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The Problem of Irreversibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

John Earman
John Earman*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
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Extract

The nature and basis of irreversibility has been intensively investigated over the last 100 years by physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers. But if progress is measured by convergence of opinion among the “experts” then it is hard to detect; in fact the field is a virtual Tower of Babel. J.L. Lebowitz, one of the leading mathematical physicists in the field put it this way:

I do not know if anyone is making bets on the eventual resolution of the apparent paradoxes relating to the coexistence, in the description of the same phenomena, of both determinism and randomness, reversibility and time asymmetry, and so on. If there are people betting, however, I would be very happy to be the banker and keep the money until everyone has agreed on the answer. (Lebowitz 1983, p. 4)

Type
Part VI. Physics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1986 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1986 , 1986 , pp. 226 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

1

I am grateful to A. Janis and L. Sklar for helpful discussions on these matters.

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