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The singular universe and the reality of time : a proposal in natural philosophy / Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin.

by Unger, Roberto Mangabeira.

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Cambridge University Press, 2016, c2015.

9781107074064 (hc)

xxi, 543 p. ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [503]-511) and index.

The nature and scope of this work -- Part I. Roberto Mangabeira Unger. The science of the one universe in time -- The context and consequences of the argument -- The singular existence of the universe -- The inclusive reality of time -- The mutability of the laws of nature -- The selective realism of mathematics -- Part II. Lee Smolin. Cosmology in crisis -- Principles for a cosmological theory -- The setting : the puzzles of contemporary cosmology -- Hypotheses for a new cosmology -- Mathematics -- Approaches to solving the meta-law dilemma -- Implications of temporal naturalism for philosophy of mind -- An agenda for science -- Concluding remarks -- A note concerning disagreements between our views.

Cosmology is in crisis. The more we discover, the more puzzling the universe appears to be. How and why are the laws of nature what they are? A philosopher and a physicist, world-renowned for their radical ideas in their fields, argue for a revolution. To keep cosmology scientific, we must replace the old view in which the universe is governed by immutable laws by a new one in which laws evolve. Then we can hope to explain them. The revolution that Roberto Mangabeira Unger and Lee Smolin propose relies on three central ideas. There is only one universe at a time. Time is real: everything in the structure and regularities of nature changes sooner or later. Mathematics, which has trouble with time, is not the oracle of nature and the prophet of science; it is simply a tool with great power and immense limitations. The argument is readily accessible to non-scientists as well as to the physicists and cosmologists whom it challenges.

Smolin, Lee, 1955-

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