This is a thoroughly stimulating and clearly written work that argues for a genuinely big idea ... I am keen to make clear that I learned a great deal from this book, and that I found much in it to agree with and more to admire. The Nature of Contingency deserves to be read by researchers in the many fields that it covers and will -- I expect -- be widely appreciated for the imaginative and impressive work that it is.

John Divers, Mind

this is not only a rich and sophisticated work, but broad in its reach as well. And whether you agree with the Everett interpretation or not, or with Lewisian metaphysics, or not, Wilson's book actualises the possibility of a nuanced and erudite to-and-fro exchange between metaphysics and physics, to the benefit of both.

Steven French, Metascience

he Nature of Contingency is an important book. It elegantly precisifies the tantalising analogy between Lewisian modal realism and Everettian quantum mechanics and is an impressive showcase for naturalistic metaphysics.

Samuel Kimpton-Nye, Philosophical Quarterly

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The Nature of Contingency is an invaluable source of how to properly do scientific metaphysics.

Raoni Wohnrath Arroyo, Erkenntnis

This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach to quantum theory and cutting-edge metaphysics and philosophy of science, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality. When quantum physics is taken seriously in the way first proposed by Hugh Everett III, it provides the resources for a new systematic metaphysical framework encompassing possibility, necessity, actuality, chance, counterfactuals, and a host of related modal notions. Rationalist metaphysicians argue that the metaphysics of modality is strictly prior to any scientific investigation; metaphysics establishes which worlds are possible, and physics merely checks which of these worlds is actual. Naturalistic metaphysicians respond that science may discover new possibilities and new impossibilities. This book's quantum theory of contingency takes naturalistic metaphysics one step further, allowing that science may discover what it is to be possible. As electromagnetism revealed the nature of light, as acoustics revealed the nature of sound, as statistical mechanics revealed the nature of heat, so quantum physics reveals the nature of contingency.
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This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality.
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Introduction 1: Analyzing Modality 2: Diverging Everettian Quantum Mechanics 3: Emergent Chance 4: Laws of Nature 5: Indeterminacy 6: Anthropic Contingency Conclusion: An Expanding Reality
Presents a radical new quantum theory of contingency Underwrites a new scientific epistemology of modality Provides a unique and flexible account of laws of nature, reconciling Humean and anti-Humean perspectives Progresses the many-worlds interpretation in quantum theory
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Alastair Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Monash University. He was President of the Society for Metaphysics of Science in 2017-18, Honorary Secretary of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science in 2018-19, and is currently leading FraMEPhys, a five-year project on metaphysical explanation in physics funded by the European Research Council. He works in the emerging subfield of metaphysics of science, a branch of philosophy which draws on contemporary scientific discoveries to help answer ancient questions about the underlying nature of reality.
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Presents a radical new quantum theory of contingency Underwrites a new scientific epistemology of modality Provides a unique and flexible account of laws of nature, reconciling Humean and anti-Humean perspectives Progresses the many-worlds interpretation in quantum theory
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198846215
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
406 gr
Høyde
214 mm
Bredde
141 mm
Dybde
19 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
232

Forfatter

Biographical note

Alastair Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Monash University. He was President of the Society for Metaphysics of Science in 2017-18, Honorary Secretary of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science in 2018-19, and is currently leading FraMEPhys, a five-year project on metaphysical explanation in physics funded by the European Research Council. He works in the emerging subfield of metaphysics of science, a branch of philosophy which draws on contemporary scientific discoveries to help answer ancient questions about the underlying nature of reality.