If a Photon Falls in the Woods: An Aristotelian Answer to a Quantum Question

C.A. Hilgartner, Joseph DiRienzi

Robert Charles Koons

Abstract The paper addresses a problem for the unification of quantum physics with the new Aristotelianism: the identification of the members of the category of substance (ousia). I outline briefly the role that substance plays in Aristotelian metaphysics, leading to the postulating of the Tiling Constraint. I then turn to the question of which entities in quantum physics can qualify as Aristotelian substances. I offer an answer: the theory of thermal substances, and I construct a fivefold case for thermal substances, based on the irreversibility of time, the definition of thermodynamic concepts, spontaneous symmetry breaking, phase transitions, and chemical form.

Rainer E. Zimmermann

It has been shown at other occasions that recent results of modern physics can be used to shed some more light onto the foundations of the world, provided the actual task of philosophy is being re-interpreted in terms of a theory which is following up the results of science rather than laying the grounds for the latter, contrary to what the original intention of Aristotelian "prima philo- sophia" would imply. As it turns out, the interpretation of the main results of present research dealing with aspects of quantum information theory and quantum gravity, respectively, as well as with self-organized criticality, suffices to re-construct a large class of phenomena not only within the field of physics proper, but also within chemistry, biology, and even the social sciences. We show that questions of ultimate reality and meaning can only be answered within a framework of speculative philosophy which is rooted though in what sceptic philosophy is able to derive from scientific results.

Michaël Esfeld

Tofigh Allahviranloo, Sovan Samanta, Prasenjit Mandal +1 more

Urjit A. Yajnik

In this brief note I address the question not frequently asked, namely, why did it take two decades between Einstein's first proposal of photons and derivation of the full Planck formula from first principles of Statistical Mechanics, albeit with a fundamental new approach to counting of states. Secondly, why did it fall to an independent inquirer, S. N. Bose, in far away Dacca to arrive at the correct derivation of this formula, arguably a most crucial one of the first half of the twentieth century? Reasonable hypotheses are proposed for answers to both. I also argue that the timing of Bose's communication to Einstein played a crucial role in Einstein's approval of de Broglie's thesis and hence the emergence of the definitive version of quantum mechanics in the late 1920's.