How properties hold together in Substances

This article aims to clarify how aspects of current chemical understanding relate to some important contemporary problems of philosophy. The first section points out that the long-running philosophical debates concerning how properties stay together in substances have neglected the important topic of structure-determining closure. The second part describes several chemically-important types of closure and the third part shows how such closures ground the properties of chemical substances. The fourth section introduces current discussions of structural realism (SR) and contextual emergence: the final sections reconsider the coherence of the properties of substances and concludes that recognition that structures qualify as determinants of specific outcomes—as ‘causes’ as that designation is used in Standard English—clarifies how properties stay together in chemical entities, and by analogy, how characteristics cohere in ordinary items

Viral Becomings:From Mechanical Viruses to Viral (Dis)Entanglements in Preventing Global Disease

This paper explores the contribution of an ethos of (dis)entanglement arising from quantum thought to interpreting and (re)acting on the current global pandemic of Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic is giving rise to a world of pandemic separation, in which infection barriers such as masks, disinfection, social distancing, and isolation may be necessary in the immediate moment of avoiding sickness and death. However, these exclusionary and short-term response mechanisms do not address the larger question relating to global interspecies living, which in its current dynamic is increasingly giving rise to newly emerging infectious diseases such as Covid-19. The Covid-19 pandemic is showing that the health of human beings is deeply entangled with that of other species and places. However, it is also showing the limits to the mechanistic ontology driving modern public health thinking. I build on the work by political ecologists of health and biosocial scholars, especially Frost's concept of biocultural emergence and her engagement with ontological plurality in the human subject, to make the case for a different global politics of disease in preventing the emergence of infectious disease

Analytic philosophy for biomedical research: the imperative of applying yesterday's timeless messages to today's impasses

The mantra that "the best way to predict the future is to invent it" (attributed to the computer scientist Alan Kay) exemplifies some of the expectations from the technical and innovative sides of biomedical research at present. However, for technical advancements to make real impacts both on patient health and genuine scientific understanding, quite a number of lingering challenges facing the entire spectrum from protein biology all the way to randomized controlled trials should start to be overcome. The proposal in this chapter is that philosophy is essential in this process. By reviewing select examples from the history of science and philosophy, disciplines which were indistinguishable until the mid-nineteenth century, I argue that progress toward the many impasses in biomedicine can be achieved by emphasizing theoretical work (in the true sense of the word 'theory') as a vital foundation for experimental biology. Furthermore, a philosophical biology program that could provide a framework for theoretical investigations is outlined

Development of teaching-learning sequences on quantum physics for the Italian secondary school

In the past 15 years, quantum mechanics has been included in most secondary school standards, including the Italian ones, but still in a rather marginal way. The conceptual complexity of quantum mechanics is often a hurdle for students as well as for teachers; as a consequence, most teachers and textbooks opt for narrative/historical approaches which, however, are not sufficient to grasp the deepest conceptual aspects of quantum physics, nor to deal with its technological applications. Teaching quantum physics in secondary school is therefore a challenge that calls for a close collaboration between physics teachers and physics education researchers. The goal of this work is to develop and test research-based teaching-learning sequences (TLS) based on the study of relevant literature in physics education research and on a survey to be conducted with secondary school teachers. More specifically, the thesis work will include the following phases. A review of the literature on the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics, with particular reference to the proposals developed in the Italian context. A survey with a sample of secondary school physics teachers aimed at understanding the needs and difficulties of teaching quantum mechanics. On the basis of the literature and of the results of the survey, development of a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) on quantum mechanics for the fifth year of the Italian “liceo scientifico”. Testing and evaluation of the TLS in a real classroom context

Crossing the interdisciplinary divide : political science and biological science

This article argues that interdisciplinary collaboration can offer significant intellectual gains to political science in terms of methodological insights, questioning received assumptions and providing new perspectives on subject fields. Collaboration with natural scientists has been less common than collaboration with social scientists, but can be intellectually more rewarding. Interdisciplinary work with biological scientists can be especially valuable given the history of links between the two subjects and the similarity of some of the methodological challenges faced. The authors have been involved in two projects with biological scientists and this has led them critically to explore issues relating to the philosophy of science, in particular the similarities and differences between social and natural science, focusing on three issues: the problem of agency, the experimental research design and the individualistic fallacy. It is argued that interdisciplinary research can be fostered through shared understandings of what constitutes 'justified beliefs'. Political science can help natural scientists to understand a more sophisticated understanding of the policy process. Such research brings a number of practical challenges and the authors explain how they have sought to overcome them

System: A core conceptual modeling construct for capturing complexity

[EN] The digitalization of human society continues at a relentless rate. However, to develop modern information technologies, the increasing complexity of the real-world must be modeled, suggest-ing the general need to reconsider how to carry out conceptual modeling. This research proposes that the often-overlooked notion of "system"should be a separate, and core, conceptual modeling construct and argues for incorporating it and related concepts, such as emergence, into existing approaches to conceptual modeling. The work conducts a synthesis of the ontology of systems and general systems theory. These modeling foundations are then used to propose a CESM+ template for conducing systems-grounded conceptual modeling. Several new conceptual modeling notations are introduced. The systemist modeling is then applied to a case study on the development of a citizen science platform. The case demonstrates the potential contributions of the systemist approach and identifies specific implications of explicit modeling with systems for theory and practice. The paper provides recommendations for how to incorporate systems into existing projects and suggests fruitful opportunities for future conceptual modeling research.We wish to thank the editor-in-chief, Carson Woo, and three anonymous reviewers for their exceptionally insightful and developmental comments. The substantial improvements that resulted from their feedback were much deeper than we usually experience in journal review processes. We wish to thank the participants of www.nlnature.com (now inactive) who contributed their sightings from 2010 to 2022. We also thank Jeffrey Parsons and Yolanda Wiersma - the co -investigators of NLNature. We are grateful to the late Mario Bunge and to Ron Weber with whom we discussed ontological ideas that inspired this paper. We also want to thank the participants and reviewers of AIS SIGSAND and ER Conference for their comments and feedback on earlier versions of this paper. This research was supported by McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, United States, and by VRAIN Research Institute of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia and the Generalitat Valenciana, Spain under the CoMoDiD project (CIPROM/2021/023) .Lukyanenko, R.; Storey, VC.; Pastor López, O. (2022). System: A core conceptual modeling construct for capturing complexity. Data & Knowledge Engineering. 141:1-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.datak.2022.10206212914

A framework for philosophical biology

Advances in biology have mostly relied on theories that were subsequently revised, expanded or eventually refuted using experimental and other means. Theoretical biology used to primarily provide a basis to rationally examine the frameworks within which biological experiments were carried out and to shed light on overlooked gaps in understanding. Today, however, theoretical biology has generally become synonymous with computational and mathematical biology. This could in part be explained by a relatively recent tendency in which a "data first", rather than a "theory first", approach is preferred. Moreover, generating hypotheses has at times become procedural rather than theoretical. This situation leaves our understanding enmeshed in data, which should be disentangled from much noise. Given the many unresolved questions in biology and medicine, it seems apt to revive the role of pure theory in the biological sciences. This paper makes the case for a "philosophical biology" (philbiology), distinct from but quite complementary to philosophy of biology (philobiology), which would entail biological investigation through philosophical approaches. Philbiology would thus be a reincarnation of theoretical biology, adopting the true sense of the word "theory" and making use of a rich tradition of serious philosophical approaches in the natural sciences. A philbiological investigation, after clearly defining a given biological problem, would aim to propose a set of empirical questions, along with a class of possible solutions, about that problem. Importantly, whether or not the questions can be tested using current experimental paradigms would be secondary to whether the questions are inherently empirical or not. The final goal of a philbiological investigation would be to develop a theoretical framework that can lead observational and/or interventional experimental studies of the defined problem

Relationality and health: developing a transversal neurotheological account of the pathways linking social connection, immune function, and health outcomes

This thesis is a transdisciplinary investigation of the link between social connection and health outcomes. Its twofold aim is to explore the nature of this relationship and build a theoretical model for a possible causal chain between the two, and to develop and deploy a new model for engaging the very different discourses of theology and neuroscience. To this end it draws on both theological reflection and on experimental scientific data from cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology. The opening half of the work establishes the wider epistemological and methodological frameworks within which the project is set, and also the specific framework for the particular area of study. The first of these involves a critical analysis of the tensions at the heart of the dialogue between science and religion, and of the specific difficulties faced by the emerging sub-discipline of neurotheology. It then dissects and further develops the interdisciplinary dialogical model devised by J Wentzel van Huyssteen, in order to enable it to generate and support additional transdisciplinary outputs. In the second of the two framework arenas, the concept of health itself is first explored, and then epidemiological, Biblical, and immunological accounts of the link between relational connection and health are examined in order to establish that sufficient common ground exists to warrant a neurotheological approach to investigating the question of how the two are connected. The second half of the thesis then uses the developed model as a basis for engaging theological and neuroscientific perspectives on human relationality. This takes the form of three transversal encounters, each centred around a specific aspect of this: relationality as basic, as emergent, and as realised. From the output of these three dialogical interactions, a neurotheologically framed argument is developed to support the contention that relationality is an emergent phenomenon of a complex system concerned with social monitoring and response, and thus the way in which it is realised can exert causal constraints on system components. Finally a theoretical model is derived from this argument for a pathway linking relational experience to health outcomes via alterations in allostatic maintenance mechanisms

Mechanisms and Difference-Making

I argue that difference-making should be a crucial element for evaluating the quality of evidence for mechanisms, especially with respect to the robustness of mechanisms, and that it should take central stage when it comes to the general role played by mechanisms in establishing causal claims in medicine. The difference- making of mechanisms should provide additional compelling reasons to accept the gist of Russo-Williamson thesis and include mechanisms in the protocols for Evidence- Based Medicine (EBM), as the EBM+ research group has been advocatin

Time, causation and the laws of nature: combining the growing block view with a Humean theory of laws

In this thesis I have two main concerns. The first is with the metaphysics of time, and the second is with the metaphysics of causation and laws. First, with regard to the metaphysics of time, I consider all the extant metaphysical view - (i) presentism, (ii) B-theory eternalism, (iii) the moving spotlight view, and (iv) the growing block view. By considering the historial and current literature on these topics in detail I argue that each of (i)-(iii) should be rejected, but that (iv) should be accepted. Then, with regard to the metaphysics of causation and law, by considering the arguments of David Hume, I argue in favour of a Humean view according to which the laws of nature supervene upon the temporal extent of what exists. This will then provide a challenge: can the growing block view of time be combined with the Humean view of causation and law? I finish by arguing that, despite the fact some have thought it problematic, these two views can be combined. I develop a novel account of how this is to be done, which I argue is the most satisfying account that has so far been given. In this thesis I thus defend growing block Humeanism, a unified view of time, causation and the laws of nature