Heller Ultimate Explanations of the Universe
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-3-642-02103-9
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
E-Book, Englisch, 216 Seiten, eBook
ISBN: 978-3-642-02103-9
Verlag: Springer
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark
We humans are collectively driven by a powerful - yet not fully explained - instinct to understand. We would like to see everything established, proven, laid bare. The more important an issue, the more we desire to see it clarified, stripped of all secrets, all shades of gray. What could be more important than to understand the Universe and ourselves as a part of it? To find a window onto our origin and our destiny? This book examines how far our modern cosmological theories - with their sometimes audacious models, such as inflation, cyclic histories, quantum creation, parallel universes - can take us towards answering these questions. Can such theories lead us to ultimate truths, leaving nothing unexplained? Last, but not least, Heller addresses the thorny problem of why and whether we should expect to find theories with all-encompassing explicative power.
Prof. Michael HellerBirth date and place: March 12 1936, Tarnów, Poland.1966 Ph.D. - Catholic University of Lublin, Thesis in relativistic cosmology.1969 docent degree (assistant professorship), Catholic University of Lublin.1985 extraordinary professorship (professor extraordinarius), Pontifical Academy of Theology, Faculty of Philosophy, Cracow.1990 Ordinary Professorship (professor ordinarius), Pontifical Academy of Theology, Faculty of Philosophy, Cracow.1996 Doctor honoris causa - Thechnological University A.G.H. in Cracow.At present: professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, Cracow, Poland and the adjoined member of the Vatican Observatory (which is an astronomical observatory). Ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Rome), elected in 1991.Membership of: International Astronomical Union, International Society for General Relativity and Gravitation, European Physical Society, International Society for the Study of Time, Polskie Towarzystwo Fizyczne, Polskie Towarzystwo Astronomiczne and other societiesFields of scientific research: Relativistic physics, in particular relativistic cosmology; geometric methods in relativistic physics, Philosophy and history of science, Science and theologyResearch visits: Visiting professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (1977, 1982), Oxford University, United Kingdom (1982), Leicester University, United Kingdom (1982), Ruhr University, Germany, The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C, USA (1986), University of Arizona (Vatican Research Group), Tucson, USA (1986), Licge University, Belgium (1996), Gregorian University, Rome (2004, 2006) and othersWinner of 2008 Templeton Prize
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Weitere Infos & Material
1;Preface;5
2;Contents;7
3;1 Ultimate Explanations;13
3.1;1.1 TO UNDERSTAND UNDERSTANDING;13
3.2;1.2 THE TOTALITARIANISM OF THE METHOD;15
3.3;1.3 MODELS;17
3.4;1.4 ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLES AND OTHER UNIVERSES;19
3.5;1.5 CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE;22
4;Part 1: Models;24
5;2 Problems With The Eternity Of The Universe;25
5.1;2.1 The Eternity And Infinity Of The Universe;25
5.2;2.2 The Thermal Death Hypothesis;26
5.3;2.3 Einstein’S First Model;27
5.4;2.4 The Universe And Philosophy;29
5.5;2.5 An Expanding Vacuum;30
5.6;2.6 The Crisis Of Einstein’S Philosophy;31
6;3 A Cyclical Universe;33
6.1;3.1 The Problem of The Beginning;33
6.2;3.2 An Oscillating Universe;34
6.3;3.3 The Recurrence Theorem;36
6.4;3.4 Tolman’s Universes;37
6.5;3.5 Tipler’s Theorem;38
6.6;3.6 Singularities;39
7;4 A Looped Cosmos;42
7.1;4.1 Visions of Closed Time;42
7.2;4.2 Kurt Gødel’s Universe;43
7.3;4.3 Gott and Li’s Suggestion;45
7.4;4.4 Causality and Time;47
7.5;4.5 Physics and Global Time;49
7.6;4.6 The Space-Time Foam;50
8;5 Continuous Creation Versus a Beginning;52
8.1;5.1 From the Static to the Steady State;52
8.2;5.2 A New Cosmology is Born;53
8.3;5.3 Bondi and Gold’s Universe;54
8.4;5.4 Hoyle’s Universe;57
8.5;5.5 In the Heat of Debate;57
8.6;5.6 The Demise of the Cosmology of the Steady State;59
8.7;5.7 Creation and Viscosity;62
9;6 Something Almost Out of Nothing;65
9.1;6.1 The Horizon Problem and the Flatness Problem;65
9.2;6.2 The Mechanism of Inflation;67
9.3;6.3 The Inflationary Scenario;69
9.4;6.4 Some Critical Remarks;70
10;7 The Quantum Creation of the Universe;72
10.1;7.1 From Inflation to Creation;72
10.2;7.2 A Universe Out of the Fluctuations of a Vacuum;73
10.3;7.3 The Wave Function of the Universe;75
10.4;7.4 Path Integrals;77
10.5;7.5 Critical Remarks;79
11;Part 2: Anthropic Principles and Other Universes;81
12;8 The Anthropic Principles;82
12.1;8.1 A Complex of the Margin;82
12.2;8.2 The Era of Man;83
12.3;8.3 Carter’s Lecture;85
13;9 Natural Selection in the Population of Universes;88
13.1;9.1 The Multiverse;88
13.2;9.2 The Natural Selection of the Universes;89
13.3;9.3 Situational Logic;90
13.4;9.4 Critical Remarks;91
13.5;9.5 Is Life Cheaper Than a Low Entropy?;93
13.6;9.6 Falsification;93
14;10 The Anthropic Principles and Theories of Everything;95
14.1;10.1 The Search for Unity;95
14.2;10.2 Can the Structure of the Universe be Changed?;96
14.3;10.3 Rigid Structures;98
14.4;10.4 Imagination and Rationalism;99
14.5;10.5 Our Anthropocentrism?;100
15;11 The Metaphysics of the Anthropic Principles;102
15.1;11.1 Three Philosophical Attitudes;102
15.2;11.2 The ‘‘Participatory Universe’’;103
15.3;11.3 Creating Our Own History;104
15.4;11.4 How Many Copies of Himself Does the Reader Have?;105
15.5;11.5 A False Alternative;106
16;12 Tegmark’s Embarrassment;109
16.1;12.1 Other Universes in Philosophy and Mathematical Physics;109
16.2;12.2 Domains and Universes;111
16.3;12.3 Juggling About with Probabilities;112
16.4;12.4 An Apology for the Multiverse;115
17;Part 3: Creation of the Universe;116
18;13 The Drive To Understand;117
19;14 The Metaphysics And Theology Of Creation;122
19.1;14.1 The Idea Of Creation In The Old Testament;122
19.2;14.2 The Greek Contention With The Origin Of The Universe;124
19.3;14.3 The Christian Theology Of Creation;126
19.4;14.4 Origen;128
19.5;14.5 AUGUSTINE;129
20;15 Creation And The Perpetuity Of The Universe;132
20.1;15.1 Crisis;132
20.2;15.2 A Problematic Situation;134
20.3;15.3 Contra Murmuranteshellip;135
21;16 Controversies Over The Omnipotence Of God;138
21.1;16.1 Two-Way Questions;138
21.2;16.2 Dilemmas Of Divine Omnipotence;139
21.3;16.3 From Classification To Mathematicality;141
22;17 Newton's World;143
22.1;17.1 Newton's Scholium;143
22.2;17.2.A Mathematical Plan of Creation;144
22.3;17.3 Physico-theology and the Concept of Creation;146
22.4;17.4 Newton's Impact;147
23;18 Leibniz’s World;149
23.1;18.1 NEWTON AND LEIBNIZ;149
23.2;18.2 WHEN GOD CALCULATES AND THINKS THINGS THROUGH;150
23.3;18.3 SECRETS OF THE DIVINE CALCULATION;151
23.4;18.4 TIME AND SPACE;155
23.5;18.5 CAUSALITY;157
24;19 The Initial Singularity And The Creation Of The World;159
24.1;19.1 The Question Of Evolution And Its Beginning;159
24.2;19.2 Time And Its Beginning;160
24.3;19.3 Problems With The Singularity;161
24.4;19.4 Methodological Reservations;163
24.5;19.5 The Great Sign;165
25;20 Creation And Evolution;167
25.1;20.1 TWO MISAPPROPRIATIONS;167
25.2;20.2 THE HYPERSPACE OF LIFE;168
25.3;20.3 PROBABILITY AND CHANCE;170
25.4;20.4 GOD AND CHANCE;172
26;21 Leibniz’s Question;175
26.1;21.1 L. Kuhn’S Catalogue Of Explanations;175
26.2;21.2 Leibniz’S Question;176
26.3;21.3 The Domino Effect;177
26.4;21.4 The Existence Of The Universe And The Rules Of Language;178
26.5;21.5 The Probability Of Nothing;179
26.6;21.6 A Brute Fact;180
27;Epilogue;183
28;Notes and References;189
29;Index;206
MODELS.- Ultimate Explanations.- Problems with the Eternity of the Universe.- A Cyclical Universe.- A Looped Cosmos.- Continuous Creation Versus a Beginning.- Something Almost Out of Nothing.- The Quantum Creation of the Universe.- Ultimate Explanations.- ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLES AND OTHER UNIVERSES.- The Anthropic Principles.- Natural Selection in the Population of Universes.- The Anthropic Principles and Theories of Everything.- The Metaphysics of the Anthropic Principles.- Tegmark#x2019;s Embarrassment.- CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE.- The Drive to Understand.- The Metaphysics and Theology of Creation.- Creation and the Perpetuity of the Universe.- Controversies Over the Omnipotence of God.- Newton#x2019;s World.- Leibniz#x2019;s World.- The Initial Singularity and the Creation of the World.- Creation and Evolution.- Leibniz#x2019;S Question.
