Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (3):399-430 (2006)
Abstract |
It has become something of a dogma in the philosophy of science that modern cosmology has completed Boltzmann's program for explaining the statistical validity of the Second Law of thermodynamics by providing the low entropy initial state needed to ground the asymmetry in entropic behavior that underwrites our inference about the past. This dogma is challenged on several grounds. In particular, it is argued that it is likely that the Boltzmann entropy of the initial state of the universe is an ill-defined or severely hobbled concept. It is also argued that even if the entropy of the initial state of the universe had a well-defined, low value, this would not suffice to explain why thermodynamics works as well as it does for the kinds of systems we care about. Because the role of Boltzmann entropy in our inferences to the past has been vastly overrated, the failure of the Boltzmann program does not pose a serious problem for our knowledge of the past. But it does call a different explanation of why thermodynamics works as well as it does. A suggestion is offered for a different approach.
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DOI | 10.1016/j.shpsb.2006.03.002 |
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References found in this work BETA
Epsilon-Ergodicity and the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics.Peter B. M. Vranas - 1998 - Philosophy of Science 65 (4):688-708.
Why Ergodic Theory Does Not Explain the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics.John Earman & Miklós Rédei - 1996 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (1):63-78.
The Kind of Motion We Call Heat.S. G. Brush - 1982 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 33 (2):165-186.
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Citations of this work BETA
Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State.Eddy Keming Chen - 2021 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (4):1155–1183.
Philosophy of Cosmology.Chris Smeenk - 2013 - In Robert Batterman (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 607-652.
Time's Arrow in a Quantum Universe: On the Status of Statistical Mechanical Probabilities.Eddy Keming Chen - 2020 - In Valia Allori (ed.), Statistical Mechanics and Scientific Explanation: Determinism, Indeterminism and Laws of Nature. World Scientific. pp. 479–515.
Calling for explanation: the case of the thermodynamic past state.Dan Baras & Orly Shenker - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (3):1-20.
View all 66 citations / Add more citations
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