Can Conditioning on the “Past Hypothesis” Militate Against the Reversibility Objections

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10706913
AutoresEric Winsberg (0000-0002-8764-0072, University of South Florida, autor correspondente)
Ano2004
Volume71
Fascículo4
Páginas489-504
Data de publicação2004-10-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPhilosophy of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0031-8248 • E-ISSN: 1539-767X
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1086/423749
OpenAlexW2128472794
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas21
Referências citadas6

In his recent book, Time and Chance , David Albert claims that by positing that there is a uniform probability distribution defined, on the standard measure, over the space of microscopic states that are compatible with both the current macrocondition of the world, and with what he calls the “past hypothesis”, we can explain the time asymmetry of all of the thermodynamic behavior in the world. The principal purpose of this paper is to dispute this claim. I argue that Albert's proposal fails in his stated goal—to show how to use the time-reversible dynamics of Newtonian physics to “underwrite the actual content of our thermodynamic experience” (Albert 2000, 159). Albert's proposal can satisfactorily explain why the overall entropy of the universe as a whole is increasing, but it does not and cannot explain the increasing entropy of relatively small, relatively short-lived systems in energetic isolation without making use of a principle that leads to reversibility objections

Economics · Entropy (arrow of time) · Epistemology · Mathematical economics · Physics · Positive economics · Principal (computer security) · Theoretical physics · Thermodynamics · Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics · Computer Science · Philosophy · Quantum Mechanics and Applications · Statistical Mechanics and Entropy