What is Fundamental? (The Frontiers Collection)

✍ Scribed by Anthony Aguirre (editor), Brendan Foster (editor), Zeeya Merali (editor)

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 189
• Series: The Frontiers Collection
• Edition: 1st ed. 2019
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Are there truly fundamental entities in nature? Or are the things that we regard as fundamental in our theories – for example space, time or the masses of elementary particles – merely awaiting a derivation from a new, yet to be discovered theory based on elements that are more fundamental? This was the central question posed in the 2018 FQXi essay competition, which drew more than 200 entries from professional physicists, philosophers, and other scholars. This volume presents enhanced versions of the fifteen award-winning essays, giving a spectrum of views and insights on this fascinating topic. From a prescription for “when to stop digging” to the case for strong emergence, the reader will find here a plethora of stimulating and challenging ideas - presented in a largely non-technical manner - on which to sharpen their understanding of the language of physics and even the nature of reality.

✦ Table of Contents

Title
Copyright
Preface
Contents
Introduction
References
Fundamental?
References
Against Fundamentalism
1 What Is Fundamental?
2 Dispatches from the Science Wars
3 A Theory of Knowledge
4 Conclusion
5 Responses to Online Discussion
References
The Politics of Fundamentality
References
Of Lego and Layers (and Fundamentalism)
1 Of Turtles and Tortoises
2 Of Mereology and Math
3 Of Bootstraps and Bohm
References
Fundamentality Here, Fundamentality There, Fundamentality Everywhere
1 Science Is a Tower of Theories and the Standard Model Is Its Foundation!
2 Fundamental Disagreements
3 I Think Therefore I Am Fundamental?
4 Let’s Get Metaphysical
References
Mind Before Matter: Reversing the Arrow of Fundamentality
1 Prequel
2 The Orthodox View…
3 …And Its Limitations in a World That is Large, Technologically Interesting, or of the Quantum Kind
4 From Mind to Matter…
5 …And Back from Matter to Mind: A Strange Loop of Fundamentality
6 Sequel
References
Things, Laws, and the Human Mind
1 Things, Laws, the Human Mind, and the Watcher
2 The Thing-Law
3 Is the Law a Thing?
4 The Vertical Fundamental
5 The Watcher Revisited
References
The Case for Strong Emergence
1 Reductionism Works
2 What is Fundamental?
3 Weak Versus Strong Emergence
4 Strong Emergence Doesn't Work
5 Top Down Causation Doesn't Help
6 The Loophole
7 Conclusion
References
Mad-Dog Everettianism: Quantum Mechanics at Its Most Minimal
1 Taking Quantum Mechanics Seriously
2 The Role of Classical Variables
3 The Role of Emergence
4 Local Finite-Dimensionality
5 Spacetime from Hilbert Space
6 Emergent Classicality
7 Gravitation from Entanglement
8 The Problem(s) of Time
9 Prospects and Puzzles
References
Bell's Theory of Beables and the Concept of Universe' 1Beables' and Induction
2 Can a Universe Be a Beable'? 3 Is the Universe Fundamental? References Fundamentality, Explanation, and the Unity of Science When Do We Stop Digging? Conditions on a Fundamental Theory of Physics 1 Introduction 2 Fundamental and More-Fundamental in Modern Physics 3 Why Our Current Best Theories of Physics Are not Fundamental 3.1 Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model 3.2 General Relativity 4 Conditions on a Fundamental Theory 5 Quantum Gravity 6 Conclusion References Fundamental is Non-random 1 Introduction 2 Randomness Versus Explanation 3 The Second Law and the Past Hypothesis 3.1 Dynamical Explanations? 3.2 Random Explanations? 3.3 Random Anthropic Explanations? 4 Boundary Constraints as Explanations 5 What is Fundamental References Socrates, Atoms and Being: A Platonic Dialogue 1 Scene 1 1.1 The Agora, Athens 2 Scene 2 2.1 The Courtyard in the House of Theaetetus 3 Scene 3 3.1 In the Living Quarters of the House of Theaetetus BibliographyFundamentality' as a Linguistic Paradigm and Linguistics as a Fundamental Paradigm
1 Language and Meaning
2 Theories
3 Indispensability
4 Tertiary Considerations
5 Conclusion
References
Appendix: List of Winners
First Prize
Second Prizes
Third Prizes
Fourth Prizes
Student Author Prize
Creative Writing Prize
Titles in This Series