Impact of science and technology on society Books

Book SynopsisHow did human beings acquire imaginations that can conjure up untrue possibilities? How did the Universe become self-aware? In The Runes of Evolution, Simon Conway Morris revitalizes the study of evolution from the perspective of convergence, providing us with compelling new evidence to support the mounting scientific view that the history of life is far more predictable than once thought. A leading evolutionary biologist at the University of Cambridge, Conway Morris came into international prominence for his work on the Cambrian explosion (especially fossils of the Burgess Shale) and evolutionary convergence, which is the process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches. In The Runes of Evolution, he illustrates how the ubiquity of convergence hints at an underlying framework whereby many outcomes, not least brains and intelligence, are virtually guaranteed on any Earth-like planet. Conway Morris also emphasizes how much of the complexity of advanced biological systems is inherent in microbial forms. By casting a wider net, The Runes of Evolution explores many neglected evolutionary questions. Some are remarkably general. Why, for example, are convergences such as parasitism, carnivory, and nitrogen fixation in plants concentrated in particular taxonomic hot spots? Why do certain groups have a particular propensity to evolve toward particular states? Some questions lead to unexpected evolutionary insights: If bees sleep (as they do), do they dream? Why is that insect copulating with an orchid? Why have sponges evolved a system of fiber optics? What do mantis shrimps and submarines have in common? If dinosaurs had not gone extinct what would have happened next? Will a saber-toothed cat ever re-evolve? Cona Morris observes: “Even amongst the mammals, let alone the entire tree of life, humans represent one minute twig of a vast (and largely fossilized) arborescence. Every living species is a linear descendant of an immense string of now-vanished ancestors, but evolution itself is the very reverse of linear. Rather it is endlessly exploratory, probing the vast spaces of biological hyperspace. Indeed this book is a celebration of how our world is (and was) populated by a riot of forms, a coruscating tapestry of life.” The Runes of Evolution is the most definitive synthesis of evolutionary convergence to be published to date.Trade Review"The runes of evolution spell out a surprising message: Some evolutionary outcomes are virtually inevitable. Or, so goes the argument of Cambridge palaeontologist Simon Conway Morris, resting on two key premises: Evolution repeats itself in unexpected ways: Very different lineages evolve to have similar traits. Conway Morris calls this 'convergence.' Precursors of complex traits, such as a nervous system, are found in much simpler organisms. Conway Morris calls this 'evolutionary inherency.' The premises are supported with a wealth of data—thousands of references across the book’s 27 chapters. The intriguing tale is told by way of a journey over many different areas in which we find convergence and inherency, with touches of humour along the way." —Zachary Ardern, BioLogos“Conway Morris’s exploration of the phenomenon of convergence in biological evolution is rife with implications for Christian theology. It lends credence to a Christian view of God’s providential action in history, and it supports an ecological view of the interdependence of all things in God’s creation. It also fits with a scriptural account of a story-shaped world.” —Ian Curran, Christian Century "This is a very good book. The author is most effective when presenting his evidence as both glaringly obvious and unfairly maligned. Not everyone will like the volume’s familiar tone, but the overall excellence of the writing is hard to deny. Many of the book’s grandest ideas were already covered in his previous publications, but The Runes of Evolution is nevertheless Conway Morris’ most comprehensive statement on convergence to date, and is thus well worth reading." —Abraham H. Gibson, Quarterly Review of Biology (September 2017)This book was presumably written by Morris more for fellow natural scientists than for philosophers and theologians, but in each case so as to prove that his hypothesis of ongoing convergence in evolution is not a series of fortuitous coinci-dences but empirical evidence of established patterns or in-built mechanisms within the evolutionary process. Three hundred pages of text with double columns of print on each page and 150 pages of endnotes make that clear. Names of different species, genera, families, orders, classes, and so on turn up on virtually every page so that the nonprofessional reader ends up hunting for summary statements by Morris at the end of each major subdivision within the 26 chapters. Yet despite its obvious density and degree of detail for the ordinary reader, the implications of this book for philosophical/theological understanding of the God–world relationship and for the classic distinction between the natural and the supernatural within creation are in my judgment very significant. —Joseph A. Bracken, SJ, Xavier University, Cincinnati

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Book Synopsis Does science have all the answers? Can it even deal with abstract reasoning beyond the world we experience? How can we ensure that the physical world is sufficiently ordered to be intelligible to humans? How can mathematics, a product of human minds, unlock the secrets of the physical universe? Should all such questions be considered inadmissible if science cannot settle them? Metaphysics has traditionally been understood as reasoning beyond the reach of science, sometimes even claiming realities beyond its grasp. Because of this, metaphysics is often contemptuously dismissed by scientists and philosophers who wish to remain within the bounds of what can be scientifically proven. Yet scientists at the frontiers of physics unwittingly engage in metaphysics, as they are now happy to contemplate whole universes that are, in principle, beyond human reach. Roger Trigg challenges those who deny that science needs philosophical assumptions. Trigg claims that the foundations of science themselves have to lie beyond science. It takes reasoning apart from experience to discover what is not yet known and this metaphysical reasoning to imagine realities beyond what can be accessed. “In Beyond Matter, Roger Trigg advances a powerful, persuasive, fair-minded argument that the sciences require a philosophical, metaphysical foundation. This is a brilliant book for newcomers to the philosophy of science and experts alike.” —Charles Taliaferro, professor of philosophy, St. Olaf College Trade Review“In this important book, the philosopher Roger Trigg sets out to honour the sciences by not letting them be shouldered with burdens they cannot bear, such as being the arbiter of all truth. Trigg opposes scientism, arguing that we cannot ‘arbitrarily’ dismiss ‘swathes of human reasoning and experience,’ reflected in disciplines such as literature or theology, simply on the grounds that they are not physics.” —Andrew Davison, Times’ Literary Supplement “Trigg is an eminent philosopher and now Senior Research Fellow at the Ian Ramsey Center at Oxford. If you’re concerned about the ‘science only’ approach . . . this one is a helpful corrective.” —Jim Stimp, BioLogos “This book, for newcomers to the field of philosophy of science and those already immersed in the debates, is superb.” —CHOICE “Thoughtful and well-reasoned. . . . Beyond Matter has the potential to transcend academia, thanks to its friendly tone and willingness to address atheism in a noncombative way—a rarity in works along the science-philosophy divide. In an age when belief and research seem pitted against one another, this book is a welcome window of bipartisan sanity. Ideal for researchers and thinkers, but also a good pick for interested armchair philosophers.” —Anna Call, Foreword Reviews “As always, Trigg’s writing is clear, and his argumentation is easy to comprehend. He introduces several philosophical, scientific debates without getting too entangled in details.” —Lari Launonen, ESSSAT News and ReviewsTable of Contents Preface / ix Chapter 1: Is Science the Sole Authority? / 3 Chapter 2: Science and Reality / 25 Chapter 3: World and Mind / 49 Chapter 4: Is the World Intelligible? / 73 Chapter 5: The Unity of Science / 101 Chapter 6: The Success of Science / 127 Notes / 149 Index / 159

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Book SynopsisThe title of this timely and thought-provoking book, a French bestseller, refers to schoolgirls sending text messages to their friends on their smart phones. Michel Serres, one of France's most important living intellectuals, uses this image to get at something far broader: that humans are formed and shaped by technologies, and that with the advent of computers, smart phones, and the Internet, a new human is being born. These new humans beings are our children—thumbelina (petite poucette) and tom thumb (petit poucet)—but technologies have been changing so fast that parents scarcely know their children. Serres documents this cultural revolution, arguing that there have been several similar revolutions in the past: from oral cultures to cultures focused on reading and writing; the advent of the printing press; and now the complex changes brought about by the new information technologies—changes that are taking place at an accelerated pace and that affect us all.Trade ReviewHere is the characteristic voice of late Serres – by turns searching, mischievous, joyous and enraged. Short, but drawing together arguments that Serres has been developing over five decades, Thumbelina is a visionary fable that calls for a new space of open, inventive thought to match the transformations in our bodies, our technologies and our forms of knowledge and social organisation. -- Steven Connor, Professor of English, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsTranslator's Introduction / Part I: Thumbelina / 1. Novelties / 2. From the Body to Knowledge / 3. The Individual / 4. What to Transmit? To Whom to Transmit It? How to Transmit It? / 5. Envoi / Part II: School / 1. Thumbelina's Head / 2. The Hard and the Soft / 3. The Space of the Page / 4. New Technologies / 5. A Short History / 6. Thumbelina Meditates / 7. The Voice / 8. Supply and Demand / 9. Children Transfixed / 10. The Liberation of Bodies / 11. Mobility: Conductor and Passenger / 12. The Troubadour of Knowledge / 13. The Disparate Against Classification / 14. The Abstract Concept / Part III: Society / 1. in Praise of Reciprocal Grading / 2. In Praise of Humphrey Potter / 3. The Death of Work / 4. In Praise of the Hospital / 5. In Praise of Human Voices / 6. In Praise of Networks / 7. The Reversal of the Presumption of Incompetence / 8. In Praise of Marquetry / 9. In Praise of the Third Support / 10. In Praise of the Pseudonym / 11. The Algorithmic and the Procedural / 12. Emergence / 13. In Praise of the Code / 14. In Praise of the Passport / 15. The Image of Society Today / Index

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Book SynopsisThe Future of Social Epistemology: A Collective Vision sets an agenda for exploring the future of what we – human beings reimagining our selves and our society – want, need and ought to know. The book examines, concretely, practically and speculatively, key ideas such as the public conduct of philosophy, models for extending and distributing knowledge, the interplay among individuals and groups, risk taking and the welfare state, and envisioning people and societies remade through the breakneck pace of scientific and technological change. An international team of contributors offers a ‘collective vision’, one that speaks to what they see unfolding and how to plan and conduct the dialogue and work leading to a knowable and desirable world. The book describes and advances an intellectual agenda for the future of social epistemology.Trade ReviewThis collection of twenty-five original essays from an international group of scholars proposes various possible avenues of development for the emerging study of social epistemology. As much a shared agenda or vision statement as it is a series of discussions that take stock of where social epistemology is now, the essays cover topics such as how to extend and distribute knowledge, the public conduct of philosophy, and how the social study of knowledge may be affected by scientific and technological change. The contributions collectively provide a practical guide to the student of social epistemology…. * Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal *As a new interdisciplinary area of knowledge production and dissemination, Social Epistemology has found its own voice and international disciples. This volume brings together not only a variety of perspectives and practices, but also a self-reflexive moment that looks at the present condition of the field to envision its future. A must read for the novice and the curious. -- Raphael Sassower, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of ColoradoTaking stock and simultaneously exploring new perspectives, this is a bold and timely addition to the existing literature. New voices join established scholars in a collaborative effort to challenge disciplinary boundaries; the result is a vibrant and thought-provoking collection of papers – as much a contribution to the social study of knowledge as it is an experiment with doing social epistemology. -- Axel Gelfert, Associate Professor of Philosophy, National University of SingaporeTable of ContentsIntroduction, James H. Collier / Part I: Conducting Social Epistemology / 1. How Can We Collectivize a Set of Visions about Social Epistemology?, Fred D’Agostino / 2. A Comic Moment for Social Epistemology, Joan Leach / 3. Knowing Humanity in the Social World: A Social Epistemology Collective Vision?, Francis Remedios / 4. A Social Epistemology for Scientific Excellence, David Budtz Pedersen / 5. From Social Epistemology to Reflexive Sociology, Inanna Hamati-Ataya and Stephen Norrie / 6. The Politics of Social Epistemology, Susan Dieleman, María G. Navarro and Elisabeth Simbürger / Part II: Extending Conceptions of Knowing / 7. Metaphor and Social Epistemology, Martin Evenden / 8. Memetics vs. Human Extension: Round Two, Gregory Sandstrom / 9. A ‘Dialectical Moment’: Desire and the Commodity of Knowledge, Patrick J. Reider / 10. Navigating the Dialectics of Objectivity, Guy Axtell / 11. Epistemic Burdens and the Value of Ignorance, Phil Olson / 12. Freeing Knowledge: The Future of Critical Knowledge Production in the New Age of Corporate Universities and the Renegade Generation of Researchers, Adam Riggio / Part III: Regarding the Individual and the Collective / 13. Are You Thinking What We’re Thinking? Eric Kerr / 14. Disagreement and the Ethics of Belief, Jonathan Matheson / 15. Doxastic Involuntarism, Attentional Voluntarism, and Social Epistemology, Mark Douglas West / 16. Empirical Social Epistemology: Addressing the Normativity of Social Forces, Miika Vähämaa / 17. On Feminist Epistemology: The Fallibility of Gendered Science, Diana Rishani / 18. The Cost of Being Known: Economics, Science Communication and Epistemic Justice, Fabien Medvecky / 19. Social Epistemology, Dialectics and Horizontal Normativity: An Introduction to the Theory of Natural Authority, Pedro Saez Williams / Part IV: Envisioning our Human Future / 20. Visioneering Our Future, Laura Cabrera, William Davis and Melissa Orozco / 21. Dreaming the Future: What it Means to be Human, Emma Craddock / 22. Human Enhancement: Visual Representation and the Production of Knowledge, Victoria Peake / 23. Is Transhumanism Gendered? The Road from Haraway, Steve Fuller and Veronika Lipinska / 24. Beyond Black and Green: Children Visioneering the Future, Emilie Whitaker / 25. Prolegomena for a Theory of Justice for a Proactionary Age, Steve Fuller / Epilogue / Notes on Contributors / Index

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Book SynopsisArtificial intelligence is everywhere-powering news feeds, curating search results and invisibly steering our lives. We talk to it and, increasingly, it talks back. And sometimes its answers seem eerily smart.... Until they don''t.Billions of dollars have been poured into AI yet it keeps surprising us with its epic fails-confidently wrong chatbots, inadvertently racist photo apps, well-meaning autonomous cars that fail to recognize traffic cones.Industry insider Emmanuel Maggiori cuts through the hype, revealing the deceptively simple mechanisms behind AI''s impressive results-and its spectacular blunders.Learn the dark secret of the AI industry-how unreasonable expectations, shady practices and outright lying have inflated a bubble of monumental proportions.Read Smart Until It''s Dumb to discover how AI really works, why it''s not always so smart, and why the AI bubble is about to burst.***Emmanuel Maggiori, PhD, is a 10-year AI industry insider, specialized in machine learning and scientific computing. He helps companies build complex software. He has developed AI for a wide variety of applications, from extracting objects from satellite images to packaging holiday deals for millions of travelers every day.

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Book SynopsisA Web of Prevention provides a timely contribution to the current debate about life science research and its implications for security. It is an informative guide for both experts and the public. It is a forward-looking contribution covering both ends of the equation and creates momentum for the current discussion on effective preventive measures and effective control measures. While there are no guarantees for preventing misuse, there are nonetheless crucial steps the world community can take towards the overarching goal of a global network for the life sciences. This book sheds light on concrete steps toward the achievement of this worthy goal. From the Foreword by Dr Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack, Chief, Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch, Office for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations. This book with its collection of essays provides an in-depth analysis of the various mutually reinforcing elements that together create and strengthen a web of prevention - or of assurance - that is vital to ensure that the advances in the life sciences are not misused to cause harm. All those engaged in the life sciences and in policy making in governments around the world should read this book so they can take steps to strengthen the web preventing biological weapons. Dr Graham S. Pearson, Visiting Professor of International Security, University of Bradford, UK and previously Director-General, Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment, UK Since September 11, 2001 in many countries renewed attention has been given to how research in the life sciences might inadvertently or intentionally facilitate the development of biological or chemical weapons. This state-of-the-art volume examines the full extent of the issues and debates. Coverage includes an overview of recent scientific achievements in virology, microbiology, immunology and genetic engineering with a view to asking how they might facilitate the production of weapons of mass destruction by state, sub-state or terrorist organizations. Consideration is given to what we have and haven't learned from the past. Employing both academic analysis and reflections by practitioners, the book examines the security-inspired governance regimes for the life sciences that are under development. Ultimately the authors examine what is required to form a comprehensive and workable web of prevention and highlight the importance of encouraging discussions between scientists, policy makers and others regarding the governance of vital but potentially dangerous research.Table of ContentsForeword by Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack * Introduction: A Web of Prevention? * Life Sciences or Death Sciences: Tipping the Balance towards Life with Ethics, Codes and Laws * Whistleblowers: Risks and Skills * Education for the Life Sciences: Choices and Challenges * Dual Use: Can We Learn from the Physicists Experience? A Personal View * Science and Technology Developments Relevant to the Biological Weapons Convention * Options for a Scientific Advisory Panel for the Biological Weapons Convention * Dual Use Biotechnology Research: The Case for Protective Oversight * Reflections on the Role of Research Oversight in a Web of Prevention * Export Control and the Non-proliferation of Materials: National Boundaries in International Science? * Chemical and Biological Weapons Export Controls and the Web of Prevention : A Practitioner‘s Perspective * How Does Secrecy Work? Keeping and Disclosing Secrets in the History of the UK Biological Warfare Programme * Reflecting on the Problem of Dual Use * Governing Dual Use Life Science Research: Opportunities and Risks for Public Health * Index

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Book SynopsisWorldwide, over 75 million people are involuntarily childless, a devastating experience for many with significant consequences for the social and psychological well-being of women in particular. Despite greater levels of infertility and strong cultural meanings attached to having children, little attention has been paid politically or academically to the needs of minority ethnic women and men. This groundbreaking volume is the first to highlight the ways in which diverse ethnic, cultural and religious identities impact upon understandings of technological solutions for infertility and associated treatment experiences within Western societies. It offers a corrective to the dominance of the narratives of hegemonic groups in infertility research. The collection begins with a discussion of fertility prevalence and access to treatment for minorities in the West and considers some of the key methodological challenges for social research on ethnicity and infertility. Drawing on primary research from the US, the UK, Eire, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia, the book then turns the spotlight onto the ways in which minority status and cultural and religious mores might impact on the experience of infertility and assisted reproductive technologies. It argues that more equitable access to culturally competent assisted conception services should be an essential component of a transformatory politics of infertility.Trade Review'An exciting piece of academic work that is 'user friendly', well structured and thoroughly engaging' Diversity in Health and Care 'This important and highly illuminating book fills a large gap in the literature on infertility and reproductive technologies and should be read by everyone with a connection to the field.' Professor Susan Golombok, Director of Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge 'This impressive multi-disciplinary collection makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the relationship between infertility, ethnicity and culture and how ethnicity and culture shape the experience of infertility in the West. The editors and chapter authors draw attention to important theoretical and methodological issues and to health and policy concerns.' Gayle Letherby, Professor of Sociology, University of Plymouth 'The editors have done an excellent job of compiling in one place a group of informative and interesting chapters which draw our attention to a new perspective from which to view both the experience of infertility and the reality of industrialised societies.' From the foreword by Professor Arthur L. Greil, Alfred University, New York 'As a multi-disciplinary collection, this volume offers a range of perspectives on how ethnicity, culture and infertility play out in particular contexts. As well as discussing experience of and policy around infertility, the chapters offer glimpses of the rich cultural critique available by examining the majority culture from the viewpoint of the involuntarily infertile minority ethnic couple.' Sociology Of Health and Illness 'Should it be read by everyone with a connection to the field as Susan Golombok states on the cover? The answer has to be yes, if we are to improve the lot of minority groups and work towards better access to assisted conception.' BioNews 'It is technically detailed and also informative to all categories of reader...the book is packed with realities and well presented facts about infertility.' Omlola Ashadele, International Journal of Health Planning and Management.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction: Ethnicity, Infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Part I: Researching Infertility, Ethnicity and Culture 1. Dominant Narratives and Excluded Voices: Research on Ethnic Differences in Access to Assisted Conception in More Developed Societies 2. Infertility and Culture: Explanations, Implications and Dilemmas 3. Making Sense of Ethnic Diversity, Difference and Disadvantage within the Context of Multicultural Societies 4. Representation of Ethnic Minorities in Research: Necessity, Opportunity and Adverse Effects 5. What Difference Does Our Difference Make in Researching Infertility? Part II: Exploring Infertility, Ethnicity and Culture in National Contexts 6. Commonalities, Differences and Possibilities: Culture and Infertility in British South Asian Communities 7. 'Anything to Become a Mother': Migrant Turkish Women's Experiences of Involuntary Childlessness and Assisted Reproductive Technologies in London 8. Infertile Turkish and Moroccan Minority Groups in the Netherlands: Patients' Views on Problems within Infertility Care 9. Treating the Afflicted Body: Perceptions of Infertility and Ethnomedicine among Fertile Hmong Women in Australia 10. Experiences from a Constitutional State: Ireland's Problematic Embryo 11. Marginalized, Invisible and Unwanted: American Minority Struggles with Infertility and Assisted Conception Glossary Index

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Book SynopsisThis book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. This book defines 'nanowares' as the ideas and products arising out of nanotechnology. Koepsell argues that these rapidly developing new technologies demand a new approach to scientific discovery and innovation in our society. He takes established ideas from social philosophy and applies them to the nanoparticle world. In doing so he breaks down the subject into its elemental form and from there we are better able to understand how these elements fit into the construction of a more complex system of products, rules and regulations about these products. Where existing research in the field has tended to focus on potential social harm, Koepsell takes a different approach by looking at ways in which developments in distributed design and fabrication can be harnessed to enable wealth creation by those with good ideas but no access to capital. He argues that the key challenge facing us is the error implicit in current intellectual property regimes and presents new modes of relating inventors to artifacts in this new context. In conclusion he offers contractual models which he believes encourage innovation in nano-media by embracing open source and alternative means of protection for innovators.Table of ContentsLet's Get Small; Nanotechnology and the Future; Nano-Present; Laws, Rules and Regulations; Things in Themselves: Objects, Ideas and Intentions; Authorship and Artifacts; Economics, Surpluses and Justice; Nanotech Nightmares; The Final Convergence

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Book SynopsisThis book asserts that the goal of smart villages should shift from one of extraction to one of community value creation. To begin this conversation, we examine the smart village discourse, debates in design theory, non-western traditions of innovation, and sustainable development. Through case studies of smart village co-design we offer a way forward. This book is relevant for engineers, social scientists, and development practitioners. The book will be of special interest to those seeking to expand their inquiry into the role of science and technology in low and middle-income countries. Reconstructs the goals of smart villages to a community centric model. Intertwines the concepts of sustainable development and smart villages. Describes case studies achieving local value creation and circulation.

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Book SynopsisThis volume is a detailed study of the concept of the nutritive capacity of the soul and its actual manifestation in living bodies (plants, animals, humans) in Aristotle and Aristotelianism. Aristotle’s innovative analysis of the nutritive faculty has laid the intellectual foundation for the increasing appreciation of nutrition as a prerequisite for the maintenance of life and health that can be observed in the history of Greek thought. According to Aristotle, apart from nutrition, the nutritive part of the soul is also responsible for or interacts with many other bodily functions or mechanisms, such as digestion, growth, reproduction, sleep, and the innate heat. After Aristotle, these concepts were used and further developed by a great number of Peripatetic philosophers, commentators on Aristotle and Arabic thinkers until early modern times. This volume is the first of its kind to provide an in-depth survey of the development of this rather philosophical concept from Aristotle to early modern thinkers. It is of key interest to scholars working on classical, medieval and early modern psycho-physiological accounts of living things, historians and philosophers of science, biologists with interests in the history of science, and, generally, students of the history of philosophy and science.

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Book SynopsisThis, the first in-depth and comprehensive book-length study of the Russian neo-Kantian movement in English language, challenges the assumption of the isolation of neo-Kantianism to Germany. The present investigation demonstrates that neo-Kantianism had an international dimension by showing the emergence of a parallel movement in Imperial Russia spanning its emergence in the late 19th century to its gradual dissolution in the aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution. The author presents a systematic portrait of the development of Russian neo-Kantianism starting with its rise as a philosophy of science. However, it was with the stream of young students returning to Imperial Russia after a period of study at German universities that the movement accelerated. More often than not, these enthusiastic, young philosophers returned home imbued with the neo-Kantianism of their respective but divergent host institutions. As a result, clashes were inevitable concerning the proper approach to philosophical issues as well as the very understanding of Kant's philosophy and his legacy for contemporary thought. In the end, the broad promise of a Western-oriented neo-Kantianism could not withstand the pressures it confronted on all sides.

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Book SynopsisDieses Buch soll ein Bericht über den Prozess Einstein sein. Es enthält das Material über die Diskussion um die Relativitätstheorie in der UdSSR seit 1950. Von 1951 bis 1955 wurde Einstein durch die offizielle Parteiphilosophie der UdSSR in den Anklagezustand versetzt. Der Prozess gipfelte in der Aufforderung, die Relativitätstheorie zu verwerfen und durch eine materialistische 'Theorie schneller Bewegungen' zu ersetzen. Selbst der Name 'Relativitätstheorie' sollte aus den physikalischen Lehrbüchern verschwinden. Die Anklage wurde vertreten von der ideologischen Führungsschicht der gewaltigsten irdischen Macht unseres Zeitalters. Der Angeklagte, in der Reife seines Lebens vor die vehementesten Angriffe gestellt, kam nur durch sein Werk zu Wort. Dies genügte jedoch, dass sich unter den sowjetischen Physikern und Philosophen noch zur Zeit Stalins mannhafte Stimmen der Verteidigung fanden. 1955 wurde der Prozess mit der offiziellen Anerkennung der Relativitäts­ theorie durch die Parteiphilosophie abgeschlossen. Es war ein Sieg der Wahrheit über die Gewalt. Die Folgen mussten das Ansehen der kommunistischen Ideologie erschüttern. Es hatte sich herausgestellt, dass zwischen der angeblich einzig wissenschaftlichen Philosophie und der exaktesten Naturwissen­ schaft, der Physik, ein Abgrund klafft, den zu überbrücken die Sowjet­ philosophie bis heute bemüht ist. Andererseits begannen die sowjetischen Physiker, wachgerufen durch die Appelle der Philosophen, ihr eigenes Weltbild mit adäquaten Methoden zu durchdenken. Diese ganze Ent­ wicklung ist von hohem Wert für eine Diagnose der geistigen Struktur der Sowjetgesellschaft.Table of ContentsErster Abschnitt: Die Grundlagen.- I: Thesen Des Diamat.- 1. Allgemeine Haltung.- 2. Abgrenzung gegen den vormarxistischen Materialismus.- 3. Monismus.- 4. Die Definition der Materie.- 5. Die Attribute der Materie.- 6. Die Bewegung.- 7. Die Determiniertheit des Geschehens.- 8. Erkenntnistheoretische Thesen.- II: Definitionen und Satze Der Relativitats-Theorie.- 1. Die spezielle Relativitätstheorie.- 2. Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie.- III: Grundriss Der Auseinandersetzung.- 1. Vorgebliche Einheit von Diamat und Wissenschaft.- 2. Die ideologische Missdeutung.- 3. Die Situation der sowjetischen Philosophic der Physik.- 4. Phasen der Auseinandersetzung.- 5. Reaktionsformen und-gruppen.- IV: Relativitatstheorie und Erkenntnis.- 1. Einleitende Bemerkungen.- A. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Physik und Philosophic.- B. Die Philosophic Einsteins in sowjetischer Sicht.- 2. Die Anklage.- A. Zum Motiv einer physikalischen Theorie.- B. Zum Ursprung einer physikalischen Theorie.- a. Die Erstgegebenheit des physikalischen Erkennens.- b. Physikalische Begriffe und Theorien.- c. Die Logik.- d. Die Intuition.- e. Mathematische Begriffe und Sätze.- C. Zum Verfahren der Relativitätstheorie.- a. Empirische Falsifikation der Begriffe und Aussagen.- b. Die Messung als Voraussetzung von Definitionen.- c. Die Deduktion aus Prinzipien.- d. Die mathematische Formalisierung.- D. Zum Erkenntniswert.- a. Grundsätzliches.- b. Wahrnehmungen.- c. Begriffe.- d. Theorien.- E. Das Erkenntniskriterium.- a. Empirische Verifikation.- b. Kovarianz.- c. Denkökonomie.- d. Ausschaltung sinnleerer Aussagen und Begriffe.- F. Die Leugnung der Theorie.- 3. Die Verteidigung.- A. Allgemeine Haltung.- B. Einzelprobleme.- 4. Diskussion der sowjetischen Thesen.- A. Die Erkenntnisprinzipien Einsteins.- B. Wertung der Haltung Einsteins.- C. Das Verfahren der Relativitatstheorie und die Erkenntnistheorie des Diamat.- Zweiter Abschnitt: Die Spezielle Relativitätstheorie.- I: Die Physikalischen Prinzipien Der Speziellen Relativitätstheorie.- 1. Problemstellung.- 2. Die Grundprinzipien.- 3. Das Bezugssystem.- A. Berechtigung.- B. Definition.- 4. Die Absolutheit der Bezugssysteme.- 5. Die Absolutheit der Bewegung.- 6. Die Absolutheit von Raum und Zeit.- 7. Diskussion der sowjetischen Thesen.- A. Das Phänomen.- B. Physikalische Irrtümer.- C. Inertialzustand.- D. Kinematik oder Dynamik?.- E. Das Relativitütsproblem.- F. Bezugssystem.- G. Raum und Zeit.- II: Die Relativitüt Der ‘Eigenschaften’.- 1. Problemstellung.- 2. Grundsützliche sowjetische Thesen.- 3. Die Leugnung der Effekte.- 4. Die Einwertigkeit der ‘Eigenschaften’.- 5. Die Diskussion in Kiev.- 6. Die Erhellung.- 7. Die Anerkennung der Relativitütstheorie.- 8. Diskussion der sowjetischen Thesen.- A. Das Phünomen.- B. Die philosophische Problematik.- III: Masse und Energie.- 1. Zum Begriff der Materie im Diamat.- 2. Der physikalische Sachverhalt.- A. Zerstrahlung und Paarerzeugung.- B. Massendefekt.- 3. Die Anklage.- 4. Die Diskussionsgruppen.- 5. Die Diskussion am Institut für Philosophie in Moskau.- 6. Philosophische Einbauversuche.- 7. Die Deutung der Physiker.- 8. Diskussion der sowjetischen Thesen.- A. Das Phünomen.- B. Einzelprobleme.- Literaturverweisungen.- Quellen.- Personenverzeichnis.- Sachverzeichis.

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