The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time A Proposal in Natural Philosophy.
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, (c)2014.
- 1 online resource (568 pages)
Description based upon print version of record. The Newtonian paradigm from the viewpoint of temporal naturalism
Includes bibliographies and index.
Cover; Half-title page; Title page; Copyright page; Contents; The nature and scope of this work; Part I Roberto Mangabeira Unger; 1 The science of the one universe in time ; The singular existence of the universe; The inclusive reality of time; The selective realism of mathematics; The first cosmological fallacy; The second cosmological fallacy; Causality without laws; 2 The context and consequences of the argument ; The argument and recent physics and cosmology; The argument and the physics of the first half of the twentieth century; The argument and natural history The argument and social and historical studyReinventing natural philosophy; What is at stake; 3 The singular existence of the universe ; The conception of the singular existence of the universe introduced; Arguments for the singular existence of the universe; Implications for the agenda of cosmology; The finite and the infinite at the beginning of the universe; The initial conditions of the history of the universe; The unexplained constants of nature; 4 The inclusive reality of time ; The problem presented: how much of nature exists in time?; The argument in science and natural philosophy Time as the transformation of transformationAttributes of time: non-emergent, global, irreversible, and continuous; The proto-ontological assumptions of this view of time; The idea of the inclusive reality of time restated; From being to becoming; 5 The mutability of the laws of nature ; Changing laws; The conundrum of the meta-laws; The problem of causation in the early universe revisited; The best hope for resolving the conundrum of the meta-laws; From speculative conception to empirical inquiry; Implications of the inclusive reality of time for some fundamental ideas 6 The selective realism of mathematics The problem; Mathematics as discovery and mathematics as invention; The attributes of mathematics; A natural-evolutionary conjecture; The history of mathematics reconsidered: soaring above the world without escaping it; The history of mathematics reconsidered: right and wrong in Hilbert's program; A deflationary and naturalistic view of mathematics; Part II Lee Smolin; 1 Cosmology in crisis ; The crisis introduced; Temporal naturalism; Naturalism is an ethical stance; 2 Principles for a cosmological theory ; The roots of relationalism The Newtonian paradigmThe failure of the Newtonian paradigm when applied to cosmology; The failure of the Newtonian paradigm to satisfy the principles for a cosmological theory; The failure of the Newtonian paradigm for elementary events; Reductionism and its limits; The uniqueness of fundamental events; Relationalism and its limits: relational versus intrinsic properties; Two relational paths to general relativity: Einstein and shape dynamics; Relational purism; Impure relationalism: a role for intrinsic properties; Dynamical pairings and relational versus intrinsic properties
Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin argue for a revolution in our cosmological ideas. Ideal for non-scientists, physicists and cosmologists.