Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

How Percepts and Concepts Engage the Future

  • Published:
Foundations of Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With Humean empiricism and its agnostic stance regarding the future as a foil, I take a bird’s eye view of the links between past and future prescribed by ordinary concepts of everyday things and processes, and by scientific models of phenomenal situations. I argue that they entitle us to claim knowledge of the future—including, where appropriate, its necessary course—in a humanly affordable sense of ‘knowledge’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aristotelis Opera, ex recognitione I. Bekkeris edidit Academia Regia Borussica. Berlin, Reimer (1831). 2 vols

  2. Bernoulli, J.: Ars conjectandi: Opus posthumum. Impensis Thurnisiorum Fratrum, Basilea (1713)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Carnap, R.: Der logische Aufbau der Welt. Weltkreis Verlag, Berlin (1928)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Cartwright, N.: How the Laws of Physics Lie. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1983)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. de Finetti, B.: La prévision: ses lois logiques, ses sources subjectives. Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré 7, 1–68 (1937)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. de Finetti, B.: Theory of Probability: A Critical Introductory Treatment, vol. 2. Wiley, New York (1974). Translated by A. Machi and A. Smith (English translation of Bruno de Finetti, Teoria della Probabilità, Giulio Einaudi, Torino, 1970)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. de Finetti, B.: L’invenzione della verità. Raffaello Cortina, Milano (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Dreyer, J.L.E.: History of the Planetary Systems from Thales to Kepler. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1901)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Duhem, P.: Le Système du Monde: Histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic. Hermann, Paris (1913–1959). 10 vols.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Einstein, A.: Zum gegenwärtigen Stande des Gravitationsproblems. Physikalische Zeitschrift 14, 1249–1262 (1913)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Einstein, A.: Zur Methodik der theoretischen Physik. In: Einstein (ed.) Mein Weltbild (Herausgegeben von Carl Seelig), pp. 113–119. Ullstein, Frankfurt/M (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lasserre, F.: Die Fragmente des Eudoxos von Knidos. De Gruyter, Berlin (1966)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Galilei, G.: Discorsi e dimostrazioni matematiche intorno à due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & i movimenti locali. Elsevier, Leiden (1638)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Galilei, G.: Le Opere, vol. 20. G. Barbera, Firenze (1964–1966). Nuova ristampa della Edizione Nazionale

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hawking, S.W.: Particle creation by black holes. Commun. Math. Phys. 43, 199–220 (1975)

    Article  MathSciNet  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Jacobsen, T.S.: Planetary Systems from the Ancient Greeks to Kepler. Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Washington (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kant, I.: Kant’s gesammelte Schriften. Herausgegeben von der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bde. 1–22), der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (Bd. 23), und der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen (Bde. 24, 25, 27–29). Reimer, Berlin (1902)

  18. Kyburg, H.E. Jr., Smokler, H.E. (eds.): Studies in Subjective Probability. Krieger, Huntington (1980)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Ludwig, G.: Die Grundstrukturen einer physikalischen Theorie. Springer, Berlin (1978)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Newton, I.: Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica. Londini: Jussu Societatis Regiae ac Typis Josephi Streater (1687)

  21. Newton, I.: Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica. Editio secunda auctior et emendatior. Cantabrigiæ (1713)

  22. Newton, I.: Philosophiæ naturalis principia mathematica. Editio tertia aucta & emendata. Londini: Apud Guil. & Joh. Innys, Regiæ Societatis typogaphos (1726)

  23. Pascal, B.: Œuvres Complètes, I. Gallimard, Paris (1998). Édition presentée, établie et annotée par Michel Le Guern

    Google Scholar 

  24. Peirce, C.S.: Some consequences of the four incapacities. J. Specul. Philos. 2, 140–157 (1868)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Peirce, C.S.: How to make our ideas clear. Pop. Sci. Mon. 12, 286–302 (1878)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Peirce, C.S.: In: Moore, E.C. (ed.) Writings: A Chronological Edition, vol. 2, pp. 1867–1871. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Peirce, C.S.: In: Kloesel, C.J.W. (ed.) Writings: A Chronological Edition, vol. 3, pp. 1872–1878. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Penzias, A.A., Wilson, R.W.: A measurement of excess antenna temperature at 4080 MHz. Astrophys. J. 142, 419–421 (1965)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Poincaré, H.: Sur les hypothèses fondamentales de la géométrie. Bull. Soc. Math. France 15, 213–216 (1887)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Poincaré, H.: Sur le probléme des trois corps et les équations de la dynamique. Acta Math. 13, A3–A270 (1890)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Russo, L.: The Forgotten Revolution: How Science Was Born in 300 BC and Why It Had to Be Reborn. Springer, Berlin (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  32. Schiaparelli, G.V.: (1875), Le sfere omocentriche di Eudoso, di Callippo e di Aristotele. Pubblicazioni del R. Osservatorio di Brera in Milano, N. IX. Reprinted in Schiaparelli, Scritti Sulla Storia Della Astronomia Antica. Zanichelli, Bologna (1925–27), vols. 2, 3, pp. 3–112

  33. Torretti, R.: De Eudoxo a Newton: Modelos matemáticos en la filosoffía natural. Ediciones Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago (2007)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico

    Roberto Torretti

Authors
  1. Roberto Torretti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberto Torretti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Torretti, R. How Percepts and Concepts Engage the Future. Found Phys 41, 1717–1728 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-011-9584-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-011-9584-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation