Higher Speculations
Grand Theories and Failed Revolutions in Physics and Cosmology
- Publisher's listprice GBP 35.99
-
16 249 Ft (15 475 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 1 625 Ft off)
- Discounted price 14 624 Ft (13 928 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
16 249 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 26 February 2015
- ISBN 9780198726371
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages412 pages
- Size 240x168x17 mm
- Weight 766 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 17 b/w line and halftone illustrations 0
Categories
Short description:
A historical account of highly ambitious attempts to understand all of nature in terms of fundamental physics. Presenting old and new 'theories of everything' in their historical contexts, the book discusses the nature and limits of scientific explanation in connection with concrete case studies.
MoreLong description:
Throughout history, people have tried to construct 'theories of everything': highly ambitious attempts to understand nature in its totality. This account presents these theories in their historical contexts, from little-known hypotheses from the past to modern developments such as the theory of superstrings, the anthropic principle, and ideas of many universes, and uses them to problematize the limits of scientific knowledge. Do claims to theories of everything belong to science at all? Which are the epistemic standards on which an alleged scientific theory of the universe - or the multiverse - is to be judged? Such questions are currently being discussed by physicists and cosmologists, but rarely within a historical perspective. This book argues that these questions have a history and that knowledge of the historical development of 'higher speculations' may inform and qualify the current debate on the nature and limits of scientific explanation.
Helge Kragh is one of our best historians of physics, and the author of several outstanding books. The idea of a history of highly speculative theories in physics is excellent. Although there are popular accounts of recent cosmological and grand-unifying theories, no historian has so far attempted to bring together old and new cases of such theories. The result makes fascinating reading and induces thought-provoking comparisons.
Table of Contents:
Part I: Cases from the Past
Beginnings of Modern Science
A Victorian Theory of Everything
Electrodynamics as a World View
Rationalist Cosmologies
Cosmology and Controversy
The Rise and Fall of the Bootstrap Programme
Part II: The Present Scene
Varying Constants of Nature
New Cyclic Models of The Universe
Anthropic Science
The Multiverse Scenario
String Theory and Quantum Gravity
Astrobiology and Physical Eschatology
Summary: Final Theories and Epistemic Shifts
