Phil. 144 Philosophical Problems of Space and Time

Professor Alan Berger E-Mail:

Office Hours: Weds: 2:15 -- 3:15, and by appointment

Attention: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately. Any case of dishonesty is a serious academic infraction and is subject to disciplinary action. This includes cheating on test, using other materials (includes Internet) without citing the source.

SYLLABUS

Requirements- Midterm 40% of grade, Term Paper 60% of grade. Attendance is crucial, and your grade may be lowered if your attendance is not satisfactory.

Readings- The main text for the course: Time and Space by Barry

Dainton

General Relativity From A To B by Robert Geroch

Packet of Readings to include Most of the following selections from the following books or articles:

Selected Readings from Space, Time, and Space-Time by

Larry Sklar

Selected Readings from Philosophy of Space and Time,

By Hans Reichenbach

“Philosophy of Physics” by David Albert

Selected Readings from Philosophical Foundations of

Physics, by Rudolf Carnap

Kripke Lecture on Minkowski Space-Time by Saul Kripke

For example the Packet may not include Kripke's lecture or David Albert's article or selections from some of the other mentioned books.

The Aim and Central Topics of the Course

Aristotle, Galileo-Newton and Einstein all proposed a very different picture of the nature of space and time. In many of these space-times many of our ordinary notions no longer make sense when we go from one space-time to another. In part I of the course we will study these different space-times, why they were inadequate and had to be replaced by other space-times and what notions do or do not make sense in these different space-times. In part 2 of the course, we will become more analytical and evaluate various claims and questions raised by both physicists and philosophers in light of these and the latest views in space-time physics, such as “all that exists are ‘space-Time worms’” “Is space absolute, substantival, or relational?” “Is space curved?” “Is there a direction to Time?” and other claims as time permits. The topics and corresponding readings are listed below. You will not be required to do all the readings. Some of these readings are supplementary. Unless stated elsewhere, you will always be required to read the relevant section of our main text, Time and Space by Barry Dainton. In class, class email, or through Latte, you will learn what is interesting supplementary or substitute reading instead of reading from the Dainton book, for the following semester we will look at the following topics:

  1. The Aristotelian view of space-time and difficulties with this view
  1. The Galilean view of space-time and difficulties with this view Readings: Dainton 12.1 - 12.8; Section 1 and 2, Albert; Sklar III.D.3
  1. Substantivalism vs. Relationalism: Newton vs. Leibniz Readings: Sklar Chap III A-C; Dainton 9.3-9.4.
  1. Two concepts of distance and motion
  1. The classical debate on the nature of space: Galileo, Descartes and Leibniz Readings: Dainton 10.2-10.7; Albert Section 3; Sklar Chap III A-C
  1. Absolute motion, Newton’s water bucket experiment and the Leibnizean response Readings: Dainton 11.1- 11.5; Albert sections 4 and 5.
  1. Is space “curved”? Euclidean vs. Reimmanian Geometry and Euclid’s fifth postulate Readings: Carnap from packet; Sklar II.B.
  1. The Epistemology of Geometry--Conventionalism in geometry and Realism vs. anti-realism Readings: Carnap, and Reichenbach Chap 1 from packet; Sklar, Chap II E-H
  1. Causal Order and Temporal Order Readings: Sklar, ChapIV; Reichenbach, chap 2 from packet; Dainton 4.1- 4.6; Albert, section 6.Reichenbach Chap 3 from packet; Sklar Chap IV,
  1. The Direction of Time Readings: Sklar, Chap. V; Dainton, 6.1 - 6.7; Albert, Direction of Time and Foundations of Statistical Mechanics, sect. 1 and 2.
  1. Special Relativity and Minkowski Space-Time and Four Dimensionalism

Readings: Sklar Chap II C., Dainton, Chapter 16; Albert, Section 7; Kripke

from packet

  1. Substantival space-time and Mach’s Principle Readings: Dainton 19.1 - 19.2.
  1. The limits of STR, equivalence relations and General Relativity Readings: Sklar, II.D; Reichenbach, chapter 3 from packet; Dainton, 18.1 - 18.3; Albert, section 8.

Obviously, we will not have time to cover all these topics, but I do hope to cover many of them. We will spend more time on topics that interest the class, and less on others.