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The demons of science [electronic resource] : what they can and cannot tell us about our world / Friedel Weinert.

Weinert, Friedel, author.
2016
Q175
Available Online
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Title
The demons of science [electronic resource] : what they can and cannot tell us about our world / Friedel Weinert.
Author
Weinert, Friedel, author.
ISBN
9783319317083 (electronic book)
3319317083 (electronic book)
9783319317076
Published
Switzerland : Springer, 2016.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (ix, 237 pages) : illustrations.
Call Number
Q175
Dewey Decimal Classification
501
Summary
This book is the first all-encompassing exploration of the role of demons in philosophical and scientific thought experiments. In Part I, the author explains the importance of thought experiments in science and philosophy. Part II considers Laplace's Demon, whose claim is that the world is completely deterministic. Part III introduces Maxwell's Demon, who - by contrast - experiences a world that is probabilistic and indeterministic. Part IV explores Nietzsche's thesis of the cyclic and eternal recurrence of events. In each case a number of philosophical consequences regarding determinism and indeterminism, the arrows of time, the nature of the mind and free will are said to follow from the Demons's worldviews. The book investigates what these Demons - and others - can and cannot tell us about our world. .
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed May 31, 2016).
Available in Other Form
The Demons of Science : What They Can and Cannot Tell Us About Our World
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I. Thought Experiments: Thought Experiments in Ancient Greece
What Thought Experiments Represent
Models and Thought Experiments
The Function of Thought Experiments
What Thought Experiments Tell Us and Don't Tell Us About the World
Enter the Demons
II. Laplace's Demon: Laplace's Demon: Causal and Predictive Determinism
Causality, Determinism and the Block Universe
The Time-Reversal Invariance of Fundamental Laws
Determinism and Its Implications
Determinism and Free Will
What Laplace's Demon Tells Us and Does not Tell Us About the World
III. Maxwell's Demon: Local and Cosmic Arrows of Time
Maxwell's Demon
Loschmidt's Demon: Reversibility and Irreversibility
Indeterminism
Indeterminism and Free Will
Entropy
The Past-Future Asymmetry
What Maxwell's Demon Tells Us and Does not Tell Us About the World
IV. Nietzsche's Demon: The Eternal Recurrence of Events
Landsberg's Demon
Physical and Phenomenal Time
The Evolution of the Universe
Time and Change
Is There a Master Arrow of Time?
What Landsberg's Demon Tells Us and Does not Tell Us About the Arrows of Time. .

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