Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time. Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (Volume 1). They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (Volume 2) , and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (Volume 3).
Contents:
Readership: Students and highly educated people with concern in scientific culture.
Key Features:
- Prominent scientists and philosophers of science address contemporary debates on the nature of Time
- Their contributions freely discuss its unity and reality, its compatibility with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the disputed idea of free will (volume 1)
- They also present a detailed and updated state of the role of Time in the so-called exact sciences: biology — or more precisely genetics, evolution, neurosciences, natural and artificial intelligence (volume 2), and physics — relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum gravity, and cosmology (volume 3)
- Ten leading researchers address key contemporary scientific issues, including: genetic mechanisms in development and evolution; neuroscientific analysis of the memory and consciousness and the timing mechanisms of neuronal networks. Contributions freely discuss its specificity and its relation to the time of physical sciences, its relation with the orders of classical philosophy (present, past and future) and with the various mechanisms of memories that evolution has fitted in the brain
- Thirteen prominent researchers from psychologists to theoretical physicists and cosmologists examine the fundamental question of how the concept of time fits into a theoretical description of the universe. This has become a hotly-debated question, as theories of quantum gravitation point to timeless theories, consistent with the most popular interpretation of Einsteinian Relativity with its full determinism and block-universe. However, scientists including Lee Smolin, Dean Rickles and Jules Rankin, are convinced that we need time in the more fundamental physical theories, while others like Daniel Oriti, Gilles Cohen-Tannoudji and Jean-Pierre Gazeau explore new ways to give the concept a role in modern cosmology