Cristian Lopez

This Element explores the conceptual complexity of time reversal in the philosophy of physics. It aims to show that time reversal, as a symmetry transformation, should not be regarded as a mere mathematical artifice applied to physical equations. It is rather a conceptually rich and multifaceted notion, one whose meaning and implementation are shaped by a combination of metaphysical commitments and heuristic-methodological strategies. Far from being a neutral tool, the way we define and apply time reversal encodes assumptions about the nature of time itself, its relation to motion, about the role of symmetries in physical theories, and about the relation between mathematical symmetries and the world they purport to describe. Such conceptual complexity also has implication for related debates, such as that of the direction of time.

This Element explores the conceptual complexity of time reversal in the philosophy of physics. It aims to show that time reversal, as a symmetry transformation, should not be regarded as a mere mathematical artifice applied to physical equations. It is rather a conceptually rich and multifaceted notion, one whose meaning and implementation are shaped by a combination of metaphysical commitments and heuristic-methodological strategies. Far from being a neutral tool, the way we define and apply time reversal encodes assumptions about the nature of time itself, its relation to motion, about the role of symmetries in physical theories, and about the relation between mathematical symmetries and the world they purport to describe. Such conceptual complexity also has implication for related debates, such as that of the direction of time.

Science and the rule of law are the two pillars of modernity. Even though both result from the attempt to employ reason to limit the exercise of power in the scientific and the political sphere, they bear in themselves the germs of their own destruction: scientism and welfare totalitarianism. This book examines a trend towards a new, specifically postmodern totalitarianism, namely a regime of “actually existing postmodernism” that is based on the collusion of four elements: (i) scientism and its political use, (ii) intellectual postmodernism, (iii) welfare states, and (iv) crony capitalism. The book then shows a way out by utilising the philosophy of Descartes and Kant, the social-normative turn in the 20th century, and the resources of Austrian libertarianism from Hayek and Popper to Mises, Rothbard and Hoppe. These intellectual resources lay the ground for a New Enlightenment and an open society shaped by a free science and voluntary cooperation under the rule of law. Restoring Science and the Rule of Law is essential reading for philosophers of science and for political theorists interested in the foundations of the rule of law.

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