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Discussion: The Foundations of Statistical Mechanics—Questions and Answers*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Amit Hagar
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Abstract

Huw Price (1996, 2002, 2003) argues that causal-dynamical theories that aim to explain thermodynamic asymmetry in time are misguided. He points out that in seeking a dynamical factor responsible for the general tendency of entropy to increase, these approaches fail to appreciate the true nature of the problem in the foundations of statistical mechanics (SM). I argue that it is Price who is guilty of misapprehension of the issue at stake. When properly understood, causal-dynamical approaches in the foundations of SM offer a solution for a different problem; a problem that unfortunately receives no attention in Price's celebrated work.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , July 2005 , pp. 468 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I thank William Demopoulos, Steven Savitt, and two anonymous referees who pointed out to me ambiguities and errors in earlier drafts, and the audience of the 12th Foundations of Physics Conference in Leeds, UK (2003), where the ideas appearing here were first presented. Financial aid from the University of British Columbia Graduate Fellowship and the St. John's College Reginald and Annie Van Fellowship, as well as from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Program for the Investment in the Future (ZIP) of the German Government through a Sofja Kovalevskaja Award is gratefully acknowledged.

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