dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaThree's a Crowd: On Causes, Entropy, and Physical Eschatology
| Authors | Milan M. Cirkovic, Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0407045 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0407045 |
| Journal | Foundations of Science, vol. 9, pp. 1-24 (2004) |
Abstract
Recent discussions of the origins of the thermodynamical asymmetry ("the arrow of time") by Huw Price and others are critically assessed. This serves as a motivation for consideration of relationship between thermodynamical and cosmological causes. Although the project of clarification of the thermodynamical explanandum is certainly welcome, Price excludes another interesting option, at least as viable as the sort of Acausal-Particular approach he favors, and arguably more in the spirit of Boltzmann himself. Thus, the competition of explanatory projects includes three horses, not two. In addition, it is the Acausal-Particular approach that could benefit enormously from dissociation from fanciful ideas of low-entropy future boundary conditions entertained by Price. Novel revolutionary developments in observational cosmology, as well as in the nascent astrophysical discipline of physical eschatology, have obliterated such hypotheses. Also, the Acausal-Anthropic approach we propose, offers another clear instance of disteleological nature of the anthropic principle.
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"abstract": "Recent discussions of the origins of the thermodynamical asymmetry (\"the\narrow of time\") by Huw Price and others are critically assessed. This serves as\na motivation for consideration of relationship between thermodynamical and\ncosmological causes. Although the project of clarification of the\nthermodynamical explanandum is certainly welcome, Price excludes another\ninteresting option, at least as viable as the sort of Acausal-Particular\napproach he favors, and arguably more in the spirit of Boltzmann himself. Thus,\nthe competition of explanatory projects includes three horses, not two. In\naddition, it is the Acausal-Particular approach that could benefit enormously\nfrom dissociation from fanciful ideas of low-entropy future boundary conditions\nentertained by Price. Novel revolutionary developments in observational\ncosmology, as well as in the nascent astrophysical discipline of physical\neschatology, have obliterated such hypotheses. Also, the Acausal-Anthropic\napproach we propose, offers another clear instance of disteleological nature of\nthe anthropic principle.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0407045",
"authors": [
"Milan M. Cirkovic",
"Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar"
],
"categories": [
"physics.class-ph",
"physics.hist-ph"
],
"journal_ref": "Foundations of Science, vol. 9, pp. 1-24 (2004)",
"title": "Three\u0027s a Crowd: On Causes, Entropy, and Physical Eschatology",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0407045"
},
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