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The Probability Map of the Universe : Essays on David Albert's ‹i›Time and Chance‹/i› / ed. by Brad Weslake, Barry Loewer, Eric Winsberg.

Albert, David Z., contributor.; Carroll, Sean M., contributor.; Chen, Eddy Keming, contributor.; Fernandes, Alison, contributor.; Frisch, Mathias, contributor.; Huggett, Nick, contributor.; Lazarovici, Dustin, contributor.; Loewer, Barry, contributor.; Loewer, Barry, editor.; Maudlin, Tim, contributor.; Meacham, Christopher J. G., contributor.; Wallace, David, contributor.; Weslake, Brad, contributor.; Weslake, Brad, editor.; Winsberg, Eric, contributor.; Winsberg, Eric, editor.
2023
QC173
Available Online
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Title
The Probability Map of the Universe : Essays on David Albert's ‹i›Time and Chance‹/i› / ed. by Brad Weslake, Barry Loewer, Eric Winsberg.
ISBN
9780674287716
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674287716
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2023]
Copyright
©2023
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (384 p.)
Item Number
10.4159/9780674287716 doi
Call Number
QC173
Summary
Philosophers debate the ideas and implications of one of the most important contemporary works in the philosophy of science, David Albert's Time and Chance.In the twenty-odd years since its publication, David Albert's Time and Chance has been recognized as one of the most significant contemporary contributions to the philosophy of science. Here, philosophers and physicists explore the implications of Albert's arguments and debate his solutions to some of the most intractable problems in theoretical physics.Albert has attempted to make sense of the tension between our best scientific pictures of the fundamental physical structure of the world and our everyday empirical experience of that world. In particular, he is concerned with problems arising from causality and the direction of time: defying common sense, almost all our basic scientific ideas suggest that whatever can happen can just as naturally happen in reverse. Focusing on Newtonian mechanics, Albert provides a systematic account of the temporal irreversibility of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, of the asymmetries in our epistemic access to the past and the future, and of our conviction that by acting now we can affect the future but not the past. He also generalizes the Newtonian picture to the quantum-mechanical case and suggests a deep potential connection between the problem of the direction of time and the quantum-mechanical measurement problem.The essays included in The Probability Map of the Universe develop, explore, and critique this account, while Albert himself replies. The result is an insightful discussion of the foundations of statistical mechanics and its relation to cosmology, the direction of time, and the metaphysical nature of laws and objective probability.
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Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Mai 2023)
Added Author
Albert, David Z., contributor.
Carroll, Sean M., contributor.
Chen, Eddy Keming, contributor.
Fernandes, Alison, contributor.
Frisch, Mathias, contributor.
Huggett, Nick, contributor.
Lazarovici, Dustin, contributor.
Loewer, Barry, contributor.
Loewer, Barry, editor.
Maudlin, Tim, contributor.
Meacham, Christopher J. G., contributor.
Wallace, David, contributor.
Weslake, Brad, contributor.
Weslake, Brad, editor.
Winsberg, Eric, contributor.
Winsberg, Eric, editor.
Available in Other Form
print 9780674967878
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Frontmatter
Contents
Introduction
PART I. OVERVIEW of TIME AND CHANCE
Chapter One. The Mentaculus: A Probability Map of the Universe
PART II. PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS
Chapter Two. The Metaphysical Foundations of Statistical Mechanics
Chapter Three. The Logic of the Past Hypothesis
Chapter Four. In What Sense Is the Early Universe Fine-Tuned?
Chapter Five. The Meta-Reversibility Objection
Chapter Six. Typicality versus Humean Probabilities as the Foundation of Statistical Mechanics
Chapter Seven. The Past Hypothesis and the Nature of Physical Laws
Chapter Eight. On the Albertian Demon
PART III. UNDERWRITING the ASYMMETRIES of KNOWLEDGE and INTERVENTION
Chapter Nine. Reading the Past in the Present
Chapter Ten. Causes, Randomness, and the Past Hypothesis
Chapter Eleven. Time, Flies, and Why We Can't Control the Past
Chapter Twelve. The Concept of Intervention in Time and Chance
Conclusion
Contributors
Index

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