Hume's Natural Philosophy and Philosophy of Physical Science

This book contextualizes David Hume's philosophy of physical science, exploring both Hume's background in the history of early modern natural philosophy and its subsequent impact on the scientific tradition

Inference of Sparse Networks with Unobserved Variables. Application to Gene Regulatory Networks

Networks are a unifying framework for modeling complex systems and network inference problems are frequently encountered in many fields. Here, I develop and apply a generative approach to network inference (RCweb) for the case when the network is sparse and the latent (not observed) variables affect the observed ones. From all possible factor analysis (FA) decompositions explaining the variance in the data, RCweb selects the FA decomposition that is consistent with a sparse underlying network. The sparsity constraint is imposed by a novel method that significantly outperforms (in terms of accuracy, robustness to noise, complexity scaling, and computational efficiency) Bayesian methods and MLE methods using l1 norm relaxation such as K-SVD and l1--based sparse principle component analysis (PCA). Results from simulated models demonstrate that RCweb recovers exactly the model structures for sparsity as low (as non-sparse) as 50% and with ratio of unobserved to observed variables as high as 2. RCweb is robust to noise, with gradual decrease in the parameter ranges as the noise level increases.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Hume, the Philosophy of Science and the Scientific Tradition

Although the main focus of Hume’s career was in the humanities, his work also has an observable role in the historical development of natural sciences after his time. To show this, I shall center on the relation between Hume and two major figures in the history of the natural sciences: Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and Albert Einstein (1879–1955). Both of these scientists read Hume. They also found parts of Hume’s work useful to their sciences. Inquiring into the relations between Hume and the two scientists shows that his philosophical positions had a partial but constructive role in the formation of modern biology and physics. This is accordingly a clear indication of Hume’s impact on the scientific tradition. Before proceeding to analyze Hume’s contribution to the history of science, it is important to address his broader role in the history of philosophy of science. Hume’s discussions concerning the topics of causation, induction, the distinction between mathematical and empirical propositions, and laws of nature have been important for the philosophy of science of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Universal Gravitation and the (Un)Intelligibility of Natural Philosophy

This article centers on Hume’s position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. To that end, the controversy surrounding universal gravitation shall be scrutinized. It is very well-known that Hume sides with the Newtonian experimentalist approach rather than with the Leibnizian demand for intelligibility. However, what is not clear is Hume’s overall position on the intelligibility of natural philosophy. It shall be argued that Hume declines Leibniz’s principle of intelligibility. However, Hume does not eschew intelligibility altogether; his concept of causation itself stipulates mechanical intelligibility

Factorization type probabilities of polynomials with prescribed coefficients over a finite field

Let $f(T)$ be a monic polynomial of degree $d$ with coefficients in a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. Extending earlier results in the literature, but now allowing $(q,2d)>1$, we give a criterion for $f$ to satisfy the following property: for all but $d^2-d-1$ values of $s$ in $\mathbb{F}_q$, the probability that $f(T)+sT+b$ is irreducible over $\mathbb{F}_q$ (as $b\in\mathbb{F}_q$ is chosen uniformly at random) is $1/d+O(q^{-1/2})$.Comment: A major error in the statement and proof of the main theorem from the previous version has been corrected, along with a number of further minor improvement

Time as an Empirical Concept in Special Relativity

According to a widespread view, Einstein’s definition of time in his special relativity is founded on the positivist verification principle. The present paper challenges this received outlook. It shall be argued that Einstein’s position on the concept of time, to wit, simultaneity, is best understood as a mitigated version of concept empiricism. He contrasts his position to Newton’s absolutist and Kant’s transcendental arguments, and in part sides with Hume’s and Mach’s empiricist arguments. Nevertheless, Einstein worked out a concept empiricism that is considerably more moderate than what we find in the preceding empiricist tradition and early logical positivism. He did not think that the origin of concepts is in observations, but in conventions, and he also maintained a realist ontology of physical events, which he thought is necessary for his theory. Consequently, his philosophy of time in special relativity is not couched in terms of an anti-metaphysical verificationism

Innocent or not-so-innocent bystanders: evidence from the gravity model of international trade about the effects of UN sanctions on neighbor countries

This paper examines two theories about the effects of UN sanctions on trade flows between land neighbors of the target country and the rest of the world. First, there have been claims that sanctions hurt neighbor countries by cutting off trading routes, increasing transportation costs, and disrupting established trading ties. We would expect that a neighbor’s trade with the rest of the world would fall, as a result. Second, there is extensive evidence that neighbors have been heavily involved in smuggling. As a result, neighbors should trade more with the rest of the world during UN trade embargoes, because now they also trade on behalf of the target. I employ the gravity model of international trade to show that, overall, a neighbor’s trade with the rest of the world tends to fall during UN sanctions episodes. This confirms the first claim above: overall, land neighbors have been “innocent bystanders” hit by UN sanctions.