Temporal Existence and Persistence in Spacetime

Temporal Existence and Persistence in Spacetime PDF Author: Cord Friebe
Publisher: Verlag Vittorio Klostermann
ISBN: 9783465041559
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Relativity still challenges the philosophy of time: Although several sophisticated theories of temporal existence and persistence have been developed in the last decades, there is still an ongoing debate about how to apply the various concepts to spacetime theories and about whether those distinctions are even relevant at all for the ontology of spacetime. As it turns out to be the case, the ontologists of spacetime physics could broadly be arranged into two different camps: The first group is concerned with the apparently central question in the philosophy of (space-)time, i.e., whether the present is ontologically distinguished. The second deals with the problem of temporal change: Material objects persist through (space-)time and survive change - how do they manage to do so? Both debates have reached a high level of specialized, even "overspecialized", discourse and need to be interrelated. Accordingly, the main purpose of this volume is to bring together "temporal existence" and "persistence" in spacetime.

Temporal Existence and Persistence in Spacetime

Temporal Existence and Persistence in Spacetime PDF Author: Cord Friebe
Publisher: Verlag Vittorio Klostermann
ISBN: 9783465041559
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Relativity still challenges the philosophy of time: Although several sophisticated theories of temporal existence and persistence have been developed in the last decades, there is still an ongoing debate about how to apply the various concepts to spacetime theories and about whether those distinctions are even relevant at all for the ontology of spacetime. As it turns out to be the case, the ontologists of spacetime physics could broadly be arranged into two different camps: The first group is concerned with the apparently central question in the philosophy of (space-)time, i.e., whether the present is ontologically distinguished. The second deals with the problem of temporal change: Material objects persist through (space-)time and survive change - how do they manage to do so? Both debates have reached a high level of specialized, even "overspecialized", discourse and need to be interrelated. Accordingly, the main purpose of this volume is to bring together "temporal existence" and "persistence" in spacetime.

Persistence and Spacetime

Persistence and Spacetime PDF Author: Yuri Balashov
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019957992X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
How do material objects persist through time and survive change? Are they three-dimensional entities extended in space, but not in time, or are they four-dimensional spacetime "worms"? Yuri Balashov shows how Einstein's theory of relativity supports four-dimensionalism, and in so doing illuminates a wide range of metaphysical issues.

Four-Dimensionalism

Four-Dimensionalism PDF Author: Theodore Sider
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019924443X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Four-Dimensionalism defends the thesis that the material world is composed of temporal as well as spatial parts. This defense includes a novel account of persistence over time, new arguments in favour of the four-dimensional ontology, and responses to the challenges four-dimensionalism faces.Theodore Sider pays particular attention to the philosophy of time, including a strong series of arguments against presentism, the thesis that only the present is real. Arguments offered in favour of four-dimensionalism include novel arguments based on time travel, the debate beween spacetime substantivalists and relationalists, and vagueness. Also included is a comprehensive discussion of the paradoxes of coinciding material objects, and a novel resolution of those paradoxes based on temporalcounterpart theory. In conclusion Sider replies to prominent objections to four-dimensionalism, including discussion of the problem of the rotating homogenous disk.Four Dimensionalism is an original and highly readable study of the metaphysics of time and identity.

Persistence and Spacetime

Persistence and Spacetime PDF Author: Yuri Balashov
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191614742
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Material objects persist through time and survive change. How do they manage to do so? What are the underlying facts of persistence? Do objects persist by being "wholly present" at all moments of time at which they exist? Or do they persist by having distinct "temporal segments" confined to the corresponding times? Are objects three-dimensional entities extended in space, but not in time? Or are they four-dimensional spacetime "worms"? These are matters of intense debate, which is now driven by concerns about two major issues in fundamental ontology: parthood and location. It is in this context that broadly empirical considerations are increasingly brought to bear on the debate about persistence. Persistence and Spacetime pursues this empirically based approach to the questions. Yuri Balashov begins by setting out major rival views of persistence — endurance, perdurance, and exdurance — in a spacetime framework and proceeds to investigate the implications of Einstein's theory of relativity for the debate about persistence. His overall conclusion — that relativistic considerations favour four-dimensionalism over three-dimensionalism — is hardly surprising. It is, however, anything but trivial. Contrary to a common misconception, there is no straightforward argument from relativity to four-dimensionalism. The issues involved are complex, and the debate is closely entangled with a number of other philosophical disputes, including those about the nature and ontology of time, parts and wholes, material constitution, causation and properties, and vagueness.

The Stubbornly Persistent

The Stubbornly Persistent PDF Author: Anderthal Kord
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781985830844
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Einstein famously claimed that the distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. His theory of relativity transformed the flowing river of time into a frozen river of spacetime, a reality in which time is as real as space, the future exists-and free will, also, is only an illusion.But there are those-the stubbornly persistent-who believe in science, in Einstein and even his theory of relativity, but who also believe there are real, undeniable differences between the past, the present and the future.How to reconcile these contradictory beliefs?This book explores, in the words of the scientists immersed in these topics, our current understanding of relativity, spacetime, the fourth dimension, the fifth dimension, quantum reality and the nature of time. But the book has an agenda, a single goal: to discover a way for relativity's spacetime to embrace a flowing river of time within its boundaries.Ultimately, the book shows that such a reality is possible-by actually describing, in detail, such a possibility. It offers a glimpse into a universe in which free will emerges naturally within the laws of physics..In order for scientific reality to agree with human reality, we must somehow melt the frozen river of spacetime.

The Language and Reality of Time

The Language and Reality of Time PDF Author: Thomas Sattig
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191535486
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Thomas Sattig's book develops a comprehensive framework for doing philosophy of time. He brings together a variety of different perspectives, linking our ordinary conception of time with the physicist's conception, and linking questions about time addressed in metaphysics with questions addressed in the philosophy of language. Within this framework, Sattig explores the temporal dimension of the material world in relation to the temporal dimension of our ordinary discourse about the world. The discussion is centred around the dispute between three-dimensionalists and four-dimensionalists about whether the temporal profile of ordinary objects mirrors their spatial profile. Are ordinary objects extended in time in the same way in which they are extended in space? Do they have temporal as well as spatial parts? Four-dimensionalists say 'yes', three-dimensionalists say 'no'. Sattig develops an original three-dimensionalist picture of the material world, and argues that this picture is preferable to its four-dimensionalists rivals if ordinary thought and talk are taken seriously. Among the issues that Sattig discusses are the metaphysics of persistence, change, composition, location, coincidence, and relativity; the ontology of past, present, and future; and the semantics of predication, tense, temporal modifiers, and sortal terms.

The Emergence of Spacetime in String Theory

The Emergence of Spacetime in String Theory PDF Author: Tiziana Vistarini
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134842406
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The nature of space and time is one of the most fascinating and fundamental philosophical issues which presently engages at the deepest level with physics. During the last thirty years this notion has been object of an intense critical review in the light of new scientific theories which try to combine the principles of both general relativity and quantum theory—called theories of quantum gravity. This book considers the way string theory shapes its own account of spacetime disappearance from the fundamental level.

Absolute Time and Space... Existence beyond Bigbang

Absolute Time and Space... Existence beyond Bigbang PDF Author: Harjeet Singh
Publisher: Harjeet Singh
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 60

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Book Description
Addressing some of the biggest questions of cosmology 1. How our universe came into existence? 2. What was the time before start of universe? 3. Is there anything outside of this universe? 4. Is time travel possible? 5. Is there any multiverse or parallel universe? The new understanding of basic dimensions absolute Time and Space will open the possibility of exploring beyond our current known universe. These absolute dimensions might supersede our current spacetime dimension and related theories. Interpretations based on these dimensions could effectively bridge the gap between theories of microscopic and telescopic worlds and it will eventually give us a better picture of our universe. This book will take us one step closer towards the understanding of our Entire Existence. Book Pages 60

The Ontology of Spacetime

The Ontology of Spacetime PDF Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080461883
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
This book contains selected papers from the First International Conference on the Ontology of Spacetime. Its fourteen chapters address two main questions: first, what is the current status of the substantivalism/relationalism debate, and second, what about the prospects of presentism and becoming within present-day physics and its philosophy? The overall tenor of the four chapters of the book's first part is that the prospects of spacetime substantivalism are bleak, although different possible positions remain with respect to the ontological status of spacetime. Part II and Part III of the book are devoted to presentism, eternalism, and becoming, from two different perspectives. In the six chapters of Part II it is argued, in different ways, that relativity theory does not have essential consequences for these issues. It certainly is true that the structure of time is different, according to relativity theory, from the one in classical theory. But that does not mean that a decision is forced between presentism and eternalism, or that becoming has proved to be an impossible concept. It may even be asked whether presentism and eternalism really offer different ontological perspectives at all. The writers of the last four chapters, in Part III, disagree. They argue that relativity theory is incompatible with becoming and presentism. Several of them come up with proposals to go beyond relativity, in order to restore the prospects of presentism.· Space and time in present-day physics and philosophy · Introduction from scratch of the debates surrounding time · Broad spectrum of approaches, coherently represented

ECAI 2004

ECAI 2004 PDF Author: Ramon López de Mántaras
Publisher: IOS Press
ISBN: 9781586034528
Category : Artificial intelligence
Languages : en
Pages : 1184

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Book Description
This is the Golden Age for Artificial Intelligence. The world is becoming increasingly automated and wired together. This also increases the opportunities for AI to help people and commerce. Almost every sub field of AI had now been used in substantial applications. Some of the fields highlighted in this publication are: CBR Technology; Model Based Systems; Data Mining and Natural Language Techniques. Not only does this publication show the activities, capabilities and accomplishments of the sub fields, it also focuses on what is happening across the field as a whole.