The Demons Of Science: What They Can And Cannot Tell Us About Our World
by Friedel Weinert /
2016 / English / PDF
4.7 MB Download
This book is the first all-encompassing exploration of the role
of demons in philosophical and scientific thought experiments. In
Part I, the author explains the importance of thought experiments
in science and philosophy. Part II considers Laplace’s Demon,
whose claim is that the world is completely deterministic. Part
III introduces Maxwell’s Demon, who - by contrast - experiences a
world that is probabilistic and indeterministic. Part IV explores
Nietzsche’s thesis of the cyclic and eternal recurrence of
events. In each case a number of philosophical consequences
regarding determinism and indeterminism, the arrows of time, the
nature of the mind and free will are said to follow from the
Demons’s worldviews. The book investigates what these Demons -
and others - can and cannot tell us about our world.
This book is the first all-encompassing exploration of the role
of demons in philosophical and scientific thought experiments. In
Part I, the author explains the importance of thought experiments
in science and philosophy. Part II considers Laplace’s Demon,
whose claim is that the world is completely deterministic. Part
III introduces Maxwell’s Demon, who - by contrast - experiences a
world that is probabilistic and indeterministic. Part IV explores
Nietzsche’s thesis of the cyclic and eternal recurrence of
events. In each case a number of philosophical consequences
regarding determinism and indeterminism, the arrows of time, the
nature of the mind and free will are said to follow from the
Demons’s worldviews. The book investigates what these Demons -
and others - can and cannot tell us about our world.
