The metaphysical idea that reality exists independently of one's mind and yet can be known is called realism. The metaphysical idea that no mind-independent reality exists or can be known is idealism. These are two main battlegrounds of metaphysics.
In the West, metaphysics is usually traced to the natural philosophers in ancient Greece, where Aristotle systematized a metaphysical description of nature equivalent to today's theoretical science.
By the 4th century AD in Alexandria, Egypt, alchemy was starting its transformation into chemistry. The conventional view is that alchemy was steeped in mysticism, and that chemistry did not quite become what we would call science until it entered the 19th century.
In the early 17th century, Galileo introduced to physics his experiments with earthly objects: the dawn of empirical science in Western Europe. Galilean laws of motion led to the overthrow of Aristotle's ideas, a revolution more or less completed by the wide acceptance of Cartesian physics, built upon Copernican and Galilean mechanics.
Newtonian physics rapidly replaced Cartesian physics. Isaac Newton, like others that we now call "scientists", was known as a "natural philosopher". In the 1830s, Auguste Comte created positivism, the first modern philosophy of science. It sought the divorce of science from religion and metaphysics.
In 1847, Hermann von Helmholtz's paper "On the conservation of energy", stated the first law of thermodynamics, and tried to reduce physiology to physics. In 1859, Darwin proposed an explanation of evolution by natural selection. Both seemed plausible and compatible with physical theory.
By the 1860s, the term "science" (as meaning something distinct from "philosophy") entered the dictionary. Today the term "metaphysics" usually refers to discussion of aspects of reality which are beyond physics. Particularly among those seeking to be scientific, the term "metaphysics" can be pejorative to varying degrees. However, philosophers of science recognize that science is impossible without metaphysics. At the very least, before beginning empirical investigation, one needs an ontology. This is because categories are needed to sort observations into.
Washington (state)
Washington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is north of Oregon, west of Idaho, east of the Pacific Ocean, and south of British Columbia. (British Columbia is part of Canada.) There are more than 6,000,000 people in Washington. Most live in the western part of Washington, which gets more rain. About a quarter of the people live in the east part, where it gets less rain, and some parts have a desert climate. The largest city on the east part is Spokane, and it is also the second biggest city in the state. The Cascade Mountains go down the middle of the state and break it into two sides. The state's nickname is the "Evergreen State" because it has a lot of pine trees. Washington was the 42nd state to join the United States, on November 11, 1889. It is often called "Washington State" so that it does not get confused with the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. The name "Washington" comes from President George Washington.
The capital of Washington is Olympia. Olympia is a small city on the west side of Washington, at the south end of Puget Sound. Washington's biggest city is Seattle, Seattle is also on Puget Sound.
Washington has many beautiful forests, rivers, gorges (gorges are small canyons), and mountains. Because it's next to the ocean, it has a long beach. However, because Washington is north of Oregon and California (the other two states on the West Coast of the United States), the ocean is cold, and usually not good to swim in.
The biggest universities in Washington are the University of Washington and Washington State University. The University of Washington is in Seattle. Washington State University is in a small town called Pullman. Pullman is on the east side of the state.
The state of Washington has an extremely varied geography, and therefore an extremely varied climate. The map shows western cities have shipping access. These are the low-lying parts on the next to the Pacific Ocean. The western side of the mountains is wet and forested with conifers. Some areas are temperate rain forests (in the Olympic Mountains).
The central area is mountainous, including five volcanos: Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. To the east of the mountains the land is dry and mostly dry grassland (high plains). Only one feature links the west to the east: the important Snake River, a tributary of the even larger Columbia River.
National parks and monuments
There are three National Parks and two National Monuments in Washington:
National forests
Nine national forests are located (at least partly) in Washington:
Federally protected wildernesses
31 wildernesses are located (at least partly) in Washington, like:
National wildlife refuges
23 National Wildlife Refuges are located (at least partly) in Washington like:
Other federally protected lands
Other protected lands of note like:
Military and related reservations
There are many large military-related reservations, like:
Clematis
Clematis is a genus of plants that is widely known for its beautiful flowers.
There are many varieties in this group as gardeners around the world have produced many varieties. They can be found not only in Western countries but also in Japan.
This plant grows up as a vine. It uses its leaflets and leaf stalks to twine around any support. In nature it often climbs up a nearby tree. The original species can mostly be found in temperate areas on Earth. Some species can also be found on high mountains.
Rational number
In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be written as a fraction. The set of rational number is often represented by the symbol formula_1, standing for "quotient" in English.
Rational numbers are all real numbers, and can be positive or negative. A number that is not rational is called irrational.
Most of the numbers that people use in everyday life are rational. These include fractions, integers and numbers with finite decimal digits. In general, a number that can be written as a fraction while it is in its own form is rational.
All rational numbers can be written as a fraction. Take 1.5 as an example, this can be written as formula_2, formula_3, or formula_4.
More examples of fractions that are rational numbers include formula_5, formula_6, and formula_7.
A terminating decimal is a decimal with a certain number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Examples include 3.2, 4.075, and -300.12002. All of these are rational. Another good example would be 0.9582938472938498234.
A repeating decimal is a decimal where there are infinitely many digits to the right of the decimal point, but which follow a repeating pattern.
An example of this is formula_8. As a decimal, it is written as 0.3333333333... The dots indicate that the digit 3 repeats forever.
Sometimes, a group of digits repeats. An example is formula_9. As a decimal, it is written as 0.09090909... In this example, the group of digits 09 repeats.
Also, sometimes the digits repeat "after" another group of digits. An example is formula_10. It is written as 0.16666666... In this example, the digit 6 repeats, following the digit 1.
If you try this on your calculator, sometimes it may make a rounding error at the end. For instance, your calculator may say that formula_11, even though there is no 7. It rounds the 6 at the end up to 7.
The digits after the decimal point in an irrational number do not repeat in an infinite pattern. For instance, the first several digits of π (Pi) are 3.1415926535... A few of the digits repeat, but they never start repeating in an infinite pattern, no matter how far you go to the right of the decimal point.
Saint Patrick's Day