Naïve physics

Abstract: A good deal of research has addressed the topic of naive physics knowledge, with a focus on the physics domain of classical mechanics. In particular, it has been proposed that novices enter into instruction with an existing, well-defined knowledge base that they have derived from their everyday experiences. Most relevant initial knowledge will be substance based, in the sense that it represents the novice's understanding of how material objects and other types of substances behave in the course of everyday life. Our position is that novices make every effort to assimilate new physics knowledge into their initial knowledge structures. Thus, abstract physics concepts will tend to be attributed with properties or behaviors of material substances. For example, force is considered by many novices to be a property of moving objects. Novices also appear to draw on their substance knowledge when they are asked to reason about other abstract concepts, such as light, heat, and electricity. Many researchers have exp...

Abstract: Common sense is on the one hand a certain set of processes of natural cognition—of speaking, reasoning, seeing, and so on. On the other hand common sense is a system of beliefs (of folk physics and folk psychology). Over against both of these is the world of common sense, the world of objects to which the processes of natural cognition and the corresponding belief-contents standardly relate. What are the structures of this world and how does its scientific treatment relate to traditional and contemporary metaphysics and formal ontology? Can we embrace a thesis of common-sense realism to the effect that the world of common sense exists uniquely? Or must we adopt instead a position of cultural relativism which would assign distinct worlds of common sense to each group and epoch? The present paper draws on recent work in the fields of naive and qualitative physics, in perceptual and developmental psychology, and in cognitive anthropology, in order to consider in a new light these and related questions and to draw conclusions for the methodology and philosophical foundations of the cognitive sciences.

Abstract: Common sense reasoning about the physical world must include an understanding of physical processes and the changes they cause. For example, heating a liquid causes its temperature to rise and if continued long enough may cause it to boil. A style of analysis is presented that combines deKleer's Incremental Qualitative analysis wjth the Quantity Space idea from Naive Physics to reason about the effects of physical processes and their limits. The analysis is demonstrated on an example with practical importance, and further possibilities for applications are discussed.