Reexamining the Quantum-Classical Relation (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521857208)

Classical mechanics and quantum mechanics are two of the most successful scientific theories ever discovered, and yet how they can describe the same world is far from clear: one theory is deterministic, the other indeterministic; one theory describes a world in which chaos is pervasive, the other a world in which chaos is absent. Focusing on the exciting field of 'quantum chaos', this book reveals that there is a subtle and complex relation between classical and quantum mechanics. It challenges the received view that classical and quantum mechanics are incommensurable, and revives another, largely forgotten tradition due to Niels Bohr and Paul Dirac. By artfully weaving together considerations from the history of science, philosophy of science, and contemporary physics, this book offers a new way of thinking about intertheory relations and scientific explanation. It will be of particular interest to historians and philosophers of science, philosophically-inclined physicists, and interested non-specialists.

Author: Alisa Bokulich
ISBN-10: 0521857201
ISBN-13: 9780521857208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 10/02/2008
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.80h x 6.80w x 0.60d