Robertson, Katie (2017) Asymmetry, abstraction and autonomy: justifying coarse-graining in statistical mechanics. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
|
Text
KRobertsoncgpitt.pdf Download (451kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Whilst the fundamental laws of physics are time-reversal invariant, most macroscopic processes are irreversible. Given that the fundamental laws are taken to underpin all other processes, how can the fundamental time-symmetry be reconciled with the asymmetry manifest elsewhere?
In statistical mechanics, progress can be made with this question; what I dub the Zwanzig-Zeh-Wallace framework can be used to construct the irreversible equations of statistical mechanics from the underlying microdynamics. Yet this framework uses coarse-graining, a procedure that has faced much criticism.
I focus on two objections in the literature: claims that coarse-graining makes time-asymmetry (i) `illusory' and (ii) `anthropocentric'. I argue that these objections arise from an unsatisfactory justi�fication of coarse-graining prevalent in the literature, rather than from coarse-graining itself. This justification relies on the idea of measurement imprecision.
By considering the role that abstraction and autonomy play, I provide an alternative justi�fication and o�er replies to the illusory and anthropocentric objections. Finally I consider the broader consequences of this alternative justi�fication: the connection to debates about inter-theoretic reduction and further, the implication that the time-asymmetry in statistical mechanics is weakly emergent.
| Export/Citation: | EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL |
| Social Networking: |
| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creators: |
|
||||||
| Keywords: | reduction; emergence; statistical mechanics; time-asymmetry | ||||||
| Depositing User: | Katie Katie Robertson | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 08 Dec 2017 13:49 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 08 Dec 2017 13:49 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 14182 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | ||||||
| Date: | 2017 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14182 |
Monthly Views for the past 3 years
Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years
Plum Analytics
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
![[feed]](http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/style/images/feed-icon-32x32.png){kind=icon}