Philosophy of Physics (under construction!)

Reading seminar

Purpose of the course: The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the central philosophical issues in the foundations of physics.

Prerequisites for the course: The course is self-contained; it has no specific prerequisites.

Course schedule and literature:

1. Introduction
2. Time I. − The flow of time
   

• Steven Savitt: ''Being and becoming in modern physics,'' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006).
  

3. Time II. − Time reversal invariance

• David Albert: Time and Chance (Harvard University Press, 2000), Chapter 1.
• John Earman: "What time reversal invariance is and why it matters," International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 16, (2002) 245-264.
• David Malament: "On the time reversal invariance of classical electromagnetic theory," Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 35, (2004) 295–315.

4. Time III. − The arrow of time and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

• Jos Uffink: ''Bluff your way with the Second Law of Thermodynamics,'' Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 32, 305-394.
• Huw Price: Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time (Oxford University Press, 1996), Chapter 2.