initiated a path of complexity and self-organization, constituting the prehistory of life. Some acquired two very characteristic features of life: replication and relationship with themselves. The living being acquires interiority and becomes an open system with emergent properties. Awareness of these properties is crucial.
New Ways of Thinking
Scientific theories are characterized here by a search for a general theory of everything, to give an interpretation of reality. It is philosophically legitimate to extrapolate scientific theories, which by definition are tentative. Nor is it possible to offer a unique image of the world in a society as pluralistic and fragmented as today’s. It is possible to indicate some trends in understanding reality.
Dynamic Thinking
The concept of matter has undergone a radical change, going from static and defined to dynamic and indeterminate. This has implications not only on the understanding of reality but also in the way of human knowing. Matter cannot be understood only as a counterpoint to the senses; it has an energetic nature. Subatomic particles, the last component of the bodies, are energy quanta. Bodies are events or moments of the dynamism of matter-energy.
Open Knowledge
The dual nature of matter involves another characteristic indeterminacy. The nature of matter is not affected. It comes to mind open. Mathematics reveals the art, and yet the world is never so univocally defined. Prior to our measurement, “what gives” is made up of matter and measurement. Matter is far from radiation, and observation stands in a creative activity. The inseparability of knowledge and reality shapes the path of human knowledge.
A Systematic Interpretation
The biological revolution shows the cosmos as a large system with emergent properties. Astrophysics and particle physics draw a homogeneity and continuity between the two ends of the macrocosmic and microcosmic scales. Life and consciousness appear as emerging properties in a process of self-organization and complexity from the initial fact of matter. Understanding reality requires a systemic nature. This is the question of the anthropic principle: do the nature of the cosmos necessarily presage the emergence of humans, or is everything a result of chance?
Science and Reality
At the beginning of the 20th century, science generally accepted an image of what we call reality. But findings opened the door to increasingly complex enigmas. In antiquity, all knowledge was attributed to philosophy, considered the ultimate form of rational knowledge. But scientific knowledge led many to follow a path independent of philosophy. There are issues common to all sciences that are not resolved in a laboratory. They are very general problems, such as: What is the origin of things? Or, are there differences between being and existence? All these questions are beyond science.
1. What is there?: The Question of Reality
- Heidegger: Why is there something and not rather nothing? That is, what does it mean that there is something?
- What are the features of what exists? What do we mean when we say something is real?
Reality and Illusion
Reality seems simple; we are real and live among real things. However, some of these things exist, and others do not. And both are part of what is.
The Reality of the External World
The problems can be sorted into a series of postures that are used to place our relationship with reality:
- Common Sense Realism: There is a real world outside ourselves that is perceived by the senses and analyzed by science. It is the most common and widespread.
- Idealism: When we analyze the real world, we only have our ideas about that world.
- Phenomena: It is not possible to give an overall picture of the world. The real world is nothing but the set of sensory phenomena and perceptions that one can have.
- Skepticism: Reality cannot be known either by reason or by the senses. The question of reality is the object of a specialized branch: metaphysics.
A Radical Namely: Metaphysics
The study of the features of reality and being is called metaphysics. Its works were ordered and placed; the books dealing with the self and the reality behind those devoted to studies of nature were called “books that are beyond the physical books.”
Metaphysics as First Philosophy: Aristotle
Aristotle warned that beyond the problems posed by the study of natural phenomena, it was necessary to analyze the common aspects of all reality. The object of first philosophy was the study of the fundamental principles of reality and all that exists. First philosophy analyzes the traits of “being as being,” of “what is,” called “beings.” It should take into account concrete reality, analyzing the broader issues that explain why a thing is what it is. It is known as ontology.
Classical Metaphysics
Classical metaphysics, characterized by a high level of abstraction, intended to describe the common denominator of reality. To do this, it had to develop maximum generality because the traits were real and transcended beyond the specifics of particular beings. It was a knowledge of complex, transcendental concepts. It employed created categories that served to distinguish different forms of reality and to classify entities into metaphysical groups. Argumentative discourse is the basis of rational knowledge. It is chaired by certain principles or requirements, two of which are logical principles that guide: 1) The principle of contradiction, which states that it is impossible for a particular being to have a property and not have it. 2) The principle of the excluded middle, which states that an object either has a particular property or does not.
The Metaphysical Attitude and Traits
.1) is always a knowledge of principle intends to analyze the first principles of reality that allow us to understand what we mean when we think something “is” … 2) It has a radical character, discusses the “root” of reality and tries to find what constitutes the essence of the concrete things .. 3) has a claim to totality: it seeks to overcome the differences of particular things. Not content with partial solutions or with a limited specialty. Want to analyze all of reality to find its meaning .. 4) Considers the human reality a fundamental reference: all the problems we have as a reference analyzes the universe of human beings. To try to make sense of their reality and existence.
“The great philosophical systems AND INTERPRETATION OF REALITY. Metaphysics has materialized in a series of systems of thought. Some systems support a single principle of reality: Monist. Others believe that the core of reality is composed of several elements: they are pluralistic. And they all seek to develop a general vision of reality and the world are true worldviews.
– Plato: the reality of ideas. The s 4 BC, Plato proposes a system, its thinking takes into account previous philosophical reflections, Eastern philosophy and mathematics .. is dualistic, thinks there are 2 different types of reality , material reality, which show us the way and is subject to change. On the other hand the reality of the objects of reason and mathematics, which never change. According to the true reality is in the world of ideas. Ideas are abstract forms, eternal and immutable. These include a gradient that culminates in the idea of goodness.
“Aristotle: the substance of individual beings. The essential reality is the substance. The question of being of reality leads to the question about the substance of each thing, because something has a substance supposed to say that something has a specific nature that is the cause of motion and evolution. This involves accepting the reality of particular things that are in sensory experience, unlike what I thought Platón.La theory is very complex, it focuses on their worldview, but to explain the change and movement various substances, Aristotle introduces the concepts of event (which really is) and power (which is not yet, but it can be). So when something changes, it passes from potency to act. Aristotle distinguishes higher substance, the unmoved mover, this engine will be identified with the creator God.
“The ancient atomism: the principle of material reality.Leucippus and Democritus created a metaphysical system very different from those of Plato and Aristotle atomism. According to the principle of reality are the atoms that are materiales.Según the atomistic, the real is made up of indivisible material particles, called atoms. The atoms are distinguished only by their shape, and the relations established between si.Se move and collide with each other and their motion is governed by a blind law.
– Thomas Aquinas: God and “beliefs” is the most important of the E Media and its influence on Western culture has been extraordinary, combines the principles of the philosophy of Aristotle with the faith cristiana.Los essential principles that part are the need to postulate the existence of a creator god and the need to combine Christian faith and reason so that could be offered an explanation of reality consistent with the requirements of disclosure cristiana.Al home, Aquino highlights a fundamental :the difference that exists between God and creatures. To explain the distinction raises the difference between essence and existence: .. 1) All beings have an essence, but need not exist. God is the only being whose existence is a characteristic of its own essence. Therefore, there must necessarily.. 2) The existence of particular things, comes from the creative action of God. Therefore, analyze the scope of the creatures are required to seek the beginning of its establishment, ie requires a consideration of God, the only being whose essence includes existence. He alone if necessary, all the others are contingent.
-Hegel: the great idealist system. Spirit, reason and reality. He developed an elaborate metaphysical system. The work was a response to new historical demands represented by the triumph of the French Revolution and the bourgeois society augue. There are two essential concepts that we wish to emphasize in the system of Hegel: .. 1)reason is the supreme value of reality. Everything that is real, should also be rational. .. 2) The spirit is not right ones are in isolation, in the manner of Platonic ideas, is a product of mind which is the new human subject was thought sujeto.El individually. Well, the spirit is the combination of objective and subjective aspects, particular and universal, the human being. Hegel called it “a self that is us and us that is a self.” In a way, l think it serves humanity throughout history humana.La reason is the most outstanding feature of spirit. When triumph of reason, nothing was strange to be real humans. So humans can recognize itself in everything that is real.
“Criticism of large systems. “Kant: the illusions of reason.He was aware of the importance of physics research, but also wanted to know because the science had advanced dramatically in the knowledge of nature and metaphysics was still considering the pampering problemas.Él intended to analyze the limits of reason and study which are the basis of rational knowledge based. To do so, asserted that all knowledge should be a combination of experience data. The mathematics and physics in advance because this combination gives them, however: .- Metaphysics is based on the data of experience is guided by reason alone. So no progress and knowledge are illusory: the great ideas are illusions of reason. In other words, metaphysics is not a SCIENCE. Nevertheless, Kant thought that the great “metaphysical illusions” is valid as guides for human action. And claimed that human reason is always raised these general issues, though I can not answer them.
– Marx, matter, work and society. Marx, noted the need to think about the new company resulting from the R. Industrial, and revision of Hegel’s idealism led to a critique of the emerging knowledge society capitalista.-Marx, thought that the fundamental reality is not right if not essential budgets materia.Los Marx’s critique: 1) There is only matter. .2) This is transformed by the work .. 3) human relations are historical evolution determinada.La material reality and force of nature are the basis of the area. But faced with this reality is the human who transforms nature through their work. This transformation follows a particular trend throughout history, which distinguished different modes of production characterized by the mode of labor, slavery, feudalism and all these stages capitalismo.En remains an essential difference: that There notif workers and owners. So analyze what are the reality and the human being is to analyze the forms of labor and property .-Nietzsche: life and the will: Develop a mind of extreme originality and great style brillanez criticizing many of the contributions of Western metaphysics. Considers that metaphysics has sought to find a “real world” and insurance against the apparent world, full of imperfections, which transmitted the senses. The history of metaphysics is, in fact, the story of a huge error, which means life and underestimate the need to accept radically sentidos.Es life, which is always uncertainty and trial. This world of life can not be known by moral codes or by abstract concepts.