OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS 2013 RETAIL

TITLE: THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS
PUBLISHER: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PR LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LINK: http://is.gd/RCjf3t RELEASE TYPE: RETAIL
FORMAT: PDF RELEASE DATE: 2014.06.25
ISBN: 9780195392043 STORE DATE: 2013
SAVED.MONEY: 150 DOLLAR DISKCOUNT: 02 x 05MB
AUTHOR: ROBERT BATTERMAN

BOOK

This Oxford Handbook provides an overview of many of the topics
that currently engage philosophers of physics. It surveys new
issues and the problems that have become a focus of attention in
recent years. It also provides up-to-date discussions of the
still very important problems that dominated the field in the
past

In the late 20th Century, the philosophy of physics was largely
focused on orthodox Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory. The
measurement problem, the question of the possibility of hidden
variables, and the nature of quantum locality dominated the
literature on the quantum mechanics, whereas questions about
relationalism vs. substantivalism, and issues about
underdetermination of theories dominated the literature on
spacetime. These issues still receive considerable attention from
philosophers, but many have shifted their attentions to other
questions related to quantum mechanics and to spacetime theories
Quantum field theory has become a major focus, particularly from
the point of view of algebraic foundations. Concurrent with these
trends, there has been a focus on understanding gauge invariance
and symmetries

The philosophy of physics has evolved even further in recent
years with attention being paid to theories that, for the most
part, were largely ignored in the past. For example, the
relationship between thermodynamics and statistical
mechanics---once thought to be a paradigm instance of
unproblematic theory reduction---is now a hotly debated topic
The implicit, and sometimes explicit, reductionist methodology of
both philosophers and physicists has been severely criticized and
attention has now turned to the explanatory and descriptive roles
of "non-fundamental,'' phenomenological theories. This shift of
attention includes "old'' theories such as classical mechanics
once deemed to be of little philosophical interest. Furthermore
some philosophers have become more interested in "less
fundamental'' contemporary physics such as condensed matter
theory. Questions abound with implications for the nature of
models, idealizations, and explanation in physics. This Handbook
showcases all these aspects of this complex and dynamic
discipline