In this course we will learn about the philosophical foundations of statistical physics. We will tackle philosophical questions such as the nature of theory reduction, the direction of time, the interpretation of probability in natural science, and more. The primary focus will be on issues squarely within philosophy of physics, but given the nature of the subject, philosophers with more general interests may also wish to attend. For example, philosophers interested in reductionism may be interested in the closest thing to a reduction, the putative reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics; the material on probability in natural selection and games of chance may interest philosophers of biology and others; and philosophers interested in the nature of time will be interested in better understanding what if anything follows from one of the more pervasive temporally asymmetric processes in the world. Various topics in the history of science, especially 19th century science, will also be considered.

You should buy a copy of Larry Sklar's Physics and Chance: Philosophical Issues in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), which we hope will be available at the bookstore. Most other readings will be available through e-reserves. The electronic reserves for this course can be found here. The articles from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) should be directly downloaded from their website.

• Syllabus
• Mammoth lecture on kinetic gas theory

• Venkataraman, A Hot Story, Ch. 2 ("Thermodynamics")

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