Time, Chance, and Reduction: Philosophical Aspects of Statistical Mechanics

by Gerhard Ernst, Andreas Hüttemann

Overview

Statistical mechanics attempts to explain the behavior of macroscopic physical systems in terms of the mechanical properties of their constituents. Although it is one of the fundamental theories of physics, it has received little attention from philosophers of science. Nevertheless, it raises philosophical questions of fundamental importance on the nature of time, chance and reduction. Most philosophical issues in this domain relate to the question of the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics. This book addresses issues inherent in this reduction: the time-asymmetry of thermodynamics and its absence in statistical mechanics; the role and essential nature of chance and probability in this reduction when thermodynamics is non-probabilistic; and how, if at all, the reduction is possible. Compiling contributions on current research by experts in the field, this is an invaluable survey of the philosophy of statistical mechanics for academic researchers and graduate students interested in the foundations of physics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521884013
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/21/2010
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

GERHARD ERNST is a Professor of History of Philosophy and Moral Philosophy at Universität Stuttgart. His main research interests are in moral philosophy, epistemology and philosophy of science.

ANDREAS HÜTTEMANN is a Professor of Philosophy at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster. His research interests include philosophy of science and early modern philosophy.

Table of Contents

List of contributors vi

1 Introduction Gerhard Ernst Andreas Hüttemann 1

Part I The arrows of time 11

2 Does a low-entropy constraint prevent us from influencing the past? Mathias Frisch 13

3 The past hypothesis meets gravity Craig Callender 34

4 Quantum gravity and the arrow of time Claus Kiefer 59

Part II Probability and chance 69

5 The natural-range conception of probability Jacob Rosenthal 71

6 Probability in Boltzmannian statistical mechanics Roman Frigg 92

7 Humean metaphysics versus a metaphysics of powers Michael Esfeld 119

Part III Reduction 137

8 The crystallization of Clausius's phenomenological thermodynamics C. Ulises Moulines 139

9 Reduction and renormalization Robert W. Batterman 159

10 Irreversibility in stochastic dynamics Jos Uffink 180

Index 208