Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Determinism, philosophy: the idea that events and mental states occur due to strict laws and are therefore determined in advance. For a prediction one only has to know the environmental conditions. The fact that we do not know if determinism is true is sometimes explained by our incomplete knowledge of the environment. See also indeterminism, strict laws, prediction, probability, probabilism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Hennig Genz on Determinism - Dictionary of Arguments
II 250 Time/Newton/mechanics/Genz: in Newtonian mechanics, not only the earlier point of time determines the later point of time, but also vice versa the later determines the earlier one. >Isaac Newton. Deterministic/Genz: we must distinguish between forward deterministic laws and forward and backward deterministic laws. >Laws, >Natural laws. II 251 Question: are there also purely backwards deterministic laws? Definition Time/Genz: as long as we do not know anything else, we can simply define time as the direction in which deterministic laws of nature apply. This is necessarily identical to the direction in which the order cannot increase. >Time, >Space, >Time reversal, >Time arrow, >Order, >Symmetries, cf. >Chirality. II 252 Deterministic/time/forward/backwards/quantum mechanics/Genz: the deterministic laws of quantum mechanics are deterministic in both temporal directions. II 253 N.B.: but it does not say whether they are the same in both time directions! The fact that they are not the same was first shown directly by an experiment in 1998. Before: the "CPT theorem" had already made the same prediction: CPT-Theorem/Genz: the CPT-Theorem says together with the "CP violation" that backwards deterministic laws of quantum mechanics must differ from forward deterministic laws. Experiment 1998: a K-Meson (neutral) can develop into its anti-particle. This can also be done in the opposite direction, but the process must then proceed more quickly (asymmetry). II 254 N.B.: then we can decide from the laws of nature alone, whether we have a real process that takes place in time, or whether a backwards running film is shown by a physical process. Not time-reversal-invariant: for example, the transformation of a K-Meson into its anti-particle is not time-reversal-invariant. Experiment: has of course not been observed directly, but by observations on numerous particles in the same state. Asymmetry/Genz: asymmetry only applies to the duration of the process, not to it itself. >Asymmetry._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gz I H. Genz Gedankenexperimente Weinheim 1999 Gz II Henning Genz Wie die Naturgesetze Wirklichkeit schaffen. Über Physik und Realität München 2002 |
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> Counter arguments against Genz
> Counter arguments in relation to Determinism
Ed. Martin Schulz, access date 2024-04-23