The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra is a foundational text of the Vaiśeṣika school of Indian philosophy, which is one of the six classical philosophical systems (darśanas) of Hindu thought. Traditionally attributed to the sage Kanada (also known as Kaṇāda), the text is believed to have been composed around the 2nd century BCE.
John Kekes is a philosopher known for his work in various areas of philosophy, including ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of action. He has contributed significantly to discussions on the nature of values, moral philosophy, and the implications of philosophical thought for everyday life. He is particularly noted for his ideas on how philosophical inquiry can help individuals lead a good life. Kekes has authored several books and articles that explore these themes, and he often emphasizes the importance of a practical approach to philosophy.
John McDowell is a prominent contemporary philosopher known for his work in epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind. He was born on June 16, 1942, and has been influential in discussions surrounding topics such as the nature of experience, the relationship between perception and reality, and the implications of these issues for understanding knowledge. One of McDowell's key contributions is his critique of the dichotomy between the empirical and the conceptual.
Physics education needs more focus on understanding experiments and their history by
Ciro Santilli 37 Updated 2025-06-17 +Created 1970-01-01
This is the only way to truly understand and appreciate the subject.
Understanding the experiments gets intimately entangled with basically learning the history of physics, which is extremely beneficial as also highlighted by Ron Maimon, related: there is value in tutorials written by early pioneers of the field.
In the Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman chapter O Americano, Outra Vez! Richard Feynman describes his experience teaching in Brazil in the early 1950s, and how everything was memorized, without any explanation of the experiments or that the theory has some relationship to the real world!
Although things have improved considerably since in Brazil, Ciro still feels that some areas of physics are still taught without enough experiments described upfront. Notably, ironically, quantum field theory, which is where Feynman himself worked.
Feynman gave huge importance to understanding and explaining experiments, as can also be seen on Richard Feynman Quantum Electrodynamics Lecture at University of Auckland (1979).
'Making' - the best way of learning science and technology by Manish Jain (2018)
Source. John Perry is an American philosopher known for his work in the areas of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics. He is particularly recognized for contributions to the understanding of self-reference, the nature of belief and thought, and how language relates to the mind.
John Rawls (1921–2002) was an influential American philosopher best known for his work in political philosophy and moral theory. His most prominent work, "A Theory of Justice" (1971), presents a framework for thinking about justice and fairness in a structured society. In this book, Rawls introduces several key concepts, including the "Original Position" and the "Veil of Ignorance.
Joseph D. Sneed is a philosopher primarily known for his work in the philosophy of science, particularly in relation to the foundations and methodology of scientific theories. He is often associated with discussions on the structure of scientific theories, models, and the relationship between scientific explanation and understanding. One of his notable contributions is his emphasis on the importance of understanding the role of models in science and how they serve as intermediaries between theories and observable phenomena.
Jonathan Kvanvig is a philosopher known for his work in epistemology, the study of knowledge, and related areas such as the philosophy of language and the philosophy of religion. He has contributed significantly to discussions on topics like the nature of knowledge, belief, and justification. Kvanvig is also recognized for his views on the limits of knowledge and the implications of those limits for various philosophical inquiries.
Jonathan Schaffer is a philosopher known for his work in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language. He has made significant contributions to discussions on issues such as grounding, causation, and the nature of existence. Schaffer is often associated with the view called "priority monism," which suggests that the cosmos as a whole is the fundamental entity, and that everything else (including individual objects) is dependent on it.
Karen Green is a philosopher known for her work in political philosophy, feminist theory, and social philosophy. She is recognized for her contributions to discussions about justice, gender, and the interrelation of philosophical concepts with real-world issues. Green often engages with the works of historical philosophers while also addressing contemporary problems, particularly in the context of women's rights and social inequality.
"Arithmetica" typically refers to a work by the ancient Greek mathematician Diophantus, who is often known as the "father of algebra." The full title of the work is "Arithmetica," and it is a collection of books that primarily deals with equations and number theory. Diophantus's methods involve finding integer solutions to polynomial equations, which is a major contribution to algebra.
Joseph Levine is an American philosopher known for his work in the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and the philosophy of consciousness. He is particularly well-known for his critique of physicalism and his discussions on the mind-body problem. Levine gained prominence for introducing the concept of the "Explanatory Gap," which refers to the difficulty of explaining how physical processes in the brain give rise to subjective experiences, or qualia.
Joseph Raz is a prominent legal and moral philosopher, known for his work in the fields of legal theory, political philosophy, and ethics. Born on July 21, 1939, in Jerusalem, he became an influential figure in the development of theories of law, particularly through his contributions to the concept of legal positivism. Raz is best known for his work on the nature of authority, the relationship between law and morality, and the nature of practical reasoning.
Jules Vuillemin (1920–2019) was a prominent French philosopher and logician, known for his contributions to various fields, including philosophy of language, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics. He became well known for his work in formal logic, particularly in the area of modal logic and the foundations of mathematics. Vuillemin's philosophical approach was characterized by a focus on the nature of paradoxes and the implications of formal systems.
Kirk Ludwig is a philosopher known for his work in the fields of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy, particularly concerning topics like collective intentionality, social practices, and joint actions. He often engages with themes related to meaning, reference, and the nature of social reality.
Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek is a Polish philosopher known for her work in ethics, particularly in moral philosophy and the field of utilitarianism. She has contributed to discussions on ethical theories, the implications of utilitarian principles, and has been involved in philosophical debates regarding moral responsibilities and decision-making. Additionally, she has co-authored works with other philosophers and has been involved in academic research and teaching.
Pinned article: ourbigbook/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!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- 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-calculusArticles 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/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - 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.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . 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. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
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