Space and Time: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide

41 Pages·2010·0.51 MB·English

by  Alasdair Richmond

SPACE AND TIME
OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES ONLINE RESEARCH GUIDE
Alasdair Richmond
University of Edinburgh
2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
ISBN: 9780199809110
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
General Overviews
Textbooks
Anthologies
Kant and Enantiomorphy
Presentism and Eternalism
Perdurantism
Endurantism
Stage Theory
Absolutism and Relationalism
Realism and Antirealism
Time Travel
Contemporary Physical Issues
The Hole Argument
Dimensionality
Supertasks and Computation
Oxford Bibliographies Online
OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES ONLINE
RESEARCH GUIDE
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OXFORD BIBLIOGRAPHIES ONLINE |
Philosophy
Authority and Innovation for Scholarly Research Written
by a leading international authority and bearing the Oxford
University Press stamp of excellence, this article is a definitive
guide to the most important resources on the topic. The article
combines annotated citations, expert recommendations, and
narrative pathways through the most important scholarly
sources in both print and online formats. All materials
recommended in this article were reviewed by the author, and
the article has been organized in tiers ranging from general to
highly specialized, saving valuable time by allowing researchers
to easily narrow or broaden their focus among only the most
trusted scholarly sources. This is just one of many articles within
the subject area of Atlantic History, which is itself just one of the
many subjects covered by Oxford Bibliographies Online a
revolutionary resource designed to cut through academic
information overload by guiding researchers to exactly the right
book chapter, journal article, website, archive, or data set they
need.
WHY OBO?
For faculty and researchers:
Jumpstarts the research process by directing you to the best
print and online sources available
Offers high-level overviews of scholarship to get you quickly
up to speed on topics outside your area of expertise
OpenURL and full-text DOI s offer seamless linking to your
library s catalog, OCLC WorldCat, and Google Books*
Provides a useful tool for preparing syllabi, writing and
research assignments
For undergraduate and graduate students:
Provides undergraduates with an indispensable introduction
to the literature on major and minor topics within their field
Promotes critical thinking about sources and gives students
the means to negotiate and identify quality scholarship
Helps graduate students prepare for qualifying exams,
providing guidance on key works of scholarship
For Librarians:
Designed in consultation with active researchers, Oxford
Bibliographies Online offers an essential resource for
managing academic information overload
Expert recommendations on the best works available from
books and journal articles to archives, websites, and data
sets makes this the ultimate collection development tool
Increases usage of the online journals and databases your
institution subscribes to by seamlessly directing researchers
to those sources*
Supports print discoverability by allowing patrons to link
directly to the online catalog through OpenURL and full-text
DOI s*
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1
INTRODUCTION
The nature of space and time has provided a focus for sustained
philosophical debate for centuries and has inspired some
fascinating interactions between metaphysics and physics.
Although many of the entries presented herein could easily be
expanded into bibliographies in their own right, the included will
observe certain restrictions and will not, for example, deal with
significant related areas such as personal identity, causation,
freedom, or mereology. It would be easy to let issues about time
predominate to the virtual exclusion of space, and this
bibliography inevitably offers more coverage of issues to do with
time than space. However, in an attempt to ensure that key
topics in the philosophy of space are not entirely neglected,
considerations of balance have dictated that only minimal
references are made here to debates over, for example, the
directionality of time or time as construed in quantum theory.
The works selected for this bibliography concentrate primarily
on current work in space and time but also include some
pointers to earlier significant discussions such as the
absolutist/relationalist debate and arguments for antirealism
about space and time. Recent work has focused especially on
the metaphysical and semantic problems posed by time, but
live issues in the philosophy of space still attract discussion,
including the nature of space as substance or ontological
commitment and the impact of higher-dimensional spaces on
physical and metaphysical issues. One area of rapidly
expanding interest concerns the impact that different varieties
of spacetime might have on the scope of computation. Some
relativistic spacetimes seem to offer the prospect of allowing
one observer to access in a finite time the proceeds of another
observer s infinite-time task. In such spacetimes, the effectively
computable outstrips the Turing-computable and the Church
Turing thesis fails. Another issue of recently growing popularity
is time travel, increasingly being considered under diverse
physical and metaphysical aspects and not just as a source of
logical paradoxes.
GENERAL OVERVIEWS
The best overviews in book form are listed in Textbooks
notably Dainton 2001 and Turetzky 1990. A number of good
survey articles may be found in The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. For example, Hawley 2008 provides an ideal
introduction to several key debates in and around the topic of
persistence, and Savitt 2008 situates classic debates over the
status of temporal becoming in the often tangled deliverances
of modern physics. Reichenbach 1958 is an effective
introduction to the philosophy of space and time from a logical
empiricist perspective. Le Poidevin 1999 surveys some of the
most important areas in the metaphysics of time during a
crucial renaissance of that field. Richmond 2003 tries to survey
all the major strands in the philosophical time-travel debate
from about 1976 to 2002. Swinburne 1968 manages, without
taking a partisan stance on matters of substance, to offer
illuminating thoughts on a large number of distinct issues.
‣Hawley, Katherine. Temporal Parts
URL:
(http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/temporal-
parts/). In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University, 2008.
Comprehensive and evenhanded survey of the issues
between endurantists and perdurantists, including useful
sketches of these doctrines plus stage theory. Contains a very
useful bibliography. (Essay written in 2004.)
‣Le Poidevin, Robin. Recent Work on Time.
Philosophical Books 40 (1999): 1 9.
DOI: 10.1111/1468-0149.00128
Survey article on the preceding five years worth of work on
(mainly) metaphysical issues centering on tense,
directionality, and spacetime.
‣Reichenbach, Hans. The Philosophy of Space & Time.
Translated by Maria Reichenbach and John Freund.
New York: Dover Publications, 1958.
Focusing primarily on (1) the impact of the discovery of non-
Euclidean geometries and (2) the methods and implications
of relativity. Includes classic logical-empiricist accounts of
conventionality of simultaneity, clock transport, and Lorentz
equivalence.
‣Richmond, Alasdair. Recent Work: Time Travel.
Philosophical Books 44 (2003): 297 309.
DOI: 10.1111/1468-0149.00308
Survey of the time-travel debate from David Lewis 1976
onward, sketching links with debates in persistence,
philosophy of spacetime, and temporal topology.
‣Savitt, Steven. Being and Becoming in Modern
Physics
URL:
(http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2008/entries/spacetime-
bebecome/). In The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Edited by Edward N. Zalta. Stanford, CA:
Stanford University, 2008.
Places the debates over, for example, the status of temporal
becoming and John M. E. McTaggart s views on the unreality
of time (see McTaggart 1921 1927), among others, in the
contexts provided by modern physics. Good coverage and a
helpful bibliography. (Essay written in 2001.)
‣Swinburne, Richard. Space and Time. 2d ed. London:
Macmillan, 1980.
An attempt to elucidate both the logical and physical
structure of space and time. Perhaps more controversial than
a textbook but of remarkable coverage. Originally printed in
1968 (also in London, by Macmillan).
TEXTBOOKS
Textbooks on space and time face the dilemma that if they try
to keep abreast of current scientific thought, they risk not only
becoming outdated comparatively quickly, but also reducing
their coverage and likely market if they take a purely historical
approach. Dainton 2001 and Le Poidevin 2003 both strike good
balances between historical and contemporary approaches, and
manage to devote roughly equal attention to issues to do with
space as well as time. Ray 1991 is more focused on
philosophical problems in space and time arising from modern
science but offers useful connections with earlier and wider
debates. Turetzky 1998 does an extremely useful job in offering
effectively an overview of the entire history of Western
philosophical discussion of time. Smith and Oaklander 1995
focuses on traditional metaphysical issues but also offers plenty
of opportunities to pursue more recent questions, and provides
a good framework for classroom discussions.
‣Dainton, Barry. Time and Space. Chesham, UK:
Acumen, 2001.
Fine introduction to current philosophical discussions of
virtually every aspect of space and time. Clear, well-
organized, copiously illustrated, and well-referenced
throughout. For reasons of space, does not cover Zeno or
other Eleatic arguments. An ideal introductory volume and
teaching aid.
‣Le Poidevin, Robin. Travels in Four Dimensions: The
Enigmas of Space and Time. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2003.
Engaging and accessible introduction to classical and current
work in the field. Notably good sections on Zeno s paradoxes
and non-Euclidean geometries.
‣Ray, Christopher. Time, Space and Philosophy.
London: Routledge, 1991.
From Routledge s useful series on key topics in philosophy.
Wide-ranging and well-written introduction, primarily focusing
on relativity and philosophical issues arising therefrom, but
also offering overviews of Zeno s paradoxes and time travel.
Rather more technical than some philosophy textbooks on
space and time but a very useful addition to teaching
resources in these areas.
‣Smith, Quentin, and L. Nathan Oaklander. Time,
Change and Freedom: Introduction to Metaphysics.
London: Routledge, 1995.
Well-focused treatment of metaphysical issues around
freedom, temporal passage, and personhood. Largely
couched in a user-friendly dialogue format but concludes with
helpful technical appendices on relativity and becoming in
modern physics.
‣Turetzky, Phillip. Time. London: Routledge, 1998.
Another of the Routledge key topics series. Commendable
emphasis on the historical genesis and development of issues
in, for example, tense, temporal passage, and temporal
experience. Notably good on ancient and medieval figures,
while also providing a useful introduction to modern
phenomenological approaches.
ANTHOLOGIES