PHIL 322 - Philosophy of Physics

Modem physics overturned many assumptions about the fundamental nature of reality that had been widely accepted since Greek antiquity. This course traces transition from Aristotelian mechanics to modern theories of motion, and then provides a survey of the main philosophical problems raised by three of our most successful physical theories: Newtonian mechanics, thermodynamics, and quantum theory. The topics to be discussed include the problem of action at a distance, thermodynamics and the arrow of time, theories of probability, non-locality, and the measurement problem in quantum mechanics.

Credits: 1.0
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy or one course in physics
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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