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Determinism, Holism, and Complexity

  • Book
  • © 2003

Overview

Editors:
  1. Vieri Benci

    1. Dipartimento di Matematica Applicata “U. Dini”, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

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  2. Paola Cerrai

    1. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

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  3. Paolo Freguglia

    1. University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy
      Dipartimento di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila and Domus Galilaeana, Pisa, Italy

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  4. Giorgio Israel

    1. University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

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  5. Claudio Pellegrini

    1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

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Table of contents (35 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Physics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Complexity and Emergence of Meaning: The Fundamental Level of Neurophysics

      • Fortunato Tito Arecchi
      Pages 3-26

    3. A Geometric Optics Experiment to Simulate the Betatronic Motion

      • Armando Bazzani, Paolo Freguglia, Leone Fronzoni, Giorgio Turchetti
      Pages 27-39

    4. Some Remarks on the Arrow of Time and the Notion of Information

      • Vieri Benci
      Pages 41-51

    5. How Real is the Quantum World?

      • Marcello Cini
      Pages 53-61

    6. Decoherence and Classical Behaviour in Quantum Mechanics

      • Gianfausto Dell’Antonio, Rodolfo Figari, Alessandro Teta
      Pages 63-76

    7. Scaling Laws: Microscopic and Macroscopic Behavior

      • Raffaele Esposito
      Pages 79-85

    8. Measure of Diffusion Entropy of Weak Turbulence in Sample of Nematic Liquid Crystal

      • Laura Galeotti, Giulia Menconi, Leone Fronzoni
      Pages 87-94

    9. Complexity in Physics of an Adhesive Tape

      • Bruno Giorgini, Enrico Lunedei, Matteo Ciccotti
      Pages 95-104

    10. Reflections about the Time Arrow

      • Antonio Lepschy
      Pages 105-116

    11. The Big Computer. Complexity and Computability in Physical Universe

      • Ignazio Licata
      Pages 117-123

    12. On the Uniqueness or Multiplicity of Physical Theories: A Note on the Margin of the “Sokal Affair”

      • Claudio Pellegrini
      Pages 125-131

    13. An Interplay between Determinism and One-Parameter Semigroups, and Applications

      • Silvia Romanelli
      Pages 133-139

    14. From Dynamical Systems to Complex Systems

      • Giorgio Turchetti
      Pages 141-150
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Keywords

About this book

Determinism, holism and complexity: three epistemological attitudes that have easily identifiable historical origins and developments. Galileo believed that it was necessary to "prune the impediments" to extract the mathematical essence of physical phenomena, to identify the math­ ematical structures representing the underlying laws. This Galilean method was the key element in the development of Physics, with its extraordinary successes. Nevertheless the method was later criticized because it led to a view of nature as essentially "simple and orderly", and thus by choosing not to investigate several charac­ teristics considered as an "impediment", several essential aspects of the phenomenon under investigation might be left out. The Galilean point of view also contains an acknowledgement of the central role played by the causal nexus among phenomena. The mechanistic-deterministic de­ scription of reality - for instance, a la Laplace - although acknowledging that it is not possible to predict phenomena exactly owing to unavoid­ able measurement error, is based on the recognition of the their causal nature, even in an ontological sense. Consequently, deterministic predic­ tion became the methodological fulcrum of mathematical physics. But although mechanistic determinism has had and, in many cases, still has, considerable success in Physics, in other branches of science this situa­ tion is much less favourable.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Dipartimento di Matematica Applicata “U. Dini”, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Vieri Benci

  • University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Paola Cerrai

  • University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Paolo Freguglia

  • Dipartimento di Matematica Pura ed Applicata, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila and Domus Galilaeana, Pisa, Italy

    Paolo Freguglia

  • University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Giorgio Israel

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    Claudio Pellegrini

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Determinism, Holism, and Complexity

  • Editors: Vieri Benci, Paola Cerrai, Paolo Freguglia, Giorgio Israel, Claudio Pellegrini

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4947-2

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2003

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-306-47472-9Published: 31 January 2003

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-3394-2Published: 01 December 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4757-4947-2Published: 17 April 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 402

  • Topics: Forestry, Physics, general, Life Sciences, general, Evolutionary Biology

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