Philosophy of physics : space and time /
This concise book introduces nonphysicists to the core philosophical issues surrounding the nature and structure of space and time, and is also an ideal resource for physicists interested in the conceptual foundations of space-time theory. Tim Maudlin's broad historical overview examines Aristo...
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| Format: | Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Princeton :
Princeton University Press,
©2012.
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| Series: | Princeton foundations of contemporary philosophy.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | CONNECT |
Table of Contents:
- Introduction : the aim and structure of these volumes
- 1. Classical accounts of space and time
- The birth of physics
- Newton's first law and absolute space
- Absolute time and the persistence of absolute space
- The metaphysics of absolute space and time
- 2. Evidence for spatial and temporal structure
- Newton's second law and the bucket experiment
- Arithmetic, geometry, and coordinates
- The symmetries of space and the Leibniz-Clarke debate
- 3. Eliminating unobservable structure
- Absolute velocity and Galilean relativity
- Galilean space-time
- 4. Special relativity
- Special relativity and Minkowski space-time
- The twins paradox
- Minkowski straightedge, Minkowski compass
- Constructing Lorentz coordinates
- 5. The physics of measurement
- The clock hypothesis
- Abstract boosts and physical boosts
- The "constancy of the speed of light"
- Deeper accounts of physical principles
- 6. General relativity
- Curved space and curved space-time
- Geometrizing away gravity
- Black holes and the big bang
- The hole argument
- Suggested readings on general relativity
- 7. The direction and topology of time
- The geometry of time
- Time travel as a technical problem
- The direction of time
- Appendix : some problems in special relativistic physics.
