It will be shown in this article that an ontological approach for some problems related to the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (QM) could emerge from a re-evaluation of the main paradox of early Greek thought: the paradox of Being and non-Being, and the solutions presented to it by Plato and Aristotle. More well known are the derivative paradoxes of Zeno: the paradox of motion and the paradox of the One and the Many. They stem from what was perceived by classical philosophy to be the fundamental enigma for thinking about the world: the seemingly contradictory results that followed from the co-incidence of being and non-being in the world of change and motion as we experience it, and the experience of absolute existence here and now. The most clear expression of both stances can be found, again following classical thought, in the thinking of Heraclitus of Ephesus and Parmenides of Elea. The problem put forward by these paradoxes reduces for both Plato and Aristotle to the possibility of the existence of stable objects as a necessary condition for knowledge. Hence the primarily ontological nature of the solutions they proposed: Plato's Theory of Forms and Aristotle's metaphysics and logic. Plato's and Aristotle's systems are argued here to do on the ontological level essentially the same: to introduce stability in the world by introducing the notion of a separable, stable object, for which a 'principle of contradiction' is valid: an object cannot be and not-be at the same place at the same time. So it becomes possible to forbid contradiction on an epistemological level, and thus to guarantee the certainty of knowledge that seemed to be threatened before. After leaving Aristotelian metaphysics, early modern science had to cope with these problems: it did so by introducing "space" as the seat of stability, and "time" as the theater of motion. But the ontological structure present in this solution remained the same. Therefore the fundamental notion 'separable system', related to the notions observation and measurement, themselves related to the modern concepts of space and time, appears to be intrinsically problematic, because it is inextricably connected to classical logic on the ontological level. We see therefore the problems dealt with by quantum logic not as merely formal, and the problem of 'non-locality' as related to it, indicating the need to re-think the notions system, entity, as well as the implications of the operation 'measurement', which is seen here as an application of classical logic (including its ontological consequences) on the material world.
In this paper I investigate the relation between physics and metaphysics in Plato's participation theory. I show that the logic shoring up Plato's metaphysics in paraconsistent, as had been suggested already by Graham Priest. The transformation of the paradoxical One-and-Many of the pre-Socratics into a paraconsistent Great-and-Small bridges the abyss between archaic rationality and the world of classical logic based ultimately on the principle of contradiction.Keywords Ontology · Ancient philosophy · Paradox · Paraconsistent logic · Metaphysics · Plato Indeed, language is an organ of perception, not simply a means of communication. J. Jaynes, Origin of Consciousness
Over the last two decades, a number of important new publications have contributed to the clarification of Newton's intellectual background from a variety of points of view. This is relevant to the historical origins of modem science: its basic concepts are not simply 'given', but are constructs peculiar to a specific sociocultural realm. Interest has shifted recently from ancient sources to more contemporarymainly theological -influences acting upon Newton while he was conceiving his ideas. This in itself is good, since it has filled a gap in our awareness of Newton's ideological environment. However, a certain tendency to play down the relevance of ancient influences on Newton accompanied these new results. Although we by no means intend to underestimate the importance of contemporary theological controversies, we want to stress, nevertheless, that these too remain marked profoundly by ancient metaphysical dilemmas, and therefore that, if one seeks a proper understanding of Newton's work, both should be taken into consideration. The emergence of the nova philosophia, the new natural science, was dogged by a fierce conflict between proponents and opponents of widely varying, though profoundly traditional, philosophical schools, whose new methodological underpinnings I coincided with prevailing religiously-coloured views of a new social climate. The fact that a study of these earlier roots may shed new light on fundamental dilemmas within modem physics is borne out by a renewed interest in the conceptual foundation of Newton's natural philosophy,-especially the philosophical background to his mechanics in his Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica. To further the understanding of the precise links between Newton's two main influences, we shall develop a philosophical-linguistic text analytical study of the Neostoic and Neoplatonic influences on Newton's concept of 'gravity', based on one key text, namely the Scholium Generate.' THE SCHOLIUM GENERALEIn 1713 Newton published the Scholium Generale at the end of the second edition of his Principia:" This Scholium was again included in the third edition of the Principia (1726), and Andrew Motte published an English translation of the Latin text as early as 1729. 5 A French translation accompanied by a brief commentary was provided by Marie-Francoise Biamais in 1982. 6 A Dutch translation has not yet been undertaken. The topic of our present contribution was prompted by the lack of
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