Global and Local Imperialism in Statistical Mechanics

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21461603
AutoresAthamos Stradis (0000-0002-1836-7922, King's College London, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume91
Fascículo1
Páginas311-323
Data de publicação2026-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoErkenntnis (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0165-0106 • E-ISSN: 1572-8420
EditoraSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10670-024-00892-7
OpenAlexW4404725293
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas43

Statistical mechanics applied on a universal scale (the Mentaculus) attaches probabilities to all possible events in the universe, far outstripping its local thermodynamic evidence base. This ‘imperialistic’ tendency is often criticised as requiring untenable dynamical choreography in phase space. However, I will argue that imperialistic issues arise even in local statistical mechanics; if we tolerate them here, we should tolerate them in the Mentaculus. In an attempt to sidestep these issues, some have suggested swapping the Statistical Postulate for a set of initial distributions claimed to yield the same thermodynamic predictions but indeterminacy elsewhere. I show that the result is still largely imperialistic, but for this very reason might be preferable to the standard Mentaculus as providing the same goods from weaker assumptions

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