Home | Amazing | Today | Tags | Publishers | Years | Account | Search 
Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic Spacetimes

Buy
"...I enthusiastically recommend this important work to anyone, philosopher or scientist, interested in the foundations of spacetime. Not only does the book include discussions of fascinating topics previously neglected by philosophers, but it is also chock full of original arguments in both physics and philosophy."--The Philosophical Review

"This book should provide students of general relativity with a useful companion to the texts of Hawking and Ellis, Joshi and Clarke; professionals will also be interested in the different perspective it offers on work in global structure, and in its emphasis on points which can sometimes be lost in the detailed study of the mathematical structures involved." --Mathematical Reviews
"A worthwhile and recommended addition to collections on the philosophy of science."--Choice

"It is greatly to be hoped that this book, by setting out and elucidating the main problems, will stimulate more work in this area, so important for the understanding of the foundations of physics. Earman has shown in a most impressive way that the philosophy of science can develop only if it keeps closely in touch with the latest scientific advances."--International Philosophical Quarterly

Almost from its inception, Einstein's general theory of relativity was known to sanction spacetime models harboring singularities. Until the 1960s, however, spacetime singularities were thought to be artifacts of the idealizations of the models. This attitude evaporated in the face of a series of theorems, due largely to Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose, which showed that Einstein's general theory implies that singularities can be expected to occur in a wide variety of conditions in both gravitational collapse and in cosmology. In the light of these results, some physicists adopted the attitude that, since spacetime singularities are intolerable, general relativity contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Others hoped that peaceful coexistence with singularities could be achieved by proving a form of Roger Penrose's cosmic censorship hypothesis, which would place singularities safely inside black holes. Whatever the attitude one adopts toward spacetime singularities, it is evident that they raise a number of foundational problems for physics and have profound implications for the philosophy of space and time. However, philosophers of science have been slow to awaken to the significance of these developments. Indeed, this is the first serious, book-length study of the subject by a philosopher of science. It features an overview of the literature on singularities, as well as an analytic commentary on their significance to a number of scientific and philosophical issues.

About the Author

John Earman is at University of Pittsburgh.
(HTML tags aren't allowed.)

Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs
Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs
Every trade has its role models. And for me, there is no better model for ad copywriters or maazine editors... -- Ray Schultz, Editor, DIRECT Magazine

I have been a fan of Joseph Sugarman's copywriting and marketing ideas for years and have benefited greatly... -- Jack Canfield, Co-author, Chicken Soup for the Soul
...
Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (4th Edition)
Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (4th Edition)

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, Fourth Edition

New full-color code examples help you see how SQL statements are structured

 

Whether you're an application developer, database...

Fundraising gegen Hungerkrisen: Aufgaben und Wirksamkeit von Non-Profit-Organisationen (German Edition)
Fundraising gegen Hungerkrisen: Aufgaben und Wirksamkeit von Non-Profit-Organisationen (German Edition)

Hängen Preisanstiege bei Nahrungsmitteln wirklich monokausal mit der monetären Spekulation auf die sog. "Commodities" zusammen? Wo haben große NPO wie UNICEF ihre Stärken, wo ihre Schwächen? Wie kann Fundraising effektiv betrieben werden? Was sollte unternommen werden, um Armut und Hunger in der Welt...


Awesome 3d Game Development: No Programming Required
Awesome 3d Game Development: No Programming Required

Awesome 3D Game Development: No Programming Required teaches aspiring game developers how to create their own computer games without programming skills and provides an in-depth understanding of how the game design process works. Using hands-on tutorials and “drag-and-drop” game engines, readers learn to make and modify their...

Logic and the Modalities in the Twentieth Century, Volume 7 (Handbook of the History of Logic)
Logic and the Modalities in the Twentieth Century, Volume 7 (Handbook of the History of Logic)

Logic and the Modalities in the Twentieth Century is an indispensable research tool for anyone interested in the development of logic, including researchers, graduate and senior undergraduate students in logic, history of logic, mathematics, history of mathematics, computer science and artificial intelligence, linguistics, cognitive science,...

Color Atlas of Melanocytic Lesions of the Skin
Color Atlas of Melanocytic Lesions of the Skin

As essential a text for GPs as for dermatologists, this book is an atlas-like representation of the various forms of melanocytic skin lesions associated with cutaneous melanomas and other pigmented skin tumors. It is a comprehensive and up-to-date text on the practical issues surrounding the management of individuals with these lesions. It...

©2021 LearnIT (support@pdfchm.net) - Privacy Policy