1,721,147 research outputs found
Carathéodory’s Principle and the Second Law: adiabatic comparability and irrecoverability
No full textWhat is Statistical Mechanics?
Full text linkThermodynamics describes a large class of phenomena we observe in macroscopic systems. The aim of statistical mechanics is to account for this behaviour in terms of the dynamical laws governing the microscopic constituents of macroscopic systems and probabilistic assumptions. This
article provides a survey of the discussion about the foundation of statistical mechanics by introducing the basic approaches and discussing their merits as well as their problems. After a brief review of classical mechanics, which provides the background against which statistical mechanics is formulated, we discuss the two main theoretical approaches to statistical mechanics, one of which can be associated with Boltzmann and the other with Gibbs. We end with a discussion of remaining
issues and open questions
Demystifying Typicality
Full text linkA gas prepared in a non-equilibrium state will approach equilibrium and stay there. An influential contemporary approach to Statistical Mechanics explains this behaviour in terms of typicality. However, this explanation has been criticised as mysterious as long as no connection with the dynamics of the system is established. We take this criticism as our point of departure. Our central claim is that Hamiltonians of gases which are epsilon-ergodic are typical with respect to the Whitney topology. Because equilibrium states are typical, we argue that there follows the desired conclusion that typical initial conditions approach equilibrium and stay there
Typicality and the Approach to Equilibrium in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics
Full text linkSystems prepared in a non-equilibrium state approach, and eventually reach, equilibrium. Why do they do so? An important contemporary version of the Boltzmannian approach to statistical mechanics answers this question in terms of typicality. The problem with this approach is that it comes in different versions, which are, however, not recognised as such and not clearly distinguished. The aim of this paper is to identify three different versions of typicality-based explanations of thermodynamic-like behaviour and evaluate their respective success. My conclusion is that the first two are unsuccessful because they fail to take the system’s dynamics into account. The third, however, is promising. I give a precise formulation of the proposal and present an argument in support of its central contention
Models and fiction
No full textFil: Frigg, Roman. London School of Economics and Political Science. Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method; Inglaterra.La mayoría de los modelos científicos no son objetos físicos y esto origina cuestiones importantes. ¿Qué clase de entidad son los modelos?, ¿qué es la verdad en un modelo? Y ¿cómo aprendemos sobre los modelos? En este escrito, argumento que los modelos tienen importantes aspectos en común con la ficción literaria y que, por tanto, las teorías de la ficción pueden aplicarse a estas cuestiones. En particular, argumento que la teoría de la simulación como la desarrolla Walton (1990, Mimesis as Make-believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) tiene los recursos para responder a estas cuestiones. Introduzco esta explicación, perfilo las respuestas que ofrece y desarrollo una imagen general del modelado científico basado en ella.Most scientific models are not physical objects, and this raises important questions. What sort of entity are models, what is truth in a model, and how do we learn about models? In this paper I argue that models share important aspects in common with literary fiction, and that therefore theories of fiction can be brought to bear on these questions. In particular, I argue that the pretence theory as developed by Walton (1990, Mimesis as Make-believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) has the resources to answer these questions. I introduce this account, outline the answers that it offers, and develop a general picture of scientific modelling based on it
Models and fiction
No full textFil: Frigg, Roman. London School of Economics and Political Science. Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method; Inglaterra.La mayoría de los modelos científicos no son objetos físicos y esto origina cuestiones importantes. ¿Qué clase de entidad son los modelos?, ¿qué es la verdad en un modelo? Y ¿cómo aprendemos sobre los modelos? En este escrito, argumento que los modelos tienen importantes aspectos en común con la ficción literaria y que, por tanto, las teorías de la ficción pueden aplicarse a estas cuestiones. En particular, argumento que la teoría de la simulación como la desarrolla Walton (1990, Mimesis as Make-believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) tiene los recursos para responder a estas cuestiones. Introduzco esta explicación, perfilo las respuestas que ofrece y desarrollo una imagen general del modelado científico basado en ella.Most scientific models are not physical objects, and this raises important questions. What sort of entity are models, what is truth in a model, and how do we learn about models? In this paper I argue that models share important aspects in common with literary fiction, and that therefore theories of fiction can be brought to bear on these questions. In particular, I argue that the pretence theory as developed by Walton (1990, Mimesis as Make-believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press) has the resources to answer these questions. I introduce this account, outline the answers that it offers, and develop a general picture of scientific modelling based on it
Proofs and research programmes: Lakatos at 100
No full textThis open access book offers new insights into issues raised in philosophy of mathematics and in philosophy of science by Imre Lakatos. Lakatos was one of the most significant philosophers of the 20th Century, and his ideas remain important and relevant today. November 2022 saw the centenary of Lakatos’s birth, and the event was marked by an international conference held at the LSE – where Lakatos made his career after he had emigrated from Hungary to England. This volume consists of a selection of papers presented at the conference along with two additional contributions to debates about Lakatos’s continuing influence and importance
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