This book represents in the ?rst place the desire of the authors of the various contributions to enter a discussion about the research landscape of prese- day fundamental theoretical physics. It documents their attempt, out of their highly specialized scienti?c positions, to ?nd a way of communicating about methods, achievements, and promises of the di?erent approacheswhich shape the development of this ?eld. It is therefore also an attempt to bring out the connections between these approaches, and present them not as disjoint ventures but rather as facets of a common quest for understanding....

Cognition and artificial intelligence are entering a new era in which the aspects of symbolic manipulation and of connectionism begin to come together. This leads to a dialog of truly interdisciplinary character. The book covers aspects of fuzzy logic, case based reasoning, learning as well as meaning, language, and consciousness. The authors of this topical volume have their background in logic, computer science, physics and mathematics, philosophy, psychology and neurobiology.

In recent times a new dialogue has begun between the natural sciences and the humanities. This is particularly true of physics and philosophy, whose sphere of mutual interest expanded significantly with the advent of quantum mechanics. Among other topics, the discussion covers the evolution of theories, the role of mathematics in the physical sciences, the perception and cognition of nature and definitions of space and time. In contrast to the custom of the last two centuries, mathematics - the language of physics - is once again finding a respected place in the discourse of philosophers. The...