Taking Thermodynamics Too Seriously

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (4):539-553 (2001)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper discusses the mistake of understanding the laws and concepts of thermodynamics too literally in the foundations of statistical mechanics. Arguing that this error is still made in subtle ways, the article explores its occurrence in three examples: the Second Law, the concept of equilibrium and the definition of phase transitions.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

DOI

10.1016/s1355-2198(01)00025-9

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,150

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Thermodynamics as Control Theory.David Wallace - unknown
Reducing thermodynamics to statistical mechanics: The case of entropy.Craig Callender - 1999 - Journal of Philosophy 96 (7):348-373.
Thermodynamics: History and Philosophy : Facts, Trends, Debates : Proceedings of the Conference on the History of Thermodynamics, Veszprem, Hungary 23-28 July 1990.Katalin Martinás & P. Szegedi - 1991 - World Scientific Publishing Company.
Time in Thermodynamics.Jill North - 2011 - In Criag Callender (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time. Oxford University Press. pp. 312--350.
Thermodynamic asymmetry in time.Craig Callender - 2006 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Hot and Heavy Matters in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics.Craig Callender - 2011 - Foundations of Physics 41 (6):960-981.
Thermodynamics as a science of symmetry.Herbert Callen - 1974 - Foundations of Physics 4 (4):423-443.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Foundations and Status. [REVIEW]D. P. Sheehan - 2007 - Foundations of Physics 37 (12):1653-1658.
Thermodynamics and meteorology (1850–1900).Elizabeth Garber - 1976 - Annals of Science 33 (1):51-65.
Einstein and relativistic thermodynamics in 1952: a historical and critical study of a strange episode in the history of modern physics.Chuang Liu - 1992 - British Journal for the History of Science 25 (2):185-206.
Time in Thermodynamics.Newton C. A. Da Costa & Adonai S. Sant'Anna - 2002 - Foundations of Physics 32 (11):1785-1796.
Black Hole Thermodynamics and Lorentz Symmetry.Ted Jacobson & Aron C. Wall - 2010 - Foundations of Physics 40 (8):1076-1080.
The limits of information.D. J. - 2001 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (4):511-524.
What statistical mechanics actually does.David Wallace - unknown
Did nonlinear irreversible thermodynamics revolutionize the classical time conception of physics?Horst-Heino von Borzeszkowski & Renate Wahsner - 1984 - Foundations of Physics 14 (7):653-670.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
247 (#82,526)

6 months
43 (#94,885)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Craig Callender
University of California, San Diego

Citations of this work

On the explanatory role of mathematics in empirical science.Robert W. Batterman - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (1):1-25.
Emergent Physics and Micro-Ontology.Margaret Morrison - 2012 - Philosophy of Science 79 (1):141-166.

View all 91 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Autobiographical Notes.Max Black, Albert Einstein & Paul Arthur Schilpp - 1949 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 15 (2):157.
Bluff Your Way in the Second Law of Thermodynamics.Jos Uffink - 2001 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32 (3):305-394.
Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of Maxwell’s Demon. Part I. From Maxwell to Szilard.John Earman & John D. Norton - 1998 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 29 (4):435-471.

View all 9 references / Add more references