John Earman
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 990442 |
|---|---|
| NOME | John Earman |
| PRENOMES | John |
| SOBRENOME | Earman |
| ASSINATURA | EARMAN J |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Pittsburgh |
| VERIFICADO | Não |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 55 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 280 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 52 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 3 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1967 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2023 |
| ÍNDICE H | 10 |
Inference, Explanation, and Other Frustrations
Quantum sidelights on The Material Theory of Induction
The role of idealizations in the Aharonov–Bohm effect
No superluminal propagation for classical relativistic and relativistic quantum fields
The Unruh effect for philosophers
Essential self-adjointness
Do the laws of physics forbid the operation of time machines
We address the question of whether it is possible to operate a time machine by manipulating matter and energy so as to manufacture closed timelike curves. This question has received a great deal of attention in the physics literature, with attempts to prove no-go theorems based on classical general relativity and various hybrid theories serving as steps along the way towards quantum gravity. Despite the effort put into these no-go theorems, there…
How Determinism Can Fail in Classical Physics and How Quantum Physics Can (Sometimes) Provide a Cure
Various fault modes of determinism in classical physics are outlined. It is shown how quantum mechanics can cure some forms of classical indeterminism
The “Past Hypothesis”
Two Challenges to the Requirement of Substantive General Covariance
Relativistic Invariance and Modal Interpretations
A number of arguments have been given to show that the modal interpretation of ordinary nonrelativistic quantum mechanics cannot be consistently extended to the relativistic setting. We find these arguments inconclusive. However, there is a prima facie reason to think that a tension exists between the modal interpretation and relativistic invariance; namely, the best candidate for a modal interpretation adapted to relativistic quantum field theor…
Contact with the Nomic
In Part I, we presented and motivated a new formulation of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). Here in Part II, we present an epistemological argument in defense of HS, thus formulated. Our contention is that one can combine a modest realism about laws of nature with a proper recognition of the importance of empirical testability in the epistemology of science only if one accepts HS
Contact with the Nomic
This the first part of a two-part article in which we defend the thesis of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). According to this thesis, two possible worlds cannot differ on what is a law of nature unless they also differ on the Humean base. the Humean base is easy to characterize intuitively, but there is no consensus on how, precisely, it should be defined. Here in Part I, we present and motivate a characterization of the Humean bas…
Laws, Symmetry, and Symmetry Breaking
Given its importance in modern physics, philosophers of science have paid surprisingly little attention to the subject of symmetries and invariances, and they have largely neglected the subtopic of symmetry breaking. I illustrate how the topic of laws and symmetries brings into fruitful interaction technical issues in physics and mathematics with both methodological issues in philosophy of science, such as the status of laws of physics, and metap…
The cosmological constant, the fate of the universe, unimodular gravity, and all that
Fulling Non-uniqueness and the Unruh Effect
We discuss the intertwined topics of Fulling non-uniqueness and the Unruh effect. The Fulling quantization, which is in some sense the natural one for an observer uniformly accelerated through Minkowski spacetime to adopt, is often heralded as a quantization of the Klein-Gordon field which is both physically relevant and unitarily inequivalent to the standard Minkowski quantization. We argue that the Fulling and Minkowski quantizations do not con…
Ceterus Paribus Laws
Weyling the time away
Gauge Matters
The constrained Hamiltonian formalism is recommended as a means for getting a grip on the concepts of gauge and gauge transformation. This formalism makes it clear how the gauge concept is relevant to understanding Newtonian and classical relativistic theories as well as the theories of elementary particle physics; it provides an explication of the vague notions of “local” and “global” gauge transformations; it explains how and why a fibre bundle…
Hume's Abject Failure
Hume's abject failure
Anonymous (George Hooper?), “A Calculation of the Credibility of Human Testimony” (1699)
What Is A Newtonian System? The Failure Of Energy Conservation And Determinism In Supertasks
Bayes or Bust
Exorcist Xiv
What Price Spacetime Substantivalism? The Hole Story
An Attempt to Add a Little Direction to “The Problem of the Direction of Time”
It is argued that the main problem with “the problem of the direction of time” is to figure out what the problem is or is supposed to be. Towards this end, an attempt is made to disentangle and to classify some of the many issues which have been discussed under the label of ‘the direction of time’. Secondly, some technical apparatus is introduced in the hope of producing a sharper formulation of the issues than they have received in the philosoph…
Laws, Symmetry, and Symmetry Breaking
Given its importance in modern physics, philosophers of science have paid surprisingly little attention to the subject of symmetries and invariances, and they have largely neglected the subtopic of symmetry breaking. I illustrate how the topic of laws and symmetries brings into fruitful interaction technical issues in physics and mathematics with both methodological issues in philosophy of science, such as the status of laws of physics, and metap…
Ceteris Paribus, There Is No Problem of Provisos
The Meaning and Status of Newton's Law of Inertia and the Nature of Gravitational Forces
A four dimensional approach to Newtonian physics is used to distinguish between a number of different structures for Newtonian space-time and a number of different formulations of Newtonian gravitational theory. This in turn makes possible an in-depth study of the meaning and status of Newton's Law of Inertia and a detailed comparison of the Newtonian and Einsteinian versions of the Law of Inertia and the Newtonian and Einsteinian treatments of g…
A Critical Look at Inflationary Cosmology
Inflationary cosmology won a large following on the basis of the claim that it solves various problems that beset the standard big bang model. We argue that these problems concern not the empirical adequacy of the standard model but rather the nature of the explanations it offers. Furthermore, inflationary cosmology has not been able to deliver on its proposed solutions without offering models which are increasingly complicated and contrived, whi…
The Hawking Information Loss Paradox
Stephen Hawking has argued that universes containing evaporating black holes can evolve from pure initial states to mixed final ones. Such evolution is non-unitary and so contravenes fundamental quantum principles on which Hawking's analysis was based. It disables the retrodiction of the universe's initial state from its final one, and portends the time-asymmetry of quantum gravity. Small wonder that Hawking's paradox has met with considerable re…
Contact with the Nomic
This the first part of a two-part article in which we defend the thesis of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). According to this thesis, two possible worlds cannot differ on what is a law of nature unless they also differ on the Humean base. the Humean base is easy to characterize intuitively, but there is no consensus on how, precisely, it should be defined. Here in Part I, we present and motivate a characterization of the Humean bas…
Why Ergodic Theory Does Not Explain the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
We argue that, contrary to some analyses in the philosophy of science literature, ergodic theory falls short in explaining the success of classical equilibrium statistical mechanics. Our claim is based on the observations that dynamical systems for which statistical mechanics works are most likely not ergodic, and that ergodicity is both too strong and too weak a condition for the required explanation: one needs only ergodic-like behaviour for th…
Forever is a Day
The standard theory of computation excludes computations whose completion requires an infinite number of steps. Malament-Hogarth spacetimes admit observers whose pasts contain entire future-directed, timelike half-curves of infinite proper length. We investigate the physical properties of these spacetimes and ask whether they and other spacetimes allow the observer to know the outcome of a computation with infinitely many steps
Fulling Non-uniqueness and the Unruh Effect
We discuss the intertwined topics of Fulling non-uniqueness and the Unruh effect. The Fulling quantization, which is in some sense the natural one for an observer uniformly accelerated through Minkowski spacetime to adopt, is often heralded as a quantization of the Klein-Gordon field which is both physically relevant and unitarily inequivalent to the standard Minkowski quantization. We argue that the Fulling and Minkowski quantizations do not con…
The role of idealizations in the Aharonov–Bohm effect
What Is A Newtonian System? The Failure Of Energy Conservation And Determinism In Supertasks
Lost in the tensors
The gravitational red shift as a test of general relativity
Do the laws of physics forbid the operation of time machines
We address the question of whether it is possible to operate a time machine by manipulating matter and energy so as to manufacture closed timelike curves. This question has received a great deal of attention in the physics literature, with attempts to prove no-go theorems based on classical general relativity and various hybrid theories serving as steps along the way towards quantum gravity. Despite the effort put into these no-go theorems, there…
Two Challenges to the Requirement of Substantive General Covariance
Contact with the Nomic
In Part I, we presented and motivated a new formulation of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). Here in Part II, we present an epistemological argument in defense of HS, thus formulated. Our contention is that one can combine a modest realism about laws of nature with a proper recognition of the importance of empirical testability in the epistemology of science only if one accepts HS
Notes on the causal theory of time
Gauge Matters
The constrained Hamiltonian formalism is recommended as a means for getting a grip on the concepts of gauge and gauge transformation. This formalism makes it clear how the gauge concept is relevant to understanding Newtonian and classical relativistic theories as well as the theories of elementary particle physics; it provides an explication of the vague notions of “local” and “global” gauge transformations; it explains how and why a fibre bundle…
In Defense of Laws
The topic of laws of nature provides a kind of Rorschach test for philosophy. Some philosophers see in laws only Humean regularities; others see a kind of physical necessity; others see a necessity closer to logical necessity; others see expressions of causal powers; others see inference tickets; still others see relations between universals; ... ; and some see only a messy inkblot. We can also perform a meta-Rorschach test on the results of the …
On Going Backward in Time
This paper presents a critical examination of claims advanced by several philosophers to the effect that ‘time travel’ represents a physical possibility and that the interpretation of certain actually observed phenomena in terms of ‘time travel’ is both legitimate and advantageous. It is argued that (a) no convincing motivation for the introduction of the time travel hypothesis has been presented; (b) no coherent and interesting sense of ‘going b…
Quantum sidelights on The Material Theory of Induction
The Universality of Laws
Various senses in which laws of nature are supposed to be “universal” are distinguished. Conditions designed to capture the content of the more important of these senses are proposed and the relations among these conditions are examined. The status of universality requirements is briefly discussed
Essential self-adjointness
On Going Backward in Time
This paper presents a critical examination of claims advanced by several philosophers to the effect that ‘time travel’ represents a physical possibility and that the interpretation of certain actually observed phenomena in terms of ‘time travel’ is both legitimate and advantageous. It is argued that (a) no convincing motivation for the introduction of the time travel hypothesis has been presented; (b) no coherent and interesting sense of ‘going b…
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Time and Space
Notes on the causal theory of time
The Conceptual Foundations of Contemporary Relativity Theory
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access The Conceptual Foundations of Contemporary Relativity Theory. By John Cowperthwaite Graves. (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press. 1971. Pp. xiii + 361. Price £15.00) John Earman John Earman Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 22, Issue 89, October 1972, Pages 373–375, https://doi.org/10.2307/2218324 Published: 01 October 1972
Notes on the Causal Theory of Time
The Meaning and Status of Newton's Law of Inertia and the Nature of Gravitational Forces
A four dimensional approach to Newtonian physics is used to distinguish between a number of different structures for Newtonian space-time and a number of different formulations of Newtonian gravitational theory. This in turn makes possible an in-depth study of the meaning and status of Newton's Law of Inertia and a detailed comparison of the Newtonian and Einsteinian versions of the Law of Inertia and the Newtonian and Einsteinian treatments of g…
An Attempt to Add a Little Direction to “The Problem of the Direction of Time”
It is argued that the main problem with “the problem of the direction of time” is to figure out what the problem is or is supposed to be. Towards this end, an attempt is made to disentangle and to classify some of the many issues which have been discussed under the label of ‘the direction of time’. Secondly, some technical apparatus is introduced in the hope of producing a sharper formulation of the issues than they have received in the philosoph…
The Cement of the Universe
Lost in the tensors
The Universality of Laws
Various senses in which laws of nature are supposed to be “universal” are distinguished. Conditions designed to capture the content of the more important of these senses are proposed and the relations among these conditions are examined. The status of universality requirements is briefly discussed
The gravitational red shift as a test of general relativity
Foundations of Space-Time Theories
A Primer on Determinism
What Price Spacetime Substantivalism? The Hole Story
Bayes' Bayesianism
Inference, Explanation, and Other Frustrations
World Enough and Space-Time
Newton's Principia introduced conceptions of space and time that launched one of the most famous and sustained debates in the history of physics, a controversy that involves fundamental concerns in the foundations of physics, metaphysics, and scientific epistemology.This book introduces and clarifies the historical and philosophical development of the clash between Newton's absolute conception of space and Leibniz's relational one. It separates t…
Forever is a Day
The standard theory of computation excludes computations whose completion requires an infinite number of steps. Malament-Hogarth spacetimes admit observers whose pasts contain entire future-directed, timelike half-curves of infinite proper length. We investigate the physical properties of these spacetimes and ask whether they and other spacetimes allow the observer to know the outcome of a computation with infinitely many steps
In Defense of Laws
The topic of laws of nature provides a kind of Rorschach test for philosophy. Some philosophers see in laws only Humean regularities; others see a kind of physical necessity; others see a necessity closer to logical necessity; others see expressions of causal powers; others see inference tickets; still others see relations between universals; ... ; and some see only a messy inkblot. We can also perform a meta-Rorschach test on the results of the …
Bayes or Bust? A Critical Examination of Bayesian Confirmation Theory
Bayes' Bayesianism the machinery of modern Bayesianism success stories challenges met the problem of old evidence the rationality and objectivity of scientific inference a plea for eliminative induction normal science, scientific revolutions, and all that - Thomas Bayes versus Thomas Kuhn Bayesianism versus formal-learning theory a dialogue
Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, And Shrieks
Almost from its inception, Einstein’s general theory of relativity was known to sanction spacetime models harboring singularities. Until the 1960s, however, spacetime singularities were thought to be artifacts of the idealizations of the models. This attitude evaporated in the face of a series of theorems, due largely to Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, which showed that Einstein’s general theory implies that singularities can be expected to oc…
Bayes or Bust? A Critical Examination of Bayesian Confirmation Theory
Journal Article Book Reviews Get access Bayes or Bust? A Critical Examination of Bayesian Confirmation Theory. By John Earman. ( MIT Press, 1992. Pp. xiv + 272. Price £31.50.) Paul Castell Paul Castell Oxford University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 45, Issue 180, July 1995, Pages 377–379, https://doi.org/10.2307/2219659 Published: 01 July 1995
Why Ergodic Theory Does Not Explain the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
We argue that, contrary to some analyses in the philosophy of science literature, ergodic theory falls short in explaining the success of classical equilibrium statistical mechanics. Our claim is based on the observations that dynamical systems for which statistical mechanics works are most likely not ergodic, and that ergodicity is both too strong and too weak a condition for the required explanation: one needs only ergodic-like behaviour for th…
Chaos out of order
Exorcist XIV
Philosophy (41 obras) · Physics (39 obras) · Epistemology (36 obras) · Theoretical physics (33 obras) · Quantum mechanics (27 obras) · Mathematics (22 obras) · Quantum Mechanics and Applications (17 obras) · Philosophy and History of Science (15 obras) · Relativity and Gravitational Theory (14 obras) · Quantum (13 obras)