The Little Book of Time (Little Book Series) - Hardcover

Mainzer, Klaus

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0387952888 ISBN 13: 9780387952888

Publisher: Copernicus, 2002

Synopsis

chapter 1 Time in the Classical and Medieval Worldviews From the Beginnings to the Pre-Socratic School Zeno's Time Arrow and Aristotle's Continuum 6 Time and Creation According to Saint Augustine 15 Time and Medieval Astronomy 18 20 Calendars and Clocks chapter 2 Time in the Worldview of Classical Physics 25 Absolute Time According to Newton 26 Relational Time According to Leibniz 30 Time in Classical Mechanics 31 Time in Kant's Epistemology 35 chapter 3 Relativistic Spacetime 43 Time in Special Relativity Theory 44 Time in General Relativity Theory 50 Time in Relativistic Cosmology 54 chapter 4 Time and the Quantum World 61 Time in Quantum Mechanics 62 Time in Quantum Field Theories 70 Time, Black Holes, and the Anthropic Principle 78 Time and Thermodynamics chapter 5 83 Time in Equilibrium Thermodynamics 84 Time in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics 2 9 Time, Irreversibility, and Self-Organization 100 chapter 6 Time and Life 107 Time in Darwin's Theory of Evolution 108 Time in Molecular Evolution 111 Time Hierarchies and Biological Rhythms 117 chapter 7 Time and Consciousness 121 Temporal Rhythms and Brain Physiology 122 The Experience of Time and the Emergence of Consciousness 124 Computation Time and Artificial Intelligence 128 chapter 8 Time in History and Culture 137 Time in Historical Cultures 138 Time in Technological-Industrial Cultures 144 The Time Horizon of the Technological World and the Philosophy of Time 152 Further Reading 161 Index 167 Acknowledgments The Little Book of Time was inspired by my research in

About this title

About the Author

Klaus Mainzer is a Professor of Philosophy and Systems Science at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Among his previous books are Thinking in Complexity: The Complex Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind (Springer-Verlag, 1997) and Symmetries of Nature: A Handbook for Philosophy of Nature and Science.

From the Inside Flap

"The end of the second millennium was merely a numerical occasion that left no significant traces on humanity. Even the date conversion of computer times was taken in stride by our worldwide information and communication networks. Instead, the widely anticipated catastrophes and dislocations took place at other times. This upholds the thesis expounded in this book: Apart from the external technical clock time, there exists an intrinsic systems time that controls the processes of structural change, growth, and aging in systems ranging from organisms, populations, and institutions to states, cultures, and societies. Even the Universe is subject to phases of renewal and aging that are distinct from the external measured time. We therefore ought to spend less time watching the clock, and should take note of the inner temporal rhythms of nature and society."

Reviews

In this philosophical rumination on time, Mainzer delves rigorously into time's logical constructs as they have been devised over the history of occidental science. These constructs, like Zeno's paradoxes, all treat time as a function dependent on motion. Mainzer's main theme is that every system exhibiting motion, from subatomic particles to cells to planets, contains a "time operator," which is equivalently negative or positive in the pertinent equations, whether formulated by Newton, Einstein, or Hawking. In other words, time as a matter of logic can either flow backward or forward, yet we, and, not surprisingly, our scientific instruments, only experience time flowing forward. Why? Mainzer extols nineteenth-century physicist Ludwig Boltzmann for deriving convincing answers from thermodynamics, then immerses the reader into relativity's incorporation of time into space-time--wherein time can theoretically stop or run in reverse. Because Mainzer's style is systematic and austere, the appeal of his book will be limited, but it will be of significant interest to serious students of time. Gilbert Taylor
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Edition details

• Publisher: Copernicus
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0387952888
• ISBN 13: 9780387952888
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192