Determinism is Alive & Well
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Wisdom House Publications Ltd
Published: August 1, 2001
Place of publication: Leeds, UK
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 350
ISBN-13: 9781842900208
Subjects: Philosophy
First sentence: The concept of determinism, envisaged by the Greek philosophers such as Aristotle but first expressed in its systematic, classical  form by David Hume and illustrated by Newton and Laplace, held firm throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: it was the principle according to which in identical circumstances identical causes necessarily produced identical effects.
Description: A defense and illustration of modern determinism as opposed to indeterminism and mechanical determinism.
Notes: Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Determinism & 20th-Century Physics 4
1. Epistemology 4
2. Determinism Challenged 7
3. From Material Points To Fields And Particles 8
4. Quanta & Planck's Constant 9
5. Special Relativity & Mass-Energy Equivalence 10
6. General Relativity 12
7. The Relativistic Revolution 13
Chapter 2: Quantum Theory & Determinism 15
8. The Development OfQuantum Theory 15
9. Complementarity & The Uncertainty Principle 17
10. The Two-Slit Experiment 19
11. Processes U & R 21
12. What Is A Measurement? 23
13. Space-Time Geometry & Logic 28
14. The EPRB Experiment & Locality 29
15. Quantum ElectroDynamics 36
16. The Standard Model 38
17. Quantum Theory OfGravity & Epistemology 42
18. Matter & Determinism 45
Chapter 3: Modern & Obsolete Determinism 48
19. Popper & Determinism 48
20. Modern & Obsolete Detenninism 51
21. A Common Confusion 54
22. Again On Modern Determinism 60
23. The Truth Of A Theory 63
24. Epistemological Conceptions & The Development Of Science 68
Chapter 4: Reductionism & The Systemic Information Effect 73
2S. Quantum-Relativistic Theory & Information Content 73
26. Reductionism. Deterrninism & Information: The Systemic Information Effect 78
27. Popper. Religious & Natural Determinism 80
28. When Is a Theory Proven True? 88
29, Formalism & Empiricism 95
30. Against Positivism 97
Chapter 5: The Oneness Of Determinism 100
31. Only One Detenninism 100
32. On Randomness & Chaos 105
33. The Arrow Of Time 114
34. Chaos, Effective Complexity & Quantum Probabilities 118
35.Again On The Oneness Of Determinism 124
Chapter 6: Mathematics & Determinism 128
36. Mathematics, Computability & Determinism 128
37. Nonalgorithmic Mathematics, Undecidability & Formalism l31
38. Computability, Complexity & Determinism 136
Chapter 7: Quantum Logic 138
39. The Quantum Logic Hypothesis l38
40. Classical Measurement Of Quantum Reality 142
41. Particle-Field Duality & Quantum Logic 145
Chapter 8: Science, Reductionism & Determinism 156
42. What Is A Science? 156
43. Criteria Of Scientificity 161
44. Indetenninism & Propensities 170
45. More On Reductionism 175
46. Bottom-Up & Top-Down Descriptions 183
47. Cosmology & GUTs 185
48. Classification of Sciences 187
49. The Issue Of The 'Ultimate Cause' 191
50. Physical Determinism: A Preliminary Conclusion 195
Chapter 9: Determinism & The Social Sciences 197
51. History, The Social Sciences & Determinism 197
52. The Fundamental Problem of Philosophy 201
53. Dualism 206
54. The Agnostic As An Uncertain Dualist 208
55. Monism 218
56. Marxism, Dialectics & Mechanicism 232
57. The Object of Philosophy 236
58. Philosophy, Epistemology & The Social Sciences 241
Chapter 10: Is Man Subject to Determinisim? 245
59. Reductionism & The Social Sciences 245
60. Searle's 'Bridging Principle' 252
61. The Mind, Reductionism & The Chinese Room 257
62. Freedom OfThe Will & Reductionism 272
Chapter 11: Social Determinism & The Failure of Marxism 281
63. Determinism, Reductionism & The Social Sciences 281
64. History As A Social Science 293
65. The Marxist Theory of History & Historical Determinism 297
66. Historics As The Theory of History 303
67. Why Do We Have Underdeveloped Social Sciences? 314
68. Historics, The Social Sciences & Determinism 321
69. The Social Sciences, Philosophy & The Issue of Reductionism 332
Chapter 12: Conclusion 349
70. Modem Determinism & Reductionism 349
Notes 367
Index 388
Table of contents: value: Contents; value: Index