Utility and Measurement (part 1)

NOTICE

• May contain errors: DO NOT TRUST THE FOLLOWING
• just a survey, no new claims intended

Least Philosophy

• Affection: In Kantian philosophy, Ding an Sich (thing as itself) is not accesible to human mind. Things just affect.

History in Philosophy

• (Pierre Duhem's finding) mediæval French philosopher Nicole Oresme's conception: latitudo (width), or intensio, and longitudo (length), or extensio
• In Cartesian philosophy, followed by Leibnitz and Spinoza, extension is very central concept (if interested to the linkage between Descartes and mediæval thoughts, Étienne Gilson's Index might be helpful)
• Pascal's Pensées: mysterious criticism against Cartesian way (algebraic models): "useless and uncertain"
• Cartesian coodinate is one of Leibnitz' inventions (putting aside similar ideas independently used). Another one is optimism
• Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: Euclidian space (space of extensive values) as a priori, perception and intension (to be written)
• Hegel's Orbits of Planet: over 200 years after Principia, argued against Newtonian synthesis of theories of conservative (Keplerian) system and dissipative (Galilean) system
• Common underlying insight of Pascal's and Hegel's (and later Duhem's) critiques (even if they were not aware): How the nature decide directions of changes?
• Leibnitz' solution was optimism, but it was insufficient then
• Vitalism was also insufficient
• Energetics was needed, but there was no thermodynamics yet
• pre-thermodynamical investigations in Hegel's Science of Logic: (1) Instant freezing of supercooled water as an example of transition from quantity to quality, (2) confused and "contradict" as usual, noticed on the fact that intensive values can always be represented as extensive values (example: temperature or pressure and length of mercury)

TODO

• clarify Kant's contributions with footnote about Deleuze on intensity and affection
• clarify relation to Bergson's "sugar melt" argument in Creative Evolution