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J. T. Fraser

Subtitulado: A Critique of Interpretation in Physics

Fraser's central thesis in this book asserts that time, rather than constituting the undifferentiated medium of classical philosophy and physics, consists of a hierarchy of interrelationships between aspects of the physical and mental universe.

In his first chapter Fraser outlines the history and philosophy of temporal measurement, culminating in a subtle and precise staement of the requirements for such a measurement. This provides his answer to the question:

What do we do when we measure time? We test the validity of transformation equations. More generally, we search for order among clock readings and, when found, we express them [sic] in laws of nature.

In the second chapter Fraser, after a brief introduction and justification of application of the concepts of 'Umwelt' and hierarchy in science and philosophy, introduces his fundamental thesis. Briefly, he postulates that the universe exhibits several distict stable integrative levels, i.e., 'Umwelts' within which distinct sets components and their relationships may be described, and which possess distinct 'temporalities', or temporal components of these relationships. Fraser identifies six such levels:

1 Atemporal - the world of particles of zero rest mass, always moving at the speed of light.

2 Prototemporal - the world of particles of non-zero rest mass, always moving, but at speeds less than that of light.

3 Eotemporal - the world of large masses, gathered into stars, galaxies, groups of galaxies, etc.

4 Biotemporal - the world of living organisms.

5 Nootemporal - the world of man as a species and as individual member of the species.

6 ? - the world of collective human institutions, to the extent that they function as semiautonomous structures

Fraser's next four chapters elaborate on the first three levels through extended discussion of the four theories describing phenomena at these levels. The atemporal world is associated with special relativity, the prototemporal with quantum theory, and the eotemporal with thermodynamics and general relativity.

The seventh chapter addresses theories of biogenesis and organic evolution as the source of the biotemporal world, and the role of complexity and organisation in giving rise to the new temporal relationships.

The brief eighth and last chapter reviews the classical notion of time in the context of its role in the sciences and indicates Fraser's position regarding changes in that role necessary to achieve unification and coherence within and among the sciences.

Portions of this book work will seem dated to those keeping up with modern physics, and his views on complexity, while not invalid, seem crude in the light of recent work, particularly that of Stuart Kauffman and others of the Sante Fe Institute. Nonetheless, much of this recent work would appear to support Fraser's conceptual framework. Fraser's use of these concepts is original and important, and possibly the most carefully thought out approach to the problem of time available prior to Julian Barbour's The End of Time. Fraser's concepts, moreover, as extended by him and others under the auspices of the 'International Society for the Study of Time' , are morelikely to prove applicable to current research in the near term. Barbour's theories are as yet more speculative, and their application as yet difficult to conceptualize.

In all, a book which will reward careful reading with ample food for thought, and provide powerful new tools to anyone seriously interested in the study of time.

Idioma Inglés
Publicación 1983
Editorial University of Massachusetts Press
Categoría Filosofía


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