Book contents

Classical Physics

10 parts · 14 sections

  1. Part -1: Philosophical and Physical terminology and definitions and concepts
    1. Ch. -1.1: Ontology and Epistemology upon Physicalism vs Anti-Physicalism
      1. Epistemology
      2. Ontology
      3. Physicalism
    2. Ch. -1.2: Philosophical Pillars of Physics
      1. Semantic Realism and Falsifiability
  2. PART 0: THE METAPHYSICAL PROLOGUE
    1. Ch. 0.1: The Materialists & The Atomists (Thales to Democritus)
    2. Ch. 0.2: The Clash of Being vs. Becoming (Parmenides & Heraclitus)
    3. Ch. 0.3: The Pluralists & The Idealists (Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Plato)
    4. Ch. 0.4: The Teleological Giant (Aristotle & The Four Causes)
    5. PHIL Embedded: The birth of the Ontology vs. Epistemology problem. Why defining the "real" is already an act of framing.
  3. PART 1: THE RELATIONAL RUPTURE
    1. Ch. 1.1: The Demotion of Earth (Copernicus & Kepler's Laws)
    2. Ch. 1.2: Galileo's Ship (The Principle of Relativity & The Birth of Inertia)
      1. Galileo's Ship
      2. Galilean Relativity
      3. Indifference to Motion or Rest
    3. Ch. 1.3: Descartes' Plenum (The Mechanical Philosophy & Mind-Body Dualism)
    4. PHIL Embedded: Kant's Copernican Revolution. How Galileo's relativity prefigures Kant's claim that we only know phenomena, not noumena.
  4. PART 2: THE GRAND SYNTHESIS
    1. Ch. 2.1: Newton's Calculus (Limits, Derivatives, ODEs)
      1. Fluxion
    2. Ch. 2.2: The Laws of Motion & Universal Gravitation (F=ma, Inverse-Square)
      1. Newton's Law of motion
    3. Ch. 2.3: The Scholium on Absolute Space & Time (The Bucket Argument)
    4. Ch. 2.4: Leibniz's Relational Critique (Space as the order of coexistence)
    5. PHIL Embedded: The Absolute vs. Relational debate. Laplacian Determinism and the question of free will.
  5. PART 3: THE ANALYTICAL REVOLUTION
    1. Ch. 3.1: D'Alembert's Principle & The Birth of the Virtual (Virtual Work)
    2. Ch. 3.2: Lagrange & Generalized Coordinates (Euler-Lagrange, L = T - V)
    3. Ch. 3.3: Maupertuis & The Principle of Least Action (Teleology returns)
    4. Ch. 3.4: Hamilton & Phase Space (H = T + V, Canonical Equations)
    5. Ch. 3.5: Hamilton-Jacobi & The Optical-Mechanical Analogy (Action as wavefront)
    6. PHIL Embedded: The resurrection of Aristotle's Final Cause. The shift from local causation to global optimization. The bridge to quantum mechanics.
  6. PART 4: THE FIELD & THE ETHER
    1. Ch. 4.1: Faraday's Lines of Force (The ontological shift to fields)
    2. Ch. 4.2: Maxwell's Synthesis (The Equations, the Wave Equation)
    3. Ch. 4.3: The Luminiferous Ether (The return of the absolute background)
    4. Ch. 4.4: The Self-Interacting Electron Problem (Infinite energy/mass)
    5. PHIL Embedded: Action-at-a-distance vs. Field ontology. The underdetermination problem (prelude to Lorentz-Einstein).
  7. PART 5: RELATIVITY — THE DEATH OF THE BACKGROUND
    1. Ch. 5.1: The Michelson-Morley Null Result (The experimental crisis)
    2. Ch. 5.2: Lorentz's Mathematical Fictions (Length contraction, Local time, Transformations)
    3. Ch. 5.3: Poincaré's Group Theory (The Relativity Principle as universal law)
    4. PHIL Embedded (The Erasure Restored): Lorentz and Poincaré had the math. The debate is Instrumentalism vs. Operationalism.
    5. Ch. 5.4: Einstein's Operational Epiphany (Defining time by light clocks, Relativity of Simultaneity)
    6. Ch. 5.5: Relativistic Kinematics & Dynamics (Time dilation, E=mc²)
    7. Ch. 5.6: Minkowski Spacetime (The block universe. The abolition of absolute time)
    8. PHIL Embedded: The final epistemological lesson: Newton's absolute time was never a fact; it was a metaphysical assumption that failed operational definition.
  8. PART 6: THE CURVED ARENA
    1. Ch. 6.1: The Equivalence Principle (Acceleration = Gravity locally)
    2. Ch. 6.2: The Einstein Field Equations (G_μν = 8π T_μν)
    3. Ch. 6.3: Experimental Confirmations (Perihelion, Light deflection, Redshift)
    4. Ch. 6.4: Cosmological Implications (Dynamic universe, Λ, Expansion)
    5. PHIL Embedded: The death of the absolute background. Leibniz wins. Geometry is physics. The "real" is exactly what the measuring rods say.
  9. PART 7: THE CHAOTIC REVOLT
    1. Ch. 7.1: Nonlinear Dynamics & The Sensitivity to Initial Conditions (The Butterfly Effect)
    2. Ch. 7.2: Integrable vs. Non-integrable Systems (KAM Theorem)
    3. PHIL Embedded: Laplacian determinism is mathematically true but practically dead. Predictability is not guaranteed by determinism.
  10. PART 8: THE ARROW OF TIME & THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE
    1. Ch. 8.1: The Reversibility Paradox (Newton's laws run backward)
    2. Ch. 8.2: The Second Law & Entropy (The thermodynamic arrow)
    3. Ch. 8.3: The Gibbs Paradox & Maxwell's Demon (Entropy and knowledge)
    4. Ch. 8.4: The Reductionism Debate (Can thermodynamics be reduced to mechanics?)
    5. Ch. 8.5: The Grand Philosophical Summary (What have we learned?)
      1. Ontology of Space/Time (Absolute → Relational)
      2. Nature of Physical Law
      3. Underdetermination & Theory Choice
      4. The Epistemological Lesson: The "real" is defined through measurement and metaphysical commitment.
      5. The Bridge to Quantum Mechanics (How Hamilton-Jacobi and the role of the observer flow into the quantum revolution).
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/Classical Physics
/PART 8: THE ARROW OF TIME & THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE

Part

PART 8: THE ARROW OF TIME & THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE

Ch. 8.1: The Reversibility Paradox (Newton's laws run backward)
Ch. 8.2: The Second Law & Entropy (The thermodynamic arrow)
Ch. 8.3: The Gibbs Paradox & Maxwell's Demon (Entropy and knowledge)
Ch. 8.4: The Reductionism Debate (Can thermodynamics be reduced to mechanics?)
Ch. 8.5: The Grand Philosophical Summary (What have we learned?)
01Ontology of Space/Time (Absolute → Relational)
02Nature of Physical Law
03Underdetermination & Theory Choice
04The Epistemological Lesson: The "real" is defined through measurement and metaphysical commitment.
05The Bridge to Quantum Mechanics (How Hamilton-Jacobi and the role of the observer flow into the quantum revolution).