Table of Contents

Preface

Part I: An Introduction to Inverse Atomism

Chapter One: Expansive Explanation in Science

EXPLANATION

AN EXAMPLE: WAVES

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: ORBITS

CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIA AND EXPANSIVE REASONING

RUSSELL AND MATHEMATICAL REASONING

OTHER PHILOSOPHERS

CAUSAL, MATHEMATICAL, AND EXPANSIVE REASONING

PROBABILISTIC REASONING

Chapter Two: Examples of Inverse Atomism in Science

ONE INTERPRETATION FOR MANY THEORIES

SPECIFIC THEORIES

LAGRANGIANS: WAYS TO LOOK AT POTENTIAL

TELEOLOGY AN ISSUE?

THERMODYNAMICS

Part II: Philosophical Implications of Inverse Atomism

Chapter Three: Science and Inverse Atomism

DESCRIBING ONE FEATURE IN TERMS OF OTHERS

TWO SENSES OF REPRODUCIBILITY

SCIENCE DOES NOT FIND FACTS

MECHANISM

MAKING CONCLUSIONS

SCIENTIFIC EQUATIONS ARE NOT GENERALIZATIONS

Chapter Four: Truth and Inverse Atomism

TRUTH IS ELABORATED

HOW WE KNOW

DIVERSE AND CHANGING VS UNIFORM AND IMMUTABLE

FORCING UNIFORMITY (TO MAKE IT SEEM TRUE)

ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE, AND EXPANSIVE TRUTH

Chapter Five: Causality in an Expansive World

CAUSALITY AND EXPLANATION

SOME DEFINITIONS OF CAUSALITY

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

WOODWARD

WHEN ONE EVENT DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY PRECEDE ANOTHER

NONCAUSALITY DEFINED

NONCAUSAL APPROACHES IN SCIENCE

EXPANSIVE CAUSALITY

RECONSIDERING HUME

NEWTON’S SECOND LAW

AN EXAMPLE IN DAILY LIFE

Part III. Applications

Chapter Six: Mind in an Expansive World

WHAT IF CONSCIOUSNESS “IS” SEEING EXPANSIVELY?

THE SCENE

MEMORY

THE SELF

THE THESIS

SUBSTANCE DUALISM AND INVERSE ATOMISM

CORRESPONDENCE, REPRESENTATION, AND “IN TERMS OF” KNOWLEDGE

UNIVERSALS, PARTICULARS, AND “IN TERMS OF” KNOWLEDGE

“LINING UP” VERSUS “IN COMMON”

Chapter Seven: Ethics and Inverse Atomism

MORAL ABSOLUTES, RELATIVITY, AND EXPANSIVENESS

MORAL FEATURES ARE NOT ABSOLUTES

MORAL FEATURES “LINE UP” RATHER THAN BEING COMMONALITIES

NEITHER ABSOLUTE NOR RELATIVE

Chapter Eight: Complexity

MULTIPLE DEFINITIONS OF COMPLEXITY

MUTUALLY BIASED ORGANIZATION

COMPLEXITY BUILT FROM THE RANDOM MOTION OF ENERGY

WHAT HOLDS IT ALL TOGETHER IS ENERGY SAVINGS

BIASING AND MUTUALISM

THE EXPANSIVE PICTURE

AN EXTENSIVE EXAMPLE: THE IDEAL GAS LAW

ASSEMBLED CAUSALITY (1)

DETERMINISM

Chapter Nine: Bioevolution

SOME CONTROVERSIES IN BIOLOGY

VIRULENCE

LOGOTYPES

DARWINISM AND EXPANSIVENESS

Chapter Ten: Energy

CHANGE VERSUS DISPLACEMENT

WORK

JOBS

THE PRINCIPLE OF EXPANSIVE PRIMACY

MORE EXAMPLES

Part IV: Navigating an Expansive Universe

Chapter Eleven: Measurement

DOES THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE MEASURE?

TO MEASURE IS TO SEE IN TERMS OF SOMETHING ELSE

THE TERMS OF MEASUREMENT CAN BE EXPANSIVE

BEING “ACTUAL”

MEASUREMENT, CAUSATION, AND RULE-FOLLOWING

Chapter Twelve: Orienteering

GETTING OUR BEARINGS

MAPS

EXPANSIVE, NOT REPRESENTATIONAL

PHYSICAL EXAMPLES: NATURAL ORIENTEERING

ORIENTEERING IN DAILY LIFE

CAUSALITY REVISITED

Chapter Thirteen: Mutualistic Organization

HIERARCHICAL ORGANIZATION

MUTUALISM AS A FORM OF ORGANIZATION

MUTUALISM AND REDUCTIONISM

MUTUALISM, EMERGENCE, AND ATOMISM

MUTUALISM, SCIENCE, AND INDUCTION/DEDUCTION

TASK-BASED ORGANIZATION (1)

ORGANICISM

MUTUALISM EXPLAINS ROBUSTNESS

Chapter Fourteen: Ekpoietic Organization

AN ADJECTIVE FOR “IN TERMS OF”

EKPOIETIC COMMENSURABILITY

A WORLD MADE OF MANY SMALL LOGICS

EKPOIESIS

EKPOIETIC OUTLOOK

Chapter Fifteen: Peritythmic Organization

PERITYTHMS

ASSEMBLED CAUSALITY (2)

ADVANTAGES

PERITYTHMIC BIASING

TASK-BASED ORGANIZATION (2)

SEEING THE WORLD “GO”

Conclusion

Bibliography