Physics and Chance: Philosophical Issues in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics

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. 01.0_pp_i_vi_Frontmatter 02.0_pp_vii_xii_Contents 03.0_pp_xiii_xiv_Preface 04.0_pp_1_13_Introduction 05.0_pp_14_89_Historical_sketch 06.0_pp_90_127_Probability 07.0_pp_128_155_Statistical_explanation 08.0_pp_156_195_Equilibrium_theory 09.0_pp_196_218_Describing_non-equilibrium 10.0_pp_219_296_Rationalizing_non-equilibrium_theory 11.0_pp_297_332_Cosmology_and_irreversibility 12.0_pp_333_374_The_reduction_of_thermodynamics_to_statistical_mechanics 13.0_pp_375_412_The_direction_of_time 14.0_pp_413_420_The_current_state_of_major_questions 15.0_pp_421_428_References 16.0_pp_429_437_Index