Thought experiments in the philosophy of mind are hypothetical scenarios used to explore concepts, theories, and intuitions related to consciousness, perception, personal identity, mental states, and the nature of the mind itself. They serve as a tool for philosophers to analyze complex philosophical questions, often without the need for empirical experimentation.
The philosophy of psychology is a subfield of philosophy that explores the foundational concepts, theories, and methodologies related to psychology. It addresses a range of questions concerning the nature, scope, and implications of psychological theories and practices. Here are some key themes and questions that fall under the philosophy of psychology: 1. **Mind-Body Problem**: This addresses the relationship between mental states (thoughts, feelings, etc.) and physical states (the brain and body).
In legal terms, "malice" generally refers to the intention or desire to cause harm or suffering to another person. It is often a critical component in determining liability in various areas of law, including tort law and criminal law. 1. **Criminal Law**: In criminal cases, malice can denote a defendant’s state of mind when committing a crime, particularly in offenses like murder.
Moral evil refers to actions and behaviors that are considered wrong or unethical based on moral judgments. It involves the intentional choice to act in ways that cause harm, suffering, or injustice to others, or to violate ethical principles. Examples of moral evil include acts such as lying, stealing, murder, and other forms of malicious behavior that can inflict pain or damage to individuals or society as a whole.
Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that express various nuances of ability, possibility, permission, obligation, and necessity. They do not change form according to the subject and are always followed by the base form of the main verb (without "to"). Some common modal verbs include: 1. **Can** - expresses ability or possibility (e.g., "She can swim" or "It can rain tomorrow"). 2. **Could** - indicates a past ability or a polite request (e.g.
Syntactic ambiguity, also known as structural ambiguity, occurs when a sentence or phrase can be interpreted in multiple ways due to its structure or syntax. This ambiguity arises because the same sequence of words can be organized or parsed in different ways, leading to different interpretations or meanings. For example, consider the sentence "I saw the man with the telescope." This can be interpreted in two ways: 1. The speaker used a telescope to see the man.
Vagueness refers to the quality of being unclear, imprecise, or lacking in definitive boundaries or limits. It often occurs in language, concepts, or categories where terms can have multiple interpretations or where the criteria for applying a term are not sharply defined.
A causal model is a framework used to represent and analyze the causal relationships between variables. The main purpose of a causal model is to identify, estimate, and understand how changes in one or more variables (the causes) influence another variable (the effect). These models are commonly used in fields such as statistics, economics, epidemiology, social sciences, and machine learning. ### Key Components of Causal Models 1.
A performative utterance is a statement that performs an action rather than merely describing a state of affairs. The term comes from the work of philosopher J.L. Austin, particularly in his book "How to Do Things with Words," where he argues that certain statements, typically found in speech acts, do not just convey information but actually enact an action by the very act of saying them.
"De se" is a Latin phrase that translates to "of oneself." In philosophical and linguistic contexts, it is often used to refer to self-related expressions or attitudes. The term is commonly associated with discussions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and the philosophy of language. In particular, "de se" judgments are those that are made from the first-person perspective, where the subject identifies with the statement they are making about themselves.
Lexical entrainment refers to the phenomenon where individuals in a conversation subconsciously adapt their language, including word choices, phrases, and speech patterns, to align with those of their conversational partners. This often occurs to enhance communication efficiency, facilitate understanding, or create a sense of social connection. For example, if one person uses a particular term or expression repeatedly during a conversation, the other person may start to adopt that language during the same interaction or in future conversations.
"Salva congruitate" is a Latin phrase that translates to "with due congruity" or "with appropriate coherence." It is often used in various contexts, particularly in discussions of logic, philosophy, and legal texts, to indicate that something is consistent or coherent with established principles or circumstances.
As of my last update in October 2023, The Khovansky Foundation is an organization dedicated to supporting various initiatives and projects in areas such as education, arts, and community development. Its focus may include promoting cultural heritage, fostering creativity, and providing resources for underserved communities.
Philosophy of science events typically refer to conferences, workshops, seminars, or colloquia that focus on the philosophical aspects of scientific inquiry, methodology, and understanding. These events often feature discussions about the nature of scientific theories, the role of experiments, the relationship between science and society, and the implications of scientific developments.
Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) are a state of matter that occurs at extremely low temperatures, close to absolute zero (0 Kelvin or -273.15 degrees Celsius). In this state, a group of atoms is cooled to such an extent that they occupy the same quantum state, essentially behaving as a single quantum entity. The phenomenon is named after two physicists, Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein, who described it in the early 20th century.
Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, known as Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Portuguese, is a prominent private healthcare facility located in São Paulo, Brazil. Founded in 1971, the hospital is named after the renowned physicist Albert Einstein and operates as a non-profit institution. It is known for providing high-quality medical services, advanced technology, and a wide range of healthcare options, including specialized treatments and surgeries.
Albert Einstein Square is a public square or park that can be found in various cities around the world, named in honor of the renowned physicist Albert Einstein. The most notable locations include: 1. **Einstein Square in Bucharest, Romania** - This square is located in the city and serves as a public space, often associated with education and scientific development.
The cosmological constant, denoted by the symbol \( \Lambda \), is a term introduced by Albert Einstein in his equations of general relativity. It represents a constant energy density filling space homogeneously, and it has significant implications for the dynamics of the universe. 1. **Historical Context**: Einstein originally introduced the cosmological constant in 1917 while formulating his theory of general relativity.
The Einstein refrigerator, also known as the Einstein engine or the Einstein refrigerator cycle, is a type of absorption refrigerator that was co-invented by Albert Einstein and his colleague Leo Szilard in the early 1920s. The invention aimed to create a more efficient refrigeration system that operated without moving parts and would use safe and non-toxic refrigerants. The design of the Einstein refrigerator relies on the principles of thermodynamics and uses a combination of temperature differences and absorption techniques to provide cooling.
The term "operculum" in the context of the brain refers to a part of the cerebral cortex that covers or "operculates" certain structures. Specifically, it is associated with the regions of the brain that are located above some of the underlying structures, such as the insula.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 2.
    You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either https://OurBigBook.com or as a static website
    .
    Figure 3.
    Visual Studio Code extension installation
    .
    Figure 4.
    Visual Studio Code extension tree navigation
    .
    Figure 5.
    Web editor
    . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
    Video 4.
    OurBigBook Visual Studio Code extension editing and navigation demo
    . Source.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact