Analytic Metaphysics versus Naturalized Metaphysics: The Relevance of Applied Ontology

The relevance of analytic metaphysics has come under criticism: Ladyman & Ross, for instance, have suggested do discontinue the field. French & McKenzie have argued in defense of analytic metaphysics that it develops tools that could turn out to be useful for philosophy of physics. In this article, we show first that this heuristic defense of metaphysics can be extended to the scientific field of applied ontology, which uses constructs from analytic metaphysics. Second, we elaborate on a parallel by French & McKenzie between mathematics and metaphysics to show that the whole field of analytic metaphysics, being useful not only for philosophy but also for science, should continue to exist as a largely autonomous field

Comparison of modelled heat transfer and fluid dynamics of a flat plate solar air heating collector towards experimental data

Research concerning the field of Liquid Heating Collectors (SLHCs) cannot be directly transferred to the large area of applications for Solar Air Heating Collectors (SAHC). Larger cross sections for transporting the air are necessary. This results in rather complicated fluid distributions within the products. In this paper we combine simulation and experimental techniques providing a high level of detail. Highly resolved three dimensional fluid dynamic simulations contain all the relevant heat transfer mechanisms in a plate SAHC: Heat conduction, convection patterns and radiation are modelled in the two air gaps. In all solid materials of the collector only heat conduction has to be accounted for. For the exchange of heat between the two air zones the heat transfer through the absorber is modelled. Nevertheless careful simplification is needed to be able to concentrate on the important details. Furthermore we shed light on numerical instabilities observed in the air gap between absorber and glass in the simulated example. A consistent numerical description is given, concluding, that Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is an appropriate tool for design and optimisation of SAHC concepts. The effects of collector tilting, insulation level and heat transfer surface increase have been assessed as a prove of applicability. The performance of these models will finally be compared to the experimental data obtained using a high-precision SAHC testing facility. For the experimental data base refined local measurement techniques, which meet highest accuracy requirements, are developed and employed

Super-relationism: combining eliminativism about objects and relationism about spacetime

I will introduce and motivate eliminativist super-relationism. This is the conjunction of relationism about spacetime and eliminativism about material objects. According to the view, the universe is a big collection of spatio–temporal relations and natural properties, and no substance (material or spatio–temporal) exists in it. The view is original since eliminativism about material objects, when understood as including not only ordinary objects like tables or chairs but also physical particles, is generally taken to imply substantivalism about spacetime: if properties are directly instantiated by spacetime without the mediation of material objects, then, surely, spacetime has to be a substance. After introducing briefly the two debates about spacetime (Sect. 1) and material objects (Sect. 2), I will present Schaffer's super-substantivalism (Sect. 3), the conjunction of substantivalism about spacetime and eliminativism about material objects at the fundamental level. I shall then expose and discuss the assumption from which the implication from eliminativism to substantivalism is drawn, and discuss the compatibility of eliminativism with relationism: if spacetime is not a substance, and if material objects are not real, how are we to understand the instantiation of properties (Sect. 4)? And what are the relata of spatio–temporal relations (Sect. 5)? I then show that each argument in favor of super-substantivalism offered by Schaffer also holds for super-relationism (Sect. 6) and examine several metaphysical consequences of the view (Sect. 7). I conclude that both super-substantivalism and super-relationism are compatible with Schaffer's priority monism (Sect. 8)

Topics on General and Formal Ontology (E-book)

The essays collected in this book deal with a) general ontology basically in two meanings: as a philosophical discipline that studies \u201cbeing\u201d, that is as a part of metaphysics, and as a theory that deals with types of entities, specifically those types of abstract entities that are allowed in a language (ontology as specification of a conceptualization), and b) formal ontology both as a \u201ccategorial ontology\u201d and as a formalized discipline that represents an \u201contological\u201d part of the varied world of formal disciplines. This collection introduces the work of researchers from Europe, Middle-East, United States, Canada and Australia. Papers ranges across many topics of contemporary inquiry in ontology: foundations of ontology, primary relations (identity and identification), mereology, ontology of physical entities, trope ontology, modality and ontological imports of logic and theory of truth