Logic- The Reason Pathway

A wave of reason cast by a gale of coherence. The rationale of argumentation and the sheer thrust behind thought and endeavour, it remains the epitome of systems; the envy of all rational systems. It is the magic of logic in both its precursory and prevenient flavours that has expounded and conveyed a means  beyond just another methodology. It deploys a pathway compelled towards coherence, sense and soundness; one laced with consistency and the strive for completeness. For we are in constant pursuit of both formal and informal schemes of reason that lack contradiction, promote logic truth, envisage theorems and propositions and make sense. The principles of induction, deduction and abduction remain the cornerstones, the mainstay of such a logic pathway. In the inductive sphere, logic is envisioned as the derivation of not only statements but propositions from certain examples, quite a dichotomy may be observed, for the deductive sphere constructs examples on the basis of propositions. Taking it a step further with the abductive sphere, where hypotheses are evaluated and composed, logic entails a miscellany of frontiers, namely the mathematical. In the mathematical sense, logic is a business of the contrasting faces of completeness and incompleteness; confined to the bounds of predicate or formal systems. There is no axiomatic construct capable of proving its own consistency and completeness in mathematics, thus such systems lack simultaneous completeness and consistency. But logic is beyond the arbitration founded in philosophical circles, much more than the symbolism employed by numbers and exponents; greater than the scope of formal systems. From rationalism to logicism, the superficial pursuit was to extrapolate reason beyond mere experience; yet the transcendent goal and ground of all being was to architect and harness a universality. A universality that underpinned a universal pathway, one that would separate the fallacious from the logically sound. Such a pursuit  sounds rather presumptuous, to create or to envisage a system that detects those crooked and circular modes of reason and simultaneously be conducive to those that make sense. Analogous to a mechanism that executes sound instructions and rejects or even destroys ill-formed and irrational means of reasoning. But since the Aristotelian view of logic grounded on both major and minor premises that generate so called syllogisms, there is a rejection of the usual pathways by which logic is applied and attained; the premise that logic does not correspond to anything in the material and physical world. Wherever the cards fall in such a light, logic as a pathway, a methodology and a deduction will progress as a cosmopolitan exultation of reason, comparable to a colony of worker ants tunneling through the rough terrain...

Relativity- Through Einstein's Eyes

The universe is a kaleidoscope. Bursting with dynamic processes that enthral and miraculous happenings that evoke wonder, it’s a playground for theory and speculation. Yet when we observe the most fundamental of laws and principles; the classical mechanics of physics, there seems a radical breakdown. A breakdown that underlies the entirety of space and time, the continuum that is at the heart of reality and the crux of Einstein’s vision of the known universe. For when we encounter the most cosmological of speed limits, the constancy of light, we encounter happenings that Newton himself failed to address. Lengths begin to contract; the slowing of time soon follows and mass has the potential to be converted to energy. And as bizarre as such may sound, it would be quite familiar in an inertial frame of reference; travelling at the speed of light of course! Einstein viewed the universe from a lens of uncanny proportions, envisaging the concept of gravity as curvature as opposed to a mere force of attraction. It is the theory of relativity in both its special and general forms that provides an entirely unprecedented world-view, the picture of the universe that quantum physics is still attempting to sympathise with. From the inception of the big bang to the centre of a black hole, Einstein's equations unveil a counter-intuitive world; consider the linear and undeviating Newtonian arrow of time as opposed to a relativistic river of time. Such a river may be bent, split and manipulated in contrast to the arrow that remains constant in its path.The notion of time travel seems one of the more evident consequences of relativity particularly the warping that creates hypothetical wormholes allowing the individual movement through time much like through space. But apart from the prospects of a relativistic time machine, we realise the grand integration of space and time in the four dimensional Minkowski space as intimately related phenomena akin to the intimacy that gives rise to the quantum duality of particles and waves. Einstein further challenged the notion of simultaneity, elucidating the contingency upon the reference frame; thus a set of events that seem simultaneous to one observer may appear asynchronous to another observer in another reference frame. Counter-intuitive as it may further seem, relativity postulates an increase in speed causes an increase in relativistic mass in respect to the forces involved; in contrast to the rest mass measured when object is stationary in a reference frame. But beyond the postulates and radical propositions, we diverge into a quantum leap where the very small behaves much different than the very large. A presumptuous idea that the governing dynamics of the universe are steeped in uncertainty and probability as opposed to a deterministic Newtonian realm. And while Einstein remained contentious as to the feasibility and viability of this idea, we remain mesmerised by the grandeur and splendor that is the coalition of space and time into a package of cosmic wonder and elegance.

Scientia- A Philosophy of Science

Science is a verb. A tour de force at the forefront of discovery and curiosity, a culmination of reason and inquiry bent on the search for truth and a perennial and universal exultation of the evidences and the hypotheses that make it a reality beyond the bounds of a noun. And at the nucleus of its sum and substance is a philosophy bridging the gaps of human understanding. It is the philosophy of science that has redefined the approach to modern thought, posing as a systematic means of deduction. From the very definition of a science and its distinction from pseudoscience to the laws of nature that govern the oscillation of the universe; the philosophy of science goes well beyond a lore of axioms and maxims, it is a tapestry woven with the physical, chemical and biological. When dissecting such a primordial yet newfangled tradition, we ponder the world of the senses in which we perceive; the tradition of empiricism has an applicable scientific relevance, coupled with reductionism; explanations and models that give the impression of a Russian doll regress. Science has a philosophical uniqueness, apart from the world of the senses it fosters a passion to assert the laws of nature, the antithesis being the so called habits of nature, challenging the constance of such fixed laws. Arguably the great philosophical challenge to all of scientific practice and premise seems the induction fallacy, just because an event occurs and occurs often guarantees not its occurrence in the future ergo not only can the senses be fooled but our entire perception of conclusions from experimentation. Further parallels may be drawn along mathematics, the Bayesian theorem and its repercussions for probability presents science and philosophy the array of subjective and objective probabilities in accepting the new evidence for a theoretical idea.