The Deep Metaphysics of Space

The Deep Metaphysics of Space

Author: Edward Slowik

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-12

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 3319448684

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This volume explores the inadequacies of the two standard conceptions of space or spacetime, substantivalism and relationism, and in the process, proposes a new historical interpretation of these physical theories. This book also examines and develops alternative ontological conceptions of space, and explores additional historical elements of seventeenth century theories and other metaphysical themes. The author first discusses the two main opposing theories of the ontology of space. One, known as substantivalism, proposes space to be an entity that can exist independently of material things. The other, relationism, contends that space is a relation among material things. Readers will learn about specific problems with this dichotomy. First, Newton and Leibniz are often upheld as the retrospective forerunners of substantivalism and relationism. But, their work often contradicts the central tenets of these views. Second, these theories have proven problematic when transferred to a modern setting, especially with regards to general relativity and the recent quantum gravity hypotheses. The author details an alternative set of concepts that address these problems. The author also develops a new classificational system that provides a more accurate taxonomy for the elements of all spatial ontologies. This classification obtains successful analogies between Newton, Leibniz, and other natural philosophers with contemporary physical theories.


Everywhere and Everywhen

Everywhere and Everywhen

Author: Nick Huggett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 0195379519

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This book, written for the general reader, explores the fundamental issues concerning the nature of time and space, and quantum mechanics. It shows how physics and philosophy work together to answer some of the deepest questions ever asked about the world.


The Facts in Logical Space

The Facts in Logical Space

Author: Jason Turner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 019968281X

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Philosophers have long been tempted by the idea that objects and properties are abstractions from the facts. But how is this abstraction supposed to go? If the objects and properties aren't 'already' there, how do the facts give rise to them? Jason Turner develops and defends a novel answer to this question: The facts are arranged in a quasi-geometric 'logical space', and objects and properties arise from different quasi-geometric structures in this space.


Understanding Space-Time

Understanding Space-Time

Author: Robert DiSalle

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-04-27

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9781139452663

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Presenting the history of space-time physics, from Newton to Einstein, as a philosophical development DiSalle reflects our increasing understanding of the connections between ideas of space and time and our physical knowledge. He suggests that philosophy's greatest impact on physics has come about, less by the influence of philosophical hypotheses, than by the philosophical analysis of concepts of space, time and motion, and the roles they play in our assumptions about physical objects and physical measurements. This way of thinking leads to interpretations of the work of Newton and Einstein and the connections between them. It also offers ways of looking at old questions about a priori knowledge, the physical interpretation of mathematics, and the nature of conceptual change. Understanding Space-Time will interest readers in philosophy, history and philosophy of science, and physics, as well as readers interested in the relations between physics and philosophy.


Space, Time and Architecture

Space, Time and Architecture

Author: Sigfried Giedion

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-02-28

Total Pages: 956

ISBN-13: 0674030478

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"This new edition ensures that the book will continue to be internationally acknowledged as the standard work on the development of modern architecture." -Walter Gropius "A remarkable accomplishment. . . one of the most valuable reference books for students and professionals concerned with the reshaping of our environment. " -José Luis Sert A milestone in modern thought, Space, Time and Architecture has been reissued many times since its first publication in 1941 and translated into half a dozen languages. In this revised edition of Sigfried Giedion’s classic work, major sections have been added and there are 81 new illustrations. The chapters on leading contemporary architects have been greatly expanded. There is new material on the later development of Frank Lloyd Wright and the more recent buildings of Walter Gropius, particularly his American Embassy in Athens. In his discussion of Le Corbusier, Mr. Giedion provides detailed analyses of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Le Corbusier’s only building in the United States, and his Priory of La Tourette near Lyons. There is a section on his relations with his clients and an assessment of his influence on contemporary architecture, including a description of the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich (designed just before his death), which houses his works of art. The chapters on Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto have been brought up to date with examples of their buildings in the sixties. There is an entirely new chapter on the Danish architect Jørn Utzon, whose work, as exemplified in his design for the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Giedion considers representative of post–World War II architectural concepts. A new essay, “Changing Notions of the City,” traces the evolution of the structure of the city throughout history and examines current attempts to deal with urban growth, as shown in the work of such architects as José Luis Sert, Kenzo Tange, and Fumihiko Maki. Mr. Sert’s Peabody Terrace is discussed as an example of the interlocking of the collective and individual spheres. Finally, the conclusion has been enlarged to include a survey of the limits of the organic in architecture.


The Metaphysics Within Physics

The Metaphysics Within Physics

Author: Tim Maudlin

Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand

Published: 2007-04-19

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0199218218

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What does physics tell us about metaphysics? Tim Maudlin's philosophical examination of the fundamental structure of the world as presented by physics challenges the most widely accepted philosophical accounts of laws of nature, universals, the direction of time and causation.


Geometry and Monadology

Geometry and Monadology

Author: Vincenzo de Risi

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-08-08

Total Pages: 658

ISBN-13: 3764379863

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This book reconstructs, from both historical and theoretical points of view, Leibniz’s geometrical studies, focusing in particular on the research Leibniz carried out in his final years. The work’s main purpose is to offer a better understanding of the philosophy of space and in general of the mature Leibnizean metaphysics. This is the first ever, comprehensive historical reconstruction of Leibniz’s geometry.


The Universe As We Find It

The Universe As We Find It

Author: John Heil

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-07-19

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0191632848

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What does reality encompass? Is reality exclusively physical? Or does reality include nonphysical -mental, and perhaps 'abstract' -aspects? What is it to be physical or mental, or to be an abstract entity? What are the elements of being, reality's raw materials? How is the manifest image we inherit from our culture and refine in the special sciences related to the scientific image as we have it in fundamental physics? Can physics be understood as providing a 'theory of everything', or do the various sciences make up a hierarchy corresponding to autonomous levels of reality? Is our conscious human perspective on the universe in the universe or at its limits? What, if anything, makes ordinary truths, truths of the special sciences, and truths of mathematics true? And what is it for an assertion or judgment to be 'made true'? In The Universe As We Find It, John Heil offers answers to these questions framed in terms of a comprehensive ontology of substances and properties inspired by Descartes, Locke, their successors, and their latter day exemplars. Substances are simple, lacking parts that are themselves substances. Properties are modes -particular ways particular substances are -and arrangements of propertied substances serve as truthmakers for all the truths that have truthmakers. Heil argues that the deep story about the nature of these truthmakers can only be told by fundamental physics.


Philosophy Beyond Spacetime

Philosophy Beyond Spacetime

Author: Christian Wüthrich

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 019884414X

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Quantum gravity seeks a unified theory in which quantum matter is dynamically related to generally relativistic spacetime. Although a continuing work in progress, research programmes in the field such as string theory, loop quantum gravity, and causal set theory make it clear that a successful theory of quantum gravity will raise important challenges to our conceptions of space, time, and matter-perhaps abolishing them altogether as fundamental entities. But just as important, there is good reason to think that some of the problems in finding a theory of quantum gravity are themselves conceptual, in need of philosophical analysis. Philosophy Beyond Spacetime: Implications from Quantum Gravity assembles original papers from philosophers (and one physicist), establishing a definitive statement of the current state of play, on which future research into this area can build. Aiming to expand knowledge and understanding of the philosophy of quantum gravity, it emphasizes how debates in metaphysics--regarding emergence, composition, or grounding for example--shed light on the conceptual questions of quantum gravity. And conversely, how quantum theories of space and time call into question philosophical views grounded in classical spacetime. Furthermore, the philosophy of quantum gravity raises methodological questions, for instance concerning the relation between physics and metaphysics. The essays have been chosen to demonstrate to a wide range of philosophers the significance of the subject, as well as making novel contributions to it.