18.379 new books

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 379.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 08:28:53 +0000
         From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
         Subject: new books

(1) David Hilbert and the Axiomatization of Physics (1898-1918) From
Grundlagen der Geometrie to Grundlagen der Physik

by

Leo Corry Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Tel Aviv
University, Israel

David Hilbert (1862-1943) was the most influential mathematician of the
early twentieth century and, together with Henri Poincare, the last
mathematical universalist. His main known areas of research and
influence were in pure mathematics (algebra, number theory, geometry,
integral equations and analysis, logic and foundations), but he was also
known to have some interest in physical topics. The latter, however, was
traditionally conceived as comprising only sporadic incursions into a
scientific domain which was essentially foreign to his mainstream of
activity and in which he only made scattered, if important,
contributions. Based on an extensive use of mainly unpublished archival
sources, the present book presents a totally fresh and comprehensive
picture of Hilbert?s intense, original, well-informed, and highly
influential involvement with physics, that spanned his entire career and
that constituted a truly main focus of interest in his scientific
horizon. His program for axiomatizing physical theories provides the
connecting link with his research in more purely mathematical fields,
especially geometry, and a unifying point of view from which to
understand his physical activities in general. In particular, the now
famous dialogue and interaction between Hilbert and Einstein, leading to
the formulation in 1915 of the generally covariant field-equations of
gravitation, is adequately explored here within the natural context of
Hilbert?s overall scientific world-view. This book will be of interest
to historians of physics and of mathematics, to historically-minded
physicists and mathematicians, and to philosophers of science.

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS Preface. Acknowledgements and Credits.
Introduction. 1: Late Nineteenth Century Background. 1.1. Hilbert?s
Early Career. 1.1.1 Algebraic Invariants. 1.1.2 Algebraic Number Fields.
1.1.3 Deep Roots in Tradition. 1.2. Foundations of Geometry. 1.2.1
Riemann. 1.2.2 Projective Geometry. 1.2.3 Nineteenth-Century Axiomatics.
1.2.4 Pasch and the Italian School. 1.3. Foundations of Physics. 1.3.1
Kinetic Theory, Mechanistic Foundations. 1.3.2 Carl Neumann. 1.3.3
Heinrich Hertz. 1.3.4 Paul Volkmann. 1.3.5 Ludwig Boltzmann. 1.3.6 Aurel
Voss. 1.4. Mathematics and Physics in Gottingen at the Turn of the
Century. 1.4.1 Felix Klein. 1.4.2 The Physicists. 2: Axiomatization in
Hilbert?s Early Career. 2.1. Axiomatics, Geometry and Physics in
Hilbert?s Early Lectures. 2.1.1 Geometry in Konigsberg. 2.1.2 Geometry
in Gottingen. 2.1.3 Mechanics in Gottingen. 2.2. Grundlagen der
Geometrie. 2.2.1 Independence, Simplicity, Completeness. 2.2.2
Fundamental Theorems of Projective Geometry. 2.2.3 On the Concept of
Number. 2.3. The 1900 List of Problems. 2.3.1 Foundational Problems.
2.3.2 A Context for the Sixth Problem. 2.4. Early Reactions to the
Grundlagen. 3: The Axiomatic Method in Action: 1900-1905. 3.1.
Foundational Concerns ? Empiricist Standpoint. 3.2. Hilbert and Physics
in Gottingen circa 1905. 3.3. Axioms for Physical Theories: Hilbert?s
1905 Lectures. 3.3.1 Mechanics. 3.3.2 Thermodynamics. 3.3.3 Probability
Calculus. 3.3.4 Kinetic Theory of Gases. 3.3.5 Insurance Mathematics.
3.3.6 Electrodynamics. 3.3.7 Psychophysics. 3.3.8 A post-1909 addendum.
3.4. The Axiomatization Program by 1905 ? Partial Summary. 4: Minkowski
and Relativity: 1907-1909. 4.1. The Principle of Relativity. 4.2. The
Basic Equations of Electromagnetic Processes in Moving Bodies. 4.2.1
Three Meanings of "Relativity". 4.2.2 Axioms of Electrodynamics. 4.2.3
Relativity and Mechanics. 4.2.4 Relativity and Gravitation. 4.3. Space
and Time. 4.3.1 Groups of Transformations. 4.3.2 Empirical
Considerations. 4.3.3 Relativity and Existing Physical Theories. 4.4.
Max Born, Relativity, and the Theories of the Electron. 4.4.1 Rigid
Bodies. 4.5. Minkowski, Axiomatics and Relativity ? Summary. 5:
Mechanical to Electromagnetic Reductionism: 1910-1914. 5.1. Lectures on
Mechanics and Continuum Mechanics. 5.2. Kinetic Theory. 5.3. Radiation
Theory. 5.3.1 Hilbert and Kirchhoff?s Law: 1912. 5.3.2 Reactions and
Sequels: Early 1913. 5.3.3 Pringsheim?s Criticism: 1913. 5.3.4 Hilbert?s
Final Version: 1914. 5.3.5 Kinetic and Radiation Theory: General
Remarks. 5.4. Structure of Matter and Relativity: 1912-1914. 5.4.1
Molecular Theory of Matter - 1912-13. 5.4.2 Electron Theory: 1913. 5.4.3
Axiomatization of Physics: 1913. 5.4.4 Electromagnetic Oscillations:
1913-14. 5.5. Broadening Physical Horizons - Concluding Remarks. 6:
Einstein and Mie: Two Pillars of Hilbert?s Unified Theory. 6.1.
Einstein?s Way to General Relativity. 6.2. Mie?s Electromagnetic Theory
of Matter. 6.2.1 First and Second Installment: Early 1912. 6.2.2 Third
Installment: November 1912. 6.3. Contemporary Debates on Gravitation.
6.4. Born?s Formulation of Mie?s Theory. 6.5. The Background to
Hilbert?s Unified Theory ? Summary. 7: Foundations of Physics:
1915-1916. 7.1. Einstein in Gottingen ? Summer of 1915. 7.2. Hilbert?s
Unified Theory ? General Considerations. 7.3. Hilbert?s Communication to
the GWG ? November 1915. 7.3.1 Axioms and Basic Assumptions. 7.3.2 The
Hamiltonian Function and the Field Equations. 7.3.3 Summary and
Additional Considerations. 7.4. The Hilbert-Einstein Correspondence and
Einstein?s Four Communications ? November 1915. 7.5. Hilbert?s Unified
Theory: First Printed Version ? March 1916. 7.6. Foundations of Physics
? Summary. 8: Hilbert and GTR: 1916-1918. 8.1. Mie?s Reaction. 8.2.
Einstein?s Reaction. 8.3. Hilbert Teaches GTR ? 1916-1917. 8.4.
Hilbert?s Second Communication ? December 1916. 8.5. Gottingen Debates
on Energy Conservation in GTR ? 1918. 8.6. Later Talks and Writings on
GTR. 8.7. Last Versions of Hilbert?s Theory. 8.8. Hilbert?s Way to GTR ?
Summary and Concluding Remarks. 9: Epilogue. 9.1. Foundations of Quantum
Theory. 9.2. The Culture of "Nostrification" in Gottingen. 9.3. General
Relativity and Geometry. 9.4. Hilbert and Participant Histories of GTR.
9.5. Hilbert and Physics ? Concluding Remarks. Appendix 1: General
Chronology of Events Mentioned in the Text. Appendix 2: Hilbert?s
Gottingen Courses on Physics. Appendix 3: Seminars, Miscellaneous
Lectures. 3.A. Advanced Seminars Taught by Hilbert. 3.B. Public Lectures
by Hilbert. 3.C. Physical lectures at the GMG and GWG by Hilbert. 3.D.
Lectures on Physical Issues at the GMG by Others. Appendix 4: Hilbert?s
Physics Assistants and Doctoral Students. 4.A. Assistants for Physics.
4.B. Doctoral Students on Physical Topics. Appendix 5: Letters Quoted in
the Book. Appendix 6: Items from the Hilbert Nachlass referred to in the
Book. Appendix 7: Hilbert?s Axioms for Radiation Theory. References.
Commonly Used Abbreviations. Published and Unpublished Sources. Index.

Hard cover ISBN: 1-4020-2777-X Date: November 2004 Pages: 530 pp. EUR
160.00 / USD 179.00 / GBP 111.00

(2) Information Retrieval Algorithms and Heuristics Algorithms and
Heuristics

by

David A. Grossman
Ophir Frieder

Interested in how an efficient search engine works? Want to know what
algorithms are used to rank resulting documents in response to user
requests? The authors answer these and other key information retrieval
design and implementation questions. This book is not yet another high
level text. Instead, algorithms are thoroughly described, making this
book ideally suited for both computer science students and practitioners
who work on search-related applications. As stated in the foreword, this
book provides a current, broad, and detailed overview of the field and
is the only one that does so. Examples are used throughout to illustrate
the algorithms. The authors explain how a query is ranked against a
document collection using either a single or a combination of retrieval
strategies, and how an assortment of utilities are integrated into the
query processing scheme to improve these rankings. Methods for building
and compressing text indexes, querying and retrieving documents in
multiple languages, and using parallel or distributed processing to
expedite the search are likewise described. This edition is a major
expansion of the one published in 1998. Besides updating the entire book
with current techniques, it includes new sections on language models,
cross-language information retrieval, peer-to-peer processing, XML
search, mediators, and duplicate document detection.

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements 1.
Introduction 2. Retrieval Strategies 3. Retrieval Utilities 4.
Cross-Language Information Retrieval 5. Efficiency 6. Integrating
Structured Data and text 7. Parallel Information retrieval 8.
Distributed Information retrieval 9. Summary and Future Directions
References Index

Hard cover ISBN: 1-4020-3003-7 Date: October 2004 Pages: 352 pp. EUR
129.00 / USD 142.00 / GBP 90.00 To purchase this book, click here to
visit our website's shopping cart feature.

Soft cover ISBN: 1-4020-3004-5 Date: October 2004 Pages: 352 pp. EUR
34.00 / USD 38.00 / GBP 24.00

(3) Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science

edited by

Shahid Rahman Universite Lille 3, France
John Symons University of Texas, El Paso, TX, USA
Dov M. Gabbay King's College London, UK
Jean Paul van Bendegem Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

The aim of the series Logic, Epistemology, and the Unity of Science, of
which this is the first volume, is to take up anew the challenge of
considering the scientific enterprise in its entirety in light of recent
developments in logic and philosophy. Developments in logic are
especially relevant to the current situation in philosophy of science.
At present, there is no single logic, single approach to semantics or
well-defined conception of scientific method dominating the philosophy
of science. At the same time, questions concerning linguistic,
reductionist and foundationalist approaches to epistemology, the
analytic and synthetic distinction as well as disputes concerning
semantics and pragmatics have been illuminated by recent developments in
logic. Given the power of such developments, discussions of the unity of
science are even more intriguing and urgent than in the 20th century.
The first title in this new series aims to explore, through extensive
co-operation, new ways of achieving the integration of science in all
its diversity. The present volume contains essays from some of the most
important and influential philosophers in contemporary philosophy,
discussing a range of topics such as philosophy of science,
epistemology, philosophy of logic and game theoretical approaches. It
will be of great interest to philosophers, computer scientists and all
others interested in the scientific rationality.

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS I. Some Programmatic Comments. 1. Logic,
Epistemology and the Unity of Science: An Encyclopedic Project in the
Spirit of Neurath and Diderot; Shahid Rahman and John Symons. 2. An
International Encyclopedia of the Unified Sciences translated by John
Symons and Ramon Alvarado); Otto Neurath. II. Game Theory and
Independence Friendly Logic as a Unifying Framework. 3. Towards a Unity
of the Human Behavioral Sciences; Herbert Gintis. 4. Some Coloured
Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics in the 20th Century; Gerhard
Heinzmann. 5. Logical Versus Nonlogical Concepts: An Untenable Dualism?;
Jaakko Hintikka. 6. Semantic Games in Logic and Epistemology;
Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen. 7. IF Logic, Game-Theoretical Semantics and New
Prospects for Philosophy of Science; Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen and Gabriel
Sandu. III. Unity and Plurality in Science and in Logic. 8. Concepts
Structured through Reduction: A Structuralist Resource Illuminates the
Consolidation-Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) Link; John Bickle. 9. The
Unity of Science and the Unity of Being: A Sketch of a Formal Approach;
C. Ulises Moulines. 10. Logical Pluralism and the Preservation of
Warrant; Greg Restall. 11. In Defence of the Dog: Response to Restall;
Stephen Read. 12. Normic Laws, Non-monotonic Reasoning, and the Unity of
Science; Gerhard Schurz. 13. The Puzzling Role of Philosophy in Life
Sciences: Bases for a Joint Program for Philosophy and History of
Science; Juan Manuel Torres. 14. The Creative Growth of Mathematics;
Jean Paul Van Bendegem. 15. Quantum Logic and the Unity of Science; John
Woods and Kent Peacock. IV. The Logic of the Knowledge-Seeking
Activities. 16. Belief Contraction, Anti-formulae and Resource
Overdraft: Part II Deletion in Resource Unbounded Logics; Dov Gabbay,
Odinaldo Rodrigues and John Woods. 17. Reasoning about Knowledge in
Linear Logic: Modalities and Complexity; Mathieu Marion and Mehrnouche
Sadrzadeh. 18. A Solution to Fitch's Paradox of Knowability; Helge
Ruckert. 19. Theories of Knowledge and Ignorance; Wiebe van der Hoek,
Jan Jaspars and Elias Thijsse. 20. Action-Theoretic Aspects of Theory
Choice; Heinrich Wansing. 21. Some Computational Constraints in
Epistemic Logic; Timothy Williamson. IV. Contributions from
Non-Classical Logics. 22. The Need for Adaptive Logics in Epistemology;
Diderik Batens. 23. Logics for Qualitative Reasoning; Paulo Veloso and
Walter Carnielli. 24. Logic of Dynamics and Dynamics of Logic: Some
Paradigm Examples; Bob Coecke, David J. Moore and Sonja Smets. 25.
Complementarity and Paraconsistency; Newton C. A. Da Costa and Decio
Krause. 26. Law, Logic, Rhetoric: a Procedural Model of Legal
Argumentation; Arno Lodder. 27. Essentialist Metaphysics in a Scientific
Framework; Ulrich Nortmann. Index.

Hard cover ISBN: 1-4020-2807-5 Date: October 2004 Pages: 635 pp. EUR
160.00 / USD 175.00 / GBP 111.00

(4) The Death of Argument Fallacies in Agent Based Reasoning

by

John Woods

This book is a sequel to the classic work, Fallacies: Selected Papers
1972?1982 (1989), coauthored with Douglas Walton, and is a further major
contribution to the Woods-Walton Approach to the logic of fallacious
reasoning. No one disputes the formitable accomplishments of modern
mathematical logic; but equally no one seriously believes that classical
logic is much good for the analysis of real-life argument and reasoning,
or that it is the best place in which to transact the business of
fallacy theory. One of the principle innovations of the book is its
adaptation of systems of logic to the particular requirements of fallacy
theory. The book develops logical analyses which take into account such
features of real-life cognitive agency as resource- availability and
computational complexity. The book is also an invitation to
interdisciplinary cooperation, linking the relevant branches of logic
with computer science, cognitive psychology, neurobiology, forensic
science, linguistics, (including conversational analysis and discourse
analysis) and argumentation theory. Another distinctive feature of
Woods? approach to fallacy theory is its recognition of the highly
defeasible character of fallacy-attributions. On this view, reasoning is
fallacious only in relation to the cognitive target that the reasoner
seeks to hit, the standard required for its attainment, and the
cognitive resources available to the reasoner. Accordingly the so-called
Standard Treatment of the fallacies is seriously misconceived. Getting
the fallacies right is an extremely important task for logic, indeed a
central part of its mandate. It is a task much more avowed than
performed. The Death of Argument is a major attempt to redress this
inbalance

CONTENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS Full table of contents available from
Lucy.Fleet_at_springer-sbm.com

Hard cover ISBN: 1-4020-2663-3 Date: November 2004 Pages: 406 pp. EUR
140.00 / USD 199.00 / GBP 97.00

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Received on Sat Nov 27 2004 - 04:19:23 EST