Abstract
As we saw in the previous Part, Laplace’s Demon does not hold an unambiguous sway. The Demon’s determinism is an extreme idealization. The theories of physics, which the Demon illustrates, are not strictly deterministic. There are lapses in the iron grip, which the Laplacean Demon supposedly holds over the material world. These uncertainties not only give hope to defenders of free will and believers in the mind. They make determinism compatible with the anisotropy of time: the past-future asymmetry, the passage of time and its arrows.
Time in physics means Astronomer’s Royal de facto time.
Eddington, Nature of the Physical World (1932: Chap. III)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Weinert, F. (2016). Local and Cosmic Arrows of Time. In: The Demons of Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31708-3_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31708-3_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31707-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31708-3
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)