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Is the coarse-grained entropy of classical statistical mechanics an anthropomorphism?

Adolf Grünbaum

pp. 646-665

Abstract

In Chapter 8, I claimed that the coarse-grained classical entropy statistics of certain ensembles of branch systems contribute to the "arrow" of time. And in Chapter 22, §4, we shall transpose this theme to a relativistic space-time. But it has been charged that the coarse-grained entropy of a physical system is an anthropomorphism, incapable of a role in physically undergirding time's arrow. Hence it behooves us to face this charge. In the present chapter, I shall argue that the entropy in question can be validly construed in scientific realist fashion instead of being an anthropomorphism.

Publication details

Published in:

Grünbaum Adolf (1973) Philosophical problems of space and time. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 646-665

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-2622-2_19

Full citation:

Grünbaum Adolf (1973) Is the coarse-grained entropy of classical statistical mechanics an anthropomorphism?, In: Philosophical problems of space and time, Dordrecht, Springer, 646–665.