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Tim Maudlin
ISBN: 9780199218219
Format: Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Edition: illustrated edition
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What fundamental account of the world is implicit in physical theory? Physics straightforwardly postulates quarks and electrons, but what of the more intangible elements, such as laws of nature, universals, causation and the direction of time? Do they have a place in the physical structure of the world? Tim Maudlin argues that the ontology derived from physics takes a form quite different from those most commonly defended by philosophers…
What fundamental account of the world is implicit in physical theory? Physics straightforwardly postulates quarks and electrons, but what of the more intangible elements, such as laws of nature, universals, causation and the direction of time? Do they have a place in the physical structure of the world? Tim Maudlin argues that the ontology derived from physics takes a form quite different from those most commonly defended by philosophers. Physics postulates irreducible fundamental laws, eschews universals, does not require a fundamental notion of causation, and makes room for the passage of time. In a series of linked essays The Metaphysics Within Physics outlines an approach to metaphysics opposed to the Humean reductionism that motivates much analytical metaphysics.
| ISBN | 0199218218 | | Pages | 208 | | ISBN13 | 9780199218219
(What's this?) | | Volumes | 1 | | Publisher | Oxford University Press | | Weight (grammes) | 465 | | Imprint | Clarendon Press | | Published in | Oxford | | Format | Hardback | | Height (mm) | 242 | | Publication date | 19 Apr 2007 | | Width (mm) | 163 | | Library of Congress | 2006102303 | | Spine width (mm) | 17 | | DEWEY | 110 | | Academic level | Undergraduate, Postgraduate | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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| 1 | | A modest proposal concerning laws, counterfactuals, and explanations | | 5 | | 2 | | Why be Humean? | | 50 | | 3 | | Suggestions from physics for deep metaphysics | | 78 | | 4 | | On the passing of time | | 104 | | 5 | | Causation, counterfactuals, and the third factor | | 143 | | 6 | | The whole ball of wax | | 170 | | | | Epilogue : a remark on the method of metaphysics | | 184 |
"This is an elegantly written and enormously stimulating book. It is full of original, provocative, philosophical argumentation. Maudlin shows by example what it is to do the best kind of naturalized metaphysics: one based on thorough acquaintance with real science, but unwilling to accept a superficial analysis of how it bears on deep philosophical problems. Every metaphysician should read it and emulate Maudlin's method, even when disagreeing with his conclusions."--Richard Healey, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
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