March of Time

Friedel Weinert is professor of philosophy at Bradford University. He is the author of The Scientist as Philosopher (Springer 2004); Copernicus, Darwin and Freud (Blackwell 2008); the editor of Laws of Nature (de Gruyter 1995) and co-editor of Compendium of Quantum Physics (Springer 2009) and Evolution 2.0 (Springer 2012).

• 1 Evolving Conceptions of Time in the Light of Scientific Discoveries.- Introduction.- 2 Time and Cosmology.- Greek Astronomy.- Plato and Aristotle.- The Need for Physical Time.- Kant’s Cosmology.- Time and Causality.- The Topology of Time.- The Metric of Time.- Some Advances in the Theory of Time in Classical Physics.- Time in Modern Physics.- The Measurement of Time in Quantum Mechanics.- Why Measurement?.- On Permissible Inferences from Scientific Theories.- 3 Flux and Stasis.-Parmenidean Stasis and Heraclitean Flux.- Idealism About Time.- Realism About Time.- Relationism About Time.- The Theory of Relativity and the Block Universe.- Minkowski Spacetime and the Block Universe.- An Alternative Representation of Minkowski Space–Time.- Space–Time and Invariance.- The General Theory of Relativity.- Substantivalism and Relationism About Space–Time.-  4 Symmetry and Asymmetry.- Fundamental Equations and Human Experience.- Entropy and Order.- Reversibility and Irreversibility.- The Role of Boundary Conditions.- The Emergence of Time.- Time in Basic Quantum Mechanics.- Time Travel Scenarios.- 5 Conclusion.- Bibliography.- Index.

From the reviews:“This book is a historical and scientific argument against the popular view held among physicists that time is not real. Weinert (Univ. of Bradford, UK) considers the arguments based on cosmology, stasis, and symmetry, and does an excellent job of showing that the conclusion of the existence of an atemporal world is not decisive. … Anyone interested in the philosophy or physics of time would enjoy March of Time. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; informed general readers.” (E. Kincanon, Choice, Vol. 51 (2), October, 2013)