The Little Book of Time

by Mainzer, Klaus; Eisinger, Josef

• ISBN13: 9780387952888
• ISBN10: 0387952888
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Copernicus Books

Summary

Time. It's a tool we use to measure virtually every aspect of our lives. And yet as important as time is, rarely do we ponder the myriad of questions about it. What is time, and how did humans first measure it? How was it that disparate ancient cultures around the world came up with similar means of telling time? Is time a constant, or can it speed up and slow down? In this book, Klaus Mainzer considers these and many other questions and provides a brief overview of the concept of time from antiquity to the present.

Author Biography

Klaus Mainzer is a Professor of Philosophy and Systems Science at the University of Augsburg, Germany

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	viii
Introduction	ix
Time in the Classical and Medieval Worldviews	1	(24)
From the Beginnings to the Pre-Socratic School	1	(5)
Zeno's Time Arrow and Aristotle's Continuum	6	(9)
Time and Creation According to Saint Augustine	15	(3)
Time and Medieval Astronomy	18	(2)
Calendars and Clocks	20	(5)
Time in the Worldview of Classical Physics	25	(18)
Absolute Time According to Newton	26	(4)
Relational Time According to Leibniz	30	(1)
Time in Classical Mechanics	31	(4)
Time in Kant's Epistemology	35	(8)
Relativistic Spacetime	43	(18)
Time in Special Relativity Theory	44	(6)
Time in General Relativity Theory	50	(4)
Time in Relativistic Cosmology	54	(7)
Time and the Quantum World	61	(22)
Time in Quantum Mechanics	62	(8)
Time in Quantum Field Theories	70	(8)
Time, Black Holes, and the Anthropic Principle	78	(5)
Time and Thermodynamics	83	(24)
Time in Equilibrium Thermodynamics	84	(8)
Time in Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics	92	(8)
Time, Irreversibility, and Self-Organization	100	(7)
Time and Life	107	(14)
Time in Darwin's Theory of Evolution	108	(3)
Time in Molecular Evolution	111	(6)
Time Hierarchies and Biological Rhythms	117	(4)
Time and Consciousness	121	(16)
Temporal Rhythms and Brain Physiology	122	(2)
The Experience of Time and the Emergence of Consciousness	124	(4)
Computation Time and Artificial Intelligence	128	(9)
Time in History and Culture	137	(24)
Time in Historical Cultures	138	(6)
Time in Technological-Industrial Cultures	144	(8)
The Time Horizon of the Technological World and the Philosophy of Time	152	(9)
Further Reading	161	(6)
Index	167