N-universes
Encyclopedia
The n-universes are a conceptual tool introduced by philosopher Paul Franceschi. They consist of simplified models of universes which are reduced to their essential components, in order to facilitate the associated reasoning. In the study of thought experiment
Thought experiment
A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences...

s related to paradoxes and philosophical problems, the situations are generally complex and likely to give birth to multiple variations. Making use of Occam's razor
Occam's razor
Occam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae , is a principle that generally recommends from among competing hypotheses selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.-Overview:The principle is often summarized as "simpler explanations...

, modeling in the n-universes makes it possible to reduce such situations to their essential elements and to limit accordingly the complexity of the relevant study.

The n-universes were introduced in Franceschi (2001), in the context of the study of Goodman's paradox and were also used for the analysis of the thought experiment
Thought experiment
A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences...

s and paradoxes related to the Doomsday argument
Doomsday argument
The Doomsday argument is a probabilistic argument that claims to predict the number of future members of the human species given only an estimate of the total number of humans born so far...

. In the typology of n-universes, it is worth distinguishing:
- according to whether they comprise constant-criteria or/and variable-criteria (space, time, color, shape, temperature, etc.)
- according to whether they comprise one or more objects
- according to whether a given criterion is or not with demultiplication
- according to whether the objects are in relation one-one or many-one with a given criterion

The n-universes proceed of a double inspiration: on the one hand, as a system of criteria, that of Nelson Goodman
Nelson Goodman
Henry Nelson Goodman was an American philosopher, known for his work on counterfactuals, mereology, the problem of induction, irrealism and aesthetics.-Career:...

 and on the other hand, at the ontological level, that of the Canadian philosopher John Leslie
John A. Leslie
John Andrew Leslie is a Canadian philosopher. He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford, earning his B.A. in English Literature in 1962 and his M.Litt. in Classics in 1968...

. The n-universes also propose to extend the properties of probability space
Probability space
In probability theory, a probability space or a probability triple is a mathematical construct that models a real-world process consisting of states that occur randomly. A probability space is constructed with a specific kind of situation or experiment in mind...

s classically used in probability theory (Franceschi 2006).

Example

The N-universe represented below shows the following characteristics:
  • it comprises 4 objects
  • it has one variable-criterion of time (a single temporal position), one variable-criterion of location (with 4 space positions) and one variable-criterion of color (with three taxa: red, blue, green)
  • the objects are in a many-one relationship to the color variable: several objects have the same color
  • the objects are in many-one relationship to the time constant: several objects exist simultaneously at the single temporal position
  • the objects are in one-one relationship with the space criterion: only one object exists at a given space position
  • the objects are not with demultiplication with regard to the temporal criterion: the objects exist only at one single temporal position
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