NG van Kampen is a well-known theoretical physicist who has had a long and distinguished career. His research covers scattering theory, plasma physics, statistical mechanics, and various mathematical aspects of physics. In addition to his scientific work, he has written a number of papers about more general aspects of science. An indefatigable fighter for intellectual honesty and clarity, he has pointed out repeatedly that the fundamental ideas of physics have been needlessly obscured. As those papers appeared in various journals, (...) partly in Dutch, it was felt that it would be worthwhile to collect them (translating the Dutch material into English) and make them available to a larger audience. This is a book of major importance to scientists and university teachers. (shrink)

Theoretical determinism, as it is usually ascribed to Laplace, is neither verifiable nor falsifiable and has therefore no real content. It is not the same as predictability of actually observable phenomena. On the other hand, predictability is not an abstract principle; rather it is true to a certain degree, depending on the phenomena considered. It can be discussed only by examining the scientific state of affairs. This is done in some detail for classical statistical mechanics. Much of a recently published (...) debate on determinism is thereby obviated. (shrink)

Review of Jan van der Stoep's published PhD dissertation on the work of Pierre Bourdieu.en de politieke filosofie van het multiculturalisme Kok Kampen 2005. My review is in English. van der Stoep's book is in Dutch with an English summary.

Toen professor dr. Carl Friedrich, Freiherr von Weizsäcker op 28 juni 1992 tachtig jaar werd, verscheen zijn filosofische hoofdwerk, Zeit und Wissen, een boek van 1184 bladzijden. Omdat de auteur, die we verder met W. zullen aanduiden, behalve een bekend kernfysicus ook filosoof is en een actief christen, wil ik wat breder op zijn werk ingaan, mede omdat in Philosophia Reformata nog niet eerder over zijn wijsbegeerte werd gepubliceerd. Daarbij telt ook dat W. in zijn boek op bladzijde 1149 schrijft: (...) ‘Philosophie, die sich von den Worten der Bergpredigt, von der Erfahrung von Gebet und Meditation, von der Kreuzigung Jesu und seiner lebendigen Gegenwart bei allen, die ihm zu folgen bereit waren, nicht wesentlich bestimmen läszt, ist keine heute noch glaubwürdige Philosophie’. In het beschrijvende deel zal ik uit de vele boeken en met name uit Zeit und Wissen uitvoerig citeren, om pas aan het eind een beoordeling te geven. (shrink)

A novel conceptual framework is introduced for the Complexity Levels Theory in a Categorical Ontology of Space and Time. This conceptual and formal construction is intended for ontological studies of Emergent Biosystems, Super-complex Dynamics, Evolution and Human Consciousness. A claim is defended concerning the universal representation of an item’s essence in categorical terms. As an essential example, relational structures of living organisms are well represented by applying the important categorical concept of natural transformations to biomolecular reactions and relational structures that (...) emerge from the latter in living systems. Thus, several relational theories of living systems can be represented by natural transformations of organismic, relational structures. The ascent of man and other living organisms through adaptation, is viewed in novel categorical terms, such as variable biogroupoid representations of evolving species. Such precise but flexible evolutionary concepts will allow the further development of the unifying theme of local-to-global approaches to highly complex systems in order to represent novel patterns of relations that emerge in super- and ultra-complex systems in terms of compositions of local procedures. Solutions to such local-to-global problems in highly complex systems with ‘broken symmetry’ might be possible to be reached with the help of higher homotopy theorems in algebraic topology such as the generalized van Kampen theorems (HHvKT). Categories of many-valued, Łukasiewicz-Moisil (LM) logic algebras provide useful concepts for representing the intrinsic dynamic ‘asymmetry’ of genetic networks in organismic development and evolution, as well as to derive novel results for (non-commutative) Quantum Logics. Furthermore, as recently pointed out by Baianu and Poli (Theory and applications of ontology, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, in press), LM-logic algebras may also provide the appropriate framework for future developments of the ontological theory of levels with its complex/entangled/intertwined ramifications in psychology, sociology and ecology. As shown in the preceding two papers in this issue, a paradigm shift towards non-commutative, or non-Abelian, theories of highly complex dynamics—which is presently unfolding in physics, mathematics, life and cognitive sciences—may be implemented through realizations of higher dimensional algebras in neurosciences and psychology, as well as in human genomics, bioinformatics and interactomics. (shrink)

Recensie van: Christoph Menke, Tmgodie im Sittlichen. Gerechtigkeit und Freiheit nach Hegel. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1996. Paul Cobben, Postdialectische zedelijkheid. Ontwerp voor een Hegeliaans antwoord op Heidegger, Habermas, Derrida en Levinas. Kampen: Kok Agora, 1996. Hegels rechtsfilosofie speelt in de hedendaagse discussie tussen communitaristen en liberalen een belangrijke rol. Hij wordt door sommigen beschouwd als iemand die de vrijheid van het individu het primaat geeft - een echte liberaal dus -, dan wel als iemand die het individu ondergeschikt maakt aan (...) de gemeenschap, omdat indivi- dualiteit slechts binnen een gemeenschap kan ontstaan. Deze discussie vormt ook een deel van de achtergrond van Tragodie im Sittlichen en Postdialectische zedelijk- heid. Christoph Menke en Paul Cobben betogen beiden dat Hegel weliswaar te- kortgeschoten is in het doordenken van (aspecten van) de verhouding tussen indivi- du en gemeenschap, maar dat reeds in zijn eigen werk aanwijzingen te vinden zijn voor een correctie daarvan. Menke richt zich daarbij nadrukkelijker op de kant van het individu, Cobben meer op een herschrijving van de inrichting van de gemeen- schap. (shrink)

Studies in Philosophical Theology [7] Kampen, Kok Pharos, 1993.

A novel conceptual framework is introduced for the Complexity Levels Theory in a Categorical Ontology of Space and Time. This conceptual and formal construction is intended for ontological studies of Emergent Biosystems, Super-complex Dynamics, Evolution and Human Consciousness. A claim is defended concerning the universal representation of an item’s essence in categorical terms. As an essential example, relational structures of living organisms are well represented by applying the important categorical concept of natural transformations to biomolecular reactions and relational structures that (...) emerge from the latter in living systems. Thus, several relational theories of living systems can be represented by natural transformations of organismic, relational structures. The ascent of man and other living organisms through adaptation, is viewed in novel categorical terms, such as variable biogroupoid representations of evolving species. Such precise but flexible evolutionary concepts will allow the further development of the unifying theme of local-to-global approaches to highly complex systems in order to represent novel patterns of relations that emerge in super- and ultra-complex systems in terms of compositions of local procedures. Solutions to such local-to-global problems in highly complex systems with ‘broken symmetry’ might be possible to be reached with the help of higher homotopy theorems in algebraic topology such as the generalized van Kampen theorems (HHvKT). Categories of many-valued, Łukasiewicz-Moisil (LM) logic algebras provide useful concepts for representing the intrinsic dynamic ‘asymmetry’ of genetic networks in organismic development and evolution, as well as to derive novel results for (non-commutative) Quantum Logics. Furthermore, as recently pointed out by Baianu and Poli (Theory and applications of ontology, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, in press), LM-logic algebras may also provide the appropriate framework for future developments of the ontological theory of levels with its complex/entangled/intertwined ramifications in psychology, sociology and ecology. As shown in the preceding two papers in this issue, a paradigm shift towards non-commutative, or non-Abelian, theories of highly complex dynamics—which is presently unfolding in physics, mathematics, life and cognitive sciences—may be implemented through realizations of higher dimensional algebras in neurosciences and psychology, as well as in human genomics, bioinformatics and interactomics. (shrink)

In this paper we work in an arbitrary o-minimal structure with definable Skolem functions and prove that definably connected, locally definable manifolds are uniformly definably path connected, have an admissible cover by definably simply connected, open definable subsets and, definable paths and definable homotopies on such locally definable manifolds can be lifted to locally definable covering maps. These properties allow us to obtain the main properties of the general o-minimal fundamental group, including: invariance and comparison results; existence of universal locally (...) definable covering maps; monodromy equivalence for locally constant o-minimal sheaves – from which one obtains, as in algebraic topology, classification results for locally definable covering maps, o-minimal Hurewicz and Seifert–van Kampen theorems. (shrink)

De theoloog Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) was van 1883-1902 aan de Theologische School te Kampen niet alleen verantwoordelijk voor het onderwijs in de dogmatiek, maar ook in dat van de ethiek. In deze uitgave worden drie niet eerder gepubliceerde manuscripten van Bavinck uitgegeven, die geheel of gedeeltelijk aan de filosofische ethiek zijn gewijd. In combinatie met Bavincks in 2019 verschenen Gereformeerde Ethiek biedt dit boek een representatief (en wellicht zelfs compleet) overzicht van de wijze waarop theologiestudenten in de laatste twee (...) decennia van de negentiende eeuw in Kampen wegwijs werden gemaakt in de ethiek. (shrink)

The first comprehensive presentation of the dynamical approach to cognition. It contains a representative sampling of original, current research on topics such as perception, motor control, speech and language, decision making, and development.

Keuze van artikelen uit het werk van de Vlaamse filosoof over wetenschap, milieu, en medische en biologische ethiek.