In the history of philosophy, the problem of the simple and the complex, as it pertains to the universe, presents itself as the problem of the substance of the world, from which the concrete diversity of things comes into being. Two fundamental conceptions are to be seen in investigation of this latter problem in the history of materialism and natural science. The first of them, which essentially presupposes a dialectical understanding of development, regards the world as one, for all the (...) variety of its naturally developing matter. The second, which in its completed form comprises the line of development of mechanical materialism, recognizes only a coming together and separation of permanent principles on which the universe is based. (shrink)

Whatever the attitude one takes to the review in Physics Today , the fact remains that a prominent American journal in physics has voiced an opinion on a book devoted to philosophical problems of fundamental theory - at the front line of contemporary physics - written jointly by natural scientists and Marxist philosophers. The appearance of a review is a commonplace event in the life of science, but in the case before us the matter is not so simple. Suffice it (...) to remember the existence of a curtain in the scientific literature of the West, the function of which, some say, is to separate "pure" science from Marxism. (shrink)

Contemporary physicists, in creating theories adequate to nature's patterns of movement and development, speak the language of dialectics whether willingly or unwillingly. Even those whose personal outlook is at variance with dialectical philosophy acknowledge this in their own way. Thus Heisenberg states that inquiry into the foundations of the quantum theory, especially as carried out by Bohr, has features reminiscent of Hegelian philosophy. And, to quote Pauli, "dialectics is that mutual game of two opponents which is typical of the Copenhagen (...) interpretation of quantum mechanics." Bohr himself, while discussing the quantum theory, speaks of "profoundly true statements the opposites of which likewise contain deep verities.". (shrink)

Natural science, and physics as a branch of it, poses the goal of depicting nature as it is, without arbitrary additions by the intelligence cognizing it. This basic spirit of natural science explains why its outstanding representatives, subjectively remote from conscious dialectics, unconsciously apply its principles and postulates as they discover laws of nature and create new theories. One need only recall Engels' words on the discovery of the periodic table by Mendeleyev, who "by unconsciously employing Hegel's law of transition (...) from quantity into quality, performed a major feat in science." The same may be said, mutatis mutandis, about the creation of the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. (shrink)

The Birkhoff-Maltsev problem asks for a characterization of those lattices each of which is isomorphic to the lattice L(K) of all subquasivarieties for some quasivariety K of algebraic systems. The current status of this problem, which is still open, is discussed. Various unsolved questions that are related to the Birkhoff-Maltsev problem are also considered, including ones that stem from the theory of propositional logics.

The same research proposal was submitted to 24 district health authority (DHA) research ethics committees in different parts of the country. The objective was to obtain permission for a multi-centre research project. The study of neonatal care in different types of unit (regional, subregional and district), required that four health authorities were approached in each of six widely separated health regions in England. Data were collected and compared concerning aspects of processing, including application forms, information required, timing and decision-making. The (...) key finding was that ethics committees received and processed the applications variably, reflecting individual factors and local problems. To improve consensus and facilitate multicentre studies, standard forms and instructions are suggested and the establishment of a national committee or advisory group advocated. (shrink)

Provability, Computability and Reflection.

LetL(K) denote the lattice (ordered by inclusion) of quasivarieties contained in a quasivarietyK and letD 2 denote the variety of distributive (0, 1)-lattices with 2 additional nullary operations. In the present paperL(D 2) is described. As a consequence, ifM+N stands for the lattice join of the quasivarietiesM andN, then minimal quasivarietiesV 0,V 1, andV 2 are given each of which is generated by a 2-element algebra and such that the latticeL(V 0+V1), though infinite, still admits an easy and nice description (...) (see Figure 2) while the latticeL(V 0+V1+V2), because of its intricate inner structure, does not. In particular, it is shown thatL(V 0+V1+V2) contains as a sublattice the ideal lattice of a free lattice with free generators. Each of the quasivarietiesV 0,V 1, andV 2 is generated by a 2-element algebra inD 2. (shrink)

In their “social contextual view” of emotional mimicry, authors Hess and Fischer (2022) put forward emotional mimicry as a social regulator, considering it a social act, bound to certain affiliative contexts or goals. In this commentary, we argue that the core function of mimicry is to ease predicting conspecifics’ behaviours and the environment, and that as a consequence, this often smoothens social interactions. Accordingly, we make three main points. First, we argue that there is no good reason to believe that (...) the mimicry of negative expressions is fundamentally different than the mimicry of positive or ambiguous or autonomic expressions. Second, we give examples of empirical evidence that mimicry is not always a social act. Third, we show that mimicry has primary benefits for the mimicker. As such, we will briefly summarise and elaborate on the relevant findings in these respects, and propose a comparative, multi-method and ecologically valid approach which can explain the multifaceted character of the phenomenon. (shrink)