UC San Diego
"Function, Contemplation, and Eudaimonia." Dialogue (1990), 32(2-3):33-38.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Bohmian Model of Quantum Cosmology." Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (1994), 1:218-227.
(with Douglas Husak.) "Wilful Ignorance, Knowledge, and the 'Equal Culpability' Thesis: A Study of the Deeper Significance of the Principle of Legality." Wisconsin Law Review (1994), 1:29-69.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Answer to Question Number-15. [What Space Scales Participate in Cosmic Expansion? Munley, F. Am J Phys 63(4), 297(1995)]. American Journal of Physics (September 1995), 63(9):780.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Bohmian Cosmology and the Quantum Smearing of the Initial Singularity." Physics Letters A (November 20, 1995), 208(1-2):59-61.
"The Metaphysics of Time Reversal: Hutchison on Classical Mechanics." British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (September 1995), 46(3):331-340.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Answer to Question Number-22 - Is There a Gravitational Force or Not?" American Journal of Physics (May 1996), 64(5):528.
(with Robert Weingard.) "An Introduction to Topology." Monist (September 1996), 79(1):21-33.
Review of Steven F. Savitt, ed., Time's Arrows Toady: Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time. Canadian Philosophical Reviews (1996), 16(1):59-61.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Time, Bohm's Theory, and Quantum Cosmology." Philosophy of Science (September 1996), 63(3):470-474.
"Explaining Time's Arrow." PhD Dissertation, Rutgers University,
1997.
Abstract in Dissertation Abstracts
International (January 1998), 58(7A):2689-A.
This thesis is an attempt to accurately
formulate and solve one of the problems
associated with the direction of time. Processes in nature
appear to be 'irreversible', for
instance, heat flows from hot to cold but never from cold
to hot. The problem of the
direction of time, roughly put, is the difficulty of
squaring this irreversible behavior
with the apparent fact that the fundamental laws of
physics are completely reversible.
In the first three chapters I critically review the
foundations of statistical mechanics.
After arguing that entropy is an objective property of the
thermodynamic world, I
contrast the 'Boltzmannian' single-system approach to
statistical mechanics with the
'Gibbsian' many-system approach. Based in part on its
ability to handle irreversibility, I
judge the Boltzmann approach to be superior from a
philosophical perspective. I argue,
however, that the statistical mechanical probabilities
cannot be interpreted in such a
way as to allow the theory to give the sort of explanation
originally desired. The next
four chapters are devoted to the direction of time.
Chapters four and five attempt to
provide the problem with the philosophically mature
geography that has so far eluded
it. Chapter six discusses the problem in the context of
quantum mechanics, and chapter
seven criticizes the problem's standard formulation. I
show that the problem is really a
much more general one than has previously been
appreciated; indeed, I try to show
that it is a problem (if it is one) afflicting all the
special sciences. Finally, the remaining
three chapters investigate three separate issues. Chapter
eight discusses the tensed
theory of time. I claim the best argument for the tensed
theory relies on various
temporal asymmetries, e.g., the asymmetry of causation. I
provide reasons for not
being persuaded by this argument. The tensed theory, I
conclude, is not incoherent, as
many have claimed, instead it is simply an implausible
explanation of our experience.
Chapter nine examines the possibility that quantum
mechanics implies our world is
temporally anisotropic, and chapter ten looks at some
conceptual difficulties
associated with our conception of time reversal
invariance.
Review of Mauro Dorato's Time and Reality: Spacetime Physics and the Objectivity of Temporal Becoming. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (March 1997), 48(1):117-120.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Trouble in Paradise? Problems for Bohm's Theory." Monist (January 1997), 80(1):24-43.
"What is 'The Problem of the Direction of Time'?"Philosophy of Science (December 1997), 64(4 Supplement):S223-S234.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Nonlocality in the Expanding Infinite Well." Foundations of Physics Letters (October 1998), 11(5):495-498.
Review of Huw Price's Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (March 1998), 49(1):135-161.
Review of James T. Cushing, Arthur Fine, and Sheldon Goldstein, eds., Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (June 1998), 49(2):332-337.
Review of John Earman's Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic Spacetimes. Philosophical Review (January 1998), 107(1):142-146.
"The View from No-When." British Journal for Philosophy of Science (March 1998), 49(1):135-159.
"Reducing Thermodynamics to Statistical Mechanics: The Case of Entropy." Journal of Philosophy (July 1999), 96(7):348-373.
"Introduction to Special issue: Relativity: History and Interpretations." Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (June 2000), 31B(2):129-133.
"Is Time 'Handed' in a Quantum World?" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (2000), 100:247-269.
"Shedding Light on Time." Philosophy of Science (September 2000), 67(3):S587-S599.
(with Robert Weingard.) "Topology Change and the Unity of Space." Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (June 2000), 31B(2):227-246.
"Humean Supervenience and Rotating Homogeneous Matter." Mind (January 2001), 110(437):25-44.
Introducing Time. Duxford, Cambridge: Icon Books; New York: Totem Books, 2001.
(with Carl Hoefer.) "Philosophy of Space-time Physics." In Peter Machamer and Michael Silberstein, eds., Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Science. Blackwell Philosophy Guides. Malden, Mass. & Oxford: Blackwell.
(with Nick Huggett.) "Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale: Introduction." In Craig Callender and Nick Huggett, eds., Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Review of Peter Smith's Explaining Chaos. Mind (2001).
"Taking Thermodynamics (Too) Seriously." Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics.
(with Nick Huggett.) "Why Quantize the Gravitational Field (or any other Field for that Matter)?" Philosophy of Science.
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