The Metaphysics Within Physics [Hardcover]

Tim Maudlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0199218218 | ISBN-13: 978-0199218219

What fundamental account of the world is implicit in physical theory? Physics straightforwardly postulates quarks and electrons, but what of the more intangible elements, such as laws of nature, universals, causation and the direction of time? Do they have a place in the physical structure of the world?

Tim Maudlin argues that the ontology derived from physics takes a form quite different from those most commonly defended by philosophers. Physics postulates irreducible fundamental laws, eschews universals, does not require a fundamental notion of causation, and makes room for the passage of time. In a series of linked essays The Metaphysics Within Physics outlines an approach to metaphysics opposed to the Humean reductionism that motivates much analytical metaphysics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is an elegantly written and enormously stimulating book. It is full of original, provocative, philosophical argumentation. Maudlin shows by example what it is to do the best kind of naturalized metaphysics: one based on thorough acquaintance with real science, but unwilling to accept a superficial analysis of how it bears on deep philosophical problems. Every metaphysician should read it and emulate Maudlin's method, even when disagreeing with his conclusions."--Richard Healey, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

About the Author

Tim Maudlin is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199218218
• ISBN-13: 978-0199218219
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars metaphysics for scientists, June 8, 2010

By 

Keith Maples - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Metaphysics Within Physics (Paperback)

Maudlin's Metaphysics within Physics sweeps away some of the philosophical cobwebs that entangle anyone trying to develop a coherent metaphysical position. A few threads in that web are Kant, Hume, Carnap, Lewis, empiricism, logical positivism, etc.

The book pulls together five essays of the author on causation, time and laws of nature. It is argued that traditional philosophical ontologies must yield to scientific descriptions of nature, whenever these descriptions do not translate well into the traditional framework. The Humean picture of a vast mosaic of local matters of fact -- instantiated at points -- should be replaced by a global structure with non-local connections. In Maudlin's picture, scientific laws and the direction of time are fundamental and are not suitable for philosophical analysis.

My favorite essays were "Suggestions for Deep Metaphysics" which describes the metaphysical implications of gauge theories, and "Causation, Counterfactuals, and the Third Factor", which demolishes the counterfactual analysis of causation due to David Lewis. The counterfactual treatment has always seemed like rubbish to me, and I never understood its popularity among philosophers.

The best quote followed a critique of Occam's Razor (p 4). "Let others subsist on the thin gruel of minimalist metaphysics: I'll take my ontology mit Schlag." -- a good motto for those who are not attracted to weird deflationary and minimalist philosophies.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great critique of Humean empiricism, December 17, 2011

By 

Elliott Coates - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Metaphysics Within Physics (Paperback)

Maudlin demonstrates the fallacy of the philosophical position of empiricism (of the Humean kind) by addressing a number of key questions and fundamental issues in both physics and philosophy having to do with the nature of reality and existence (ontology). Time, causality and the properties of objects are among the topics that Maudlin covers in criticizing empiricism. Maudlin has degrees in physics and philosophy and the manner in which he plumbs examples in physics to make his philosophical points is both compelling and stimulating.

1 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deep philosophy for the academic, August 16, 2011

By 

U Dream (Colton, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Metaphysics Within Physics (Paperback)

One star for my naivete, thinking I could comprehend this burdensome academic prose. Every paragraph left me scratching my head. I still read the entire book, hoping to glean something worth quoting, but comprehended less than 10% of its content. Never heard of supervenience or counterfactuals before. One star for my intelligence. This review says more about my philosophical naivete than about the depth of Maudlin's argument. I don't think I could ever be an academic in any field, much less philosophy. It was the most boring book I have ever read--even worse than John Bowlby's "Attachment." More up my alley, and perhaps yours if you are not a professional philosopher, was Victor Stenger's "The Unconsious Quantum: Metaphysics in Modern Physics and Cosmology."