March of time: evolving conceptions of time in the light of scientific discoveries

Abstract

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.