History of variational principles in physics involves integrals over an interval of time and (for fields) extended region of space. Moreover, in the usual formulation of classical action principles, the initial and final states of the system are fixed, e.g., In particular, the fixing of the "final" state appears to give the action principle a teleological character which has been controversial historically. This apparent teleology is eliminated in the quantum mechanical version of the action principle. History of variational principles in physics A variational principle in physics is an alternative method for determining the state or dynamics of a physical system, by identifying it as an
Non-physical entity opposed aspects.The dualist school supposes the existence of non-physical entities, the most widely discussed one being the mind. But beyond that it runs into stumbling blocks. Pierre Gassendi put one such problem directly to René Descartes in 1641, in response to Descartes's "Meditations": Descartes' response to Gassendi, and to Princess Elizabeth who asked him similar questions in 1643, is generally considered nowadays to be lacking, because it did not address what is known in the philosophy of mind as the interaction problem. This is a problem for non-physical entities as posited by dualism: by what mechanism, exactly, do they interact