ENGLISH

Physics and chance

By Lawrence Sklar

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
1993
ISBN
0521440556, 9780521440554
LCC
QC174.8 .S55 1993
Open Library ID
OL1740413M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
3 MB (3624889 bytes)
Edition
CUP
Pages
451\451
Topic
Physics
Library
Kolxo3
DPI
600
Time added
2009-07-20 03:45:11
Физика;Философия физики

Description

Statistical mechanics is one of the crucial fundamental theories of physics, and in his new book Lawrence Sklar, one of the pre-eminent philosophers of physics, offers a comprehensive, non-technical introduction to that theory and to attempts to understand its foundational elements. Among the topics treated in detail are: probability and statistical explanation, the basic issues in both equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, the role of cosmology, the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics, and the alleged foundation of the very notion of time asymmetry in the entropic asymmetry of systems in time. The book emphasises the interaction of scientific and philosophical modes of reasoning, and in this way will interest all philosophers of science as well as those in physics and chemistry concerned with philosophical questions. The book could also be read by an informed general reader interested in the foundations of modern science.

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