ABSTRACT

This chapter introduces the basics of string theory through consideration of the bosonic string. It describes some basics of string theory’s physical content and of its formal articulation. The chapter describes the ground for extrapolating from them the theory’s metaphysical lesson about the non-fundamentality of space and time. The first attempt of unifying quantum theory and relativity was done by combining quantum mechanics and special relativity. Strings if represented classically are usually described as onedimensional objects moving in spacetime and tracing out surfaces called worldsheets. Classical string worldsheets can be represented in two ways, mathematically equivalent but conceptually very different. The action of any physical system is an intrinsic feature of its dynamics. Classical mechanics can be quantized by using different mathematical methods, all producing the same quantum mechanical theory. The deep formal difference between the classical and quantum representations of physical properties is grounded on the radical physical difference between classical and quantum behaviors.