Time, Chance, and Reduction

Statistical mechanics attempts to explain the behaviour of macroscopic physical systems in terms of the mechanical properties of their constituents. Although it is one of the fundamental theories of physics, it has received little attention from philosophers of science. Nevertheless, it raises philosophical questions of fundamental importance on the nature of time, chance and reduction. Most philosophical issues in this domain relate to the question of the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics. This book addresses issues inherent in this reduction: the time-asymmetry of thermodynamics and its absence in statistical mechanics; the role and essential nature of chance and probability in this reduction when thermodynamics is non-probabilistic; and how, if at all, the reduction is possible. Compiling contributions on current research by experts in the field, this is an invaluable survey of the philosophy of statistical mechanics for academic researchers and graduate students interested in the foundations of physics.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

Part I The arrows of time

2 Does a low-entropy constraint prevent us from influencing the past?

3 The past hypothesis meets gravity

4 Quantum gravity and the arrow of time

Part II Probability and chance

5 The natural-range conception of probability

6 Probability in Boltzmannian statistical mechanics

7 Humean metaphysics versus a metaphysics of powers

Part III Reduction

8 The crystallization of Clausius’s phenomenological thermodynamics

9 Reduction and renormalization

10 Irreversibility in stochastic dynamics

Book Description

Presents a summary of current research on the philosophical issues inherent in the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics.

About the Authors

 Gerhard Ernst, is a Professor of History of Philosophy and Moral Philosophy at Universität Stuttgart. His main research interests are in moral philosophy, epistemology and philosophy of science.

Andreas Hüttemann, is a Professor of Philosophy at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster. His research interests include philosophy of science and early modern philosophy.