Why Sociology Needs Science Fiction

Why natural science needs phenomenological philosophy.

Through an exploration of theoretical physics, this paper suggests the need for regrounding natural science in phenomenological philosophy. To begin, the philosophical roots of the prevailing scientific paradigm are traced to the thinking of Plato, Descartes, and Newton. The crisis in modern science is then investigated, tracking developments in physics, science's premier discipline. Einsteinia...

Why Vortex Lattice Melting Theory is Science Fiction

The distinguished work by A.A. Abrikosov awarded of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2003 not only has determined the orientation of all investigations of the mixed state of type II superconductors during forty years but also has provoked a mass delusion. Most scientists consider the Abrikosov state first of all as a vortex lattice. But Abrikosov has found a periodic lattice structure with crysta...

Why Cognitive Science Needs Philosophy and Vice Versa

Contrary to common views that philosophy is extraneous to cognitive science, this paper argues that philosophy has a crucial role to play in cognitive science with respect to generality and normativity. General questions include the nature of theories and explanations, the role of computer simulation in cognitive theorizing, and the relations among the different fields of cognitive science. Nor...

Fiction informed by science.

Why Information Retrieval Needs Cognitive Science: A Call to Arms

Much of today’s success in Information Retrieval (IR) comes from a hard approach: employing blazingly fast machines, ever more refined statistics, and increasingly powerful classification schemes. In recent years, however, the hard approach has entered a phase of diminishing returns. This paper explores a softer alternative which, we argue, is still in the phase of increasing returns. As the qu...