ABSTRACT
This introduction to one of the liveliest and most popular fields in philosophy is written specifically for a beginning readership with no background in philosophy or science. Step-by-step analyses of the key arguments are provided and the philosophical heart of the issues is revealed without recourse to jargon, maths, or logical formulas. The book introduces Einstein's revolutionary ideas in a clear and simple way, along with the concepts and arguments of philosophers, both ancient and modern that have proved of lasting value. Specifically, the theories of the ancient Greek philosophers, Zeno, Euclid and Parmenides are considered alongside the ideas of Newton, Leibniz and Kant as well as the giants of twentieth-century physics, Einstein and Lorentz. The problems at the heart of the philosophy of space and time, such as change, motion, infinity, shape, and inflation, are examined and the seismic impact made by relativity theory and quantum theory is assessed in the light of the latest research. The writing is lucid and entertaining, allowing a beginning readership to grasp some difficult concepts while offering the more experienced reader a succinct and illuminating presentation of the state of the debate. "Space, Time and Einstein" shows the reader the excitement of scientific discovery and the beauty of theory in the search for answers to these fundamental questions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |74 pages
Einstein's revolution
chapter |4 pages
From Aristotle to Hiroshima
chapter |24 pages
Einstein in a nutshell
chapter |9 pages
The twin paradox
chapter |10 pages
How to build an atomic bomb
chapter |16 pages
The four-dimensional universe
chapter |5 pages
Time travel is possible
chapter |4 pages
Can the mind understand the world?
part |99 pages
Philosophical progress
chapter |15 pages
Who invented space?
chapter |12 pages
Zeno's paradoxes: is motion impossible?
chapter |22 pages
Philosophers at war: Newton vs. Leibniz
chapter |7 pages
The philosophy of left and right
chapter |6 pages
The unreality of time
chapter |10 pages
General relativity: is space curved?
chapter |10 pages
The fall of geometry: is mathematics certain?
chapter |13 pages
The resurrection of absolutes
chapter |2 pages
The resilience of space
part |31 pages
Frontiers