Probabilities in Physics

Edited by Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann

The first book offering a full philosophical exploration of this subject
Illuminates a key aspect of modern science
Relates philosophical discussions to the latest work in physics
Systematic, ambitious, and ground-breaking research
All essays specially written for this volume

Probabilities in Physics

Edited by Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann

Description

Many results of modern physics--those of quantum mechanics, for instance--come in a probabilistic guise. But what do probabilistic statements in physics mean? Are probabilities matters of objective fact and part of the furniture of the world, as objectivists think? Or do they only express ignorance or belief, as Bayesians suggest? And how are probabilistic hypotheses justified and supported by empirical evidence? Finally, what does the probabilistic nature of physics imply for our understanding of the world?

This volume is the first to provide a philosophical appraisal of probabilities in all of physics. Its main aim is to make sense of probabilistic statements as they occur in the various physical theories and models and to provide a plausible epistemology and metaphysics of probabilities. The essays collected here consider statistical physics, probabilistic modelling, and quantum mechanics, and critically assess the merits and disadvantages of objectivist and subjectivist views of probabilities in these fields. In particular, the Bayesian and Humean views of probabilities and the varieties of Boltzmann's typicality approach are examined. The contributions on quantum mechanics discuss the special character of quantum correlations, the justification of the famous Born Rule, and the role of probabilities in a quantum field theoretic framework. Finally, the connections between probabilities and foundational issues in physics are explored. The Reversibility Paradox, the notion of entropy, and the ontology of quantum mechanics are discussed. Other essays consider Humean supervenience and the question whether the physical world is deterministic.

Probabilities in Physics

Edited by Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann

Notes on the Contributors
Preface
1. Introduction, Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann
I PROBABILITIES IN STATISTICAL PHYSICS
2. Subjective Probability and Statistical Physics, Jos Uffink
3. An Objectivist Account of Probabilities in Statistical Mechanics, D. A. Lavis
4. The Past Histories of Molecules, Craig Callender
5. Entropy: A Guide for the Perplexed, Roman Frigg and Charlotte Werndl
6. Probabilistic Modeling in Physics, Claus Beisbart
II PROBABILITIES IN QUANTUM MECHANICS
7. Aspects of Probability in Quantum Theory, Michael Dickson
8. Probabilities in Realist Views of Quantum Mechanics, Christopher G. Timpson
9. Quantum Probabilities: An Information-Theoretic Interpretation, Jeffrey Bub
10. Interpreting Probabilities in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Statistical Mechanics, Laura Ruetsche and John Earman
III PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
11. Three Roads to Objective Probability, Tim Maudlin
12. Physics and the Humean Approach to Probability, Carl Hoefer
13. Probability Out Of Determinism, Michael Strevens
14. Can theWorld be Shown to be Indeterministic After All?, Christian Wuthrich
References
Index

Probabilities in Physics

Edited by Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann

Author Information

Claus Beisbart is Assistant Professor at the Technical University Dortmund (Germany). He holds a doctorate in physics (2001) and a doctorate in philosophy (2004; both from the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich). During the academic year 2008/09, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. His main work is in the philosophy of physics, in particular the philosophy of cosmology, in the general philosophy of science, and in ethics and social-choice theory.

Stephan Hartmann is Chair of Philosophy of Science in the Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and the Study of Religion at LMU Munich, Alexander von Humboldt Professor, and Co-Director of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP). From 2007 to 2012 he worked at Tilburg University, The Netherlands, where he was Chair in Epistemology and Philosophy of Science and Director of the Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS). Before moving to Tilburg, he was Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Director of LSE's Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science. His primary research and teaching areas are philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, formal epistemology, and social epistemology. Hartmann published numerous articles and the book Bayesian Epistemology (with Luc Bovens) that appeared in 2003 with Oxford University Press. His current research interests include formal social epistemology (especially models of deliberation, norm emergence, and pluralistic ignorance), the philosophy and psychology of reasoning, intertheoretic relations, and (imprecise) probabilities in quantum mechanics.

Contributors:

CLAUS BEISBART, Technical University Dortmund, Germany
JEFFREY BUB, University of Maryland
CRAIG CALLENDER, University of California, San Diego
MICHAEL DICKSON, University of South Carolina
JOHN EARMAN, University of Pittsburgh
ROMAN FRIGG, London School of Economics
STEPHAN HARTMANN, Tilburg University
CARL HOEFER, Autonomous University of Barcelona
DAVID LAVIS, King's College, London
TIM MAUDLIN, Rutgers University, New Jersey
LAURA RUETSCHE, University of Michigan
MICHAEL STREVENS, New York University
CHRISTOPHER G. TIMPSON, Brasenose College, Oxford
JOS UFFINK, Utrecht University
CHARLOTTE WERNDL, London School of Economics
CHRISTIAN WÜTHRICH, University of California, San Diego

Probabilities in Physics

Edited by Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann

Reviews and Awards

"Overall, the collection is of high quality...Brevity prevents me from revealing more of the treasures that can be discovered in this volume."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews