The best humean system for statistical mechanics

Roman Frigg; Carl Hoefer

doi:10.1007/s10670-013-9541-5

The best humean system for statistical mechanics

Roman Frigg, Carl Hoefer

Department of Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. Classical statistical mechanics posits probabilities for various events to occur, and these probabilities seem to be objective chances. This does not seem to sit well with the fact that the theory’s time evolution is deterministic. We argue that the tension between the two is only apparent. We present a theory of Humean objective chance and show that chances thus understood are compatible with underlying determinism and provide an interpretation of the probabilities we find in Boltzmannian statistical mechanics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	551-574
Journal	Erkenntnis
Volume	80
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-013-9541-5
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2015

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AB - © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013. Classical statistical mechanics posits probabilities for various events to occur, and these probabilities seem to be objective chances. This does not seem to sit well with the fact that the theory’s time evolution is deterministic. We argue that the tension between the two is only apparent. We present a theory of Humean objective chance and show that chances thus understood are compatible with underlying determinism and provide an interpretation of the probabilities we find in Boltzmannian statistical mechanics.

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The best humean system for statistical mechanics

Abstract

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