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• Introduction : Le sens de l'espace est-il introuvable
• Une définition moderne de l'espace
• Deux présupposés modernes : l'espace cadre et l'espace autonome
• Un moment singulier : l'espace cartésien
• René Descartes, Les principes de la philosophie
• Thibaut Gress, L'espace. De l'historicité de la notion d'espace
• Localiser ou spatialiser ? la difficile gestation de l'espace
• Où sont les choses ? Le lieu sans l'espace
• Localiser : le lieu aristotélicien
• Le lieu comme porteur de la détermination qualitative des choses
• Le problème de l'intervalle
• Illustration picturale d'une approche localiste
• Abandonner le lieu, est-ce concevoir l'espace ?
• La notion de composition
• Conception atomistique du vide
• Fonction du vide chez les atomistes
• Le "tout" illimité est-il un proto-espace ?
• Le vide et non l'espace vide
• Milieu et contenant
• Quel est le lieu de l'univers ? Giordano Bruno et la défense d'un espace infini
• Détruire le "lieu" : naissance philosophique d'un espace infini
• L'espace antérieur aux corps : la percée de 1591
• Conclusion : l'espace comme lieu universel
• L'espace affranchi du lieu : l'espace absolu newtonien
• Espace relatif et espace absolu : de la mesure à la condition universelle de la mesure
• Démonstration de l'existence de l'espace absolu : l'expérience du seau d'eau en rotation
• Rapide aperçu de l'histoire du concept d'inertie
• Relecture de l'expérience du seau du point de vue inertiel
• Valeur de la preuve newtonienne
• Fondement théologico-métaphysique de la physique newtonienne
• Qu'apporte Newton à Bruno ?
• Conclusion : l'espace peut-il n'être l'espace de rien ?
• L'espace moderne : de l'espace kantien a l'étendue cartésienne
• La double fonction kantienne de l'espace
• Qu'est-ce qu'une "esthétique transcendantale" ?
• Les formes a priori de la sensibilité : l'espace et le temps
• Les deux définitions de l'espace kantien
• Les quatre intentions kantiennes
• Analyse du raisonnement kantien
• Les ambiguïtés de l'espace kantien
• L'espace comme idéalité transcendantale et comme réalité empirique
• L'espace kantien peut-il être pensé indépendamment de tout objet ?
• Inscription historique de l'espace kantien
• La discussion avec Hume : le refus de l'origine empirique de l'espace
• La discussion avec Leibniz : l'approche conceptuelle de l'espace
• Réfutation kantienne de la conceptualité leibnizienne de l'espace
• Désintellectualisation de la figure et de la grandeur : fonction de l'intuition pure a priori
• Espace, corps et géométrie
• Difficultés logiques et conceptuelles de l'espace kantien
• L'espace kantien peut-il être pensé indépendamment des corps
• Persistance des choses en soi
• Une intuition peut-elle être une médiation ?
• L'indécision kantienne
• Que reçoit le sujet par la réceptivité spatiale ?
• L'immédiateté comme réceptacle de la médiation
• Reprise hégélienne de l'esthétique transcendantale
• Immédiateté et médiation de l'espace : la synthèse hégélienne
• L'impossible autonomie de l'espace
• Restituer la place centrale des choses matérielles : l'approche cartésienne
• Problématique spécifique du second livre des Principes de la Philosophie
• Conséquences de l'approche cartésienne
• Plénisme ou vacuisme : "de quoi le vide est-il plein ?"
• De quoi parle-t-on quand on parle du vide ?
• Deux expériences autour du vide : le baromètre de Torricelli et l'expérience du Puy-de-Dôme
• Le vide est-il une impossibilité intellectuelle ?
• Réinterpréter l'expérience de Torricelli dans une perspective pléniste
• Y a-t-il un espace cartésien ? Lieu, espace et étendue
• L'indéfinité de l'espace et l'infinité divine
• Quel espace pour la cosmologie relativiste ? La résistance de l'espace cartésien
• L'"étrange défaite" de Descartes et le problème des tourbillons
• Réhabilitation einsteinne de l'espace cartésien
• L'espace kantien résiste-t-il à la cosmologie relativiste ?
• Simultanéité et espace-temps
• Qu'est-ce que la Nature au sens hégélien ?
• L'espace-temps hégélien
• Les quatre perspectives de l'ouvrage
• L'historicité du concept d'espace et ses implications
• Une double réhabilitation : l'espace cartésien et la philosophie de la Nature hégélienne
• Figurabilité des concepts et spatialité
• Le problème d'une détermination des phénomènes spatiaux comme extériorité
• Une solution phénoménologique ?

"L'espace. Polysémique, il semble peiner à recevoir une définition ferme : conçu aussi bien comme intervalle que comme milieu homogène, appréhendé autant comme vide que comme lieu abritant le monde, il charrie une série de caractérisations différenciées témoignant de son manque d'évidence. Ainsi, on ne saurait dire si l'espace est une réalité ou une idéalité, un milieu ou un contenant, une étendue finie ou infinie. La clé est alors peut-être de partir des choses elles-mêmes dont nous faisons l'expérience quotidienne, et d'en rechercher la spatialité."--Page 4 of cover.

• 1. Introduction1
• .1. Metaphysics of Time: The Science of Reconciliation1
• .2. A Temporal Asymmetry: The Open Future and the Fixed Past1
• .3. Three main Desiderata
• 2. How is the Asymmetry between the Open Future and the Fixed Past to be characterized?2
• .1. Introduction2
• .2. The Failure of Bivalence2
• .3. A Reflection of our Ignorance2
• .4. The Anthropocentric Attempt2
• .5. Physical Indeterminism2
• .6. Counterfactual Dependence2
• .7. Metaphysical Indeterminacy2
• .8. The Branching Future2
• .9. No Future!2
• .10. Conclusion
• 3. A Model for the Asymmetry3
• .1. Introduction3
• .2. The McTaggartian Picture3
• .3. Complaining about the McTaggartian Picture3
• .4. The McTaggartian Picture revisited3
• .5. The Growing Block Theory of Time (GBT)3
• .6. A Skeptical Challenge for GBT3
• .7. Three Unsatisfactory Attempts to meet the Skeptical Challenge3
• .8. An Anti-Essentialist Picture of Kinds3
• .9. Bare Particulars to the Rescue of GBT3
• .10. The Virtues of Bareness3
• .11. Conclusion
• 4. Reconciling the Asymmetry with Contemporary Physics4
• .1. Introduction4
• .2. (Neo-)Newtonian Basics4
• .3. The Relativity Revolution4
• .4. Relativity as a Threat to GBT4
• .5. Beyond Special Relativity4
• .6. Quantum Gravity and the Revival of Temporal Becoming4
• .7. Reconciling GBT with Science-Fiction: The Case of Time-Travel4
• .8. Conclusion
• 5. Conclusion5
• .1. An attempt at Reconciliation5
• .2. The Summary of the Results5
• .3. Future Directions Bibliography.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This open access monograph offers a detailed study and a systematic defense of a key intuition we typically have, as human beings, with respect to the nature of time: the intuition that the future is open, whereas the past is fixed. For example, whereas it seems unsettled whether there will be a fourth world war, it is settled that there was a first world war. The book contributes, in particular, three major and original insights. First, it provides a coherent, non-metaphorical, and metaphysically illuminating elucidation of the intuition. Second, it determines which model of the temporal structure of the world is most appropriate to accommodate the intuition, and settles on a specific version of the Growing Block Theory of time (GBT). Third, it puts forward a naturalistic foundation for GBT, by exploiting recent results of our best physics (viz. General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Quantum Gravity). Three main challenges are addressed: the dismissal of temporal asymmetries as non-fundamental phenomena only (e.g., thermodynamic or causal phenomena), the epistemic objection against GBT, and the apparent tension between GBT and relativistic physics. It is argued that the asymmetry between the open future and the fixed past must be grounded in the temporal structure of the world, and that this is neither precluded by our epistemic device, nor by the latest approaches to Quantum Gravity ( e.g., the Causal Set Theory). Aiming at reconciling time as we find it in ordinary experience and time as physics describes it, this innovative book will raise the interest of both academic researchers and graduate students working on the philosophy of time. More generally, it presents contents of interest for all metaphysicians and non-dogmatic philosophers of physics. This is an open access book.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Preliminaries
• 3. Causality
• 4. Singularities
• 5. Underdetermination
• 6. Extendibility
• 7. Appendix.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This exploration of the global structure of spacetime within the context of general relativity examines the causal and singular structures of spacetime, revealing some of the curious possibilities that are compatible with the theory, such as 'time travel' and 'holes' of various types. Investigations into the epistemic and modal structures of spacetime highlight the difficulties in ruling out such possibilities, unlikely as they may seem at first. The upshot seems to be that what counts as a 'physically reasonable' spacetime structure in modern physics is far from clear.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction
• 1: Modes of Time Travel
• 2: The Self Visitation Paradox
• 3: The Time Discrepancy Paradox
• 4: The Double Occupancy Problem
• 5: The Bootstrapping Paradox
• 6: Changing the Past
• 7: The Grandfather Paradox
• 8: Constrict Theories
• 9: Inconsistency Theories
• 10: Incapacity Theory
• 11: Impossibility Theory
• 12: Probability
• 13: Decision Theory
• 14: The Tourist Paradox.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

There are various arguments for the metaphysical impossibility of time travel. Is it impossible because objects could then be in two places at once? Or is it impossible because some objects could bring about their own existence? In this book, Nikk Effingham contends that no such argument is sound and that time travel is metaphysically possible. His main focus is on the Grandfather Paradox: the position that time travel is impossible because someone could not go back in time and kill their own grandfather before he met their grandmother. In such a case, Effingham argues that the time traveller would have the ability to do the impossible (so they could kill their grandfather) even though those impossibilities will never come about (so they won't kill their grandfather). He then explores the ramifications of this view, discussing issues in probability and decision theory. The book ends by laying out the dangers of time travel and why, even though no time machines currently exist, we should pay extra special care ensuring that nothing, no matter how small or microscopic, ever travels in time.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Foreword ix
• Acknowledgments xv
• Introduction xvii
• Part 1. Foundations 1
• Chapter 1. Information, Communication and Learning 3
• 1.1. Claude Shannon's model 4
• 1.1.1. Ralph Vinton Hartley, Claude Shannon's forerunner 5
• 1.1.2. Claude Shannon's formula and the two fundamental theorems of telegraphic communication 6
• 1.1.3. The eight main characteristics of the Shannonian theory of communication 9
• 1.2. Gregory Bateson's model 11
• 1.2.1. The immanent mind and the Batesonian definition of information 11
• 1.2.2. The Batesonian categorization of learning 13
• 1.2.3. The eight main characteristics of Batesonian communication theory 16
• Chapter 2. Self-organization and Natural Complexity 23
• 2.1. Self-organization and information creation 23
• 2.2. Meaning of information in a hierarchical system 31
• 2.2.1. Order from noise versus organizational noise 31
• 2.2.2. Complexity and complication 33
• 2.2.3. Meaning of information in a hierarchical system 36
• Chapter 3. Human Memory as a Self-organized Natural System 41
• 3.1. The theory of functional localization or invented memory 42
• 3.1.1. The theory of functional localization 42
• 3.1.2. Against functional localization 45
• 3.2. Neural Darwinism and inventive memory 47
• Chapter 4. Hypotheses Linked to the Model 63
• 4.1. Six hypotheses relating to the structure of the network 64
• 4.2. Eight hypotheses relating to the evolution of the network 70
• 4.2.1. Assumptions related to inter-individual communication 71
• 4.2.2. Hypotheses related to intra-individual cognition 74
• Part 2. Space 81
• Chapter 5. Scope, Dimensions, Measurements and Mobilizations 83
• 5.1. Inter-individual communication and learning 85
• 5.2. Categorization and learning 92
• 5.2.1. The creative analogy of weak novelty: the example of Planck's formula 95
• 5.2.2. The creative analogy of radical novelty: Gregory Bateson's "grass syllogism" 101
• Chapter 6. Provisional Regionalization and Final Homogenization 113
• 6.1. Formation of clusters of actors and regionalization of the network space 114
• 6.2. Instability and erasure of regions within the network 124
• 6.3. Evolution of information production at the level of the global network and at the level of each cluster of actors 132
• Part 3. Time 141
• Chapter 7. Propensities to Communicate, the Specious Present and Time as Such, the Point of View from Everywhere and the Ancestrality's Paradox 143
• 7.1. Propensities to communicate and the specious present 144
• 7.2. Subjective time, objective time and time as such 151
• 7.3. A point of view from nowhere or a point of view from everywhere? 156
• 7.4. On an alleged "ancestrality's paradox" 161
• Chapter 8. Deja-vu and the Specious Present 171
• 8.1. A history of interpretations of the deja-vu phenomenon 172
• 8.2. Deja-vu and the specious present: an interpretation 179
• Chapter 9. The Acceleration of Time, Presentism and Entropy 187
• 9.1. Historical time, irreversibility and end of time 188
• 9.2. On the sensation of acceleration of time and presentism 193
• 9.2.1. A psychological interpretation of the acceleration of time 193
• 9.2.2. A socio-historical interpretation of the acceleration of time 197
• 9.3. Irreversibility of time and entropy of the network 202
• 9.3.1. A brief presentation of the genesis of the entropy concept 203
• 9.3.2. The entropy law and network trajectory 205
• 9.3.3. Entropy theory and trajectory of the complex socio-cognitive network of individual actors 209
• Chapter 10. Temporal Disruptions 213
• 10.1. The translation of beliefs 216
• 10.2. Revisions of beliefs and the possible worlds semantics 219
• 10.3. The weak transformation of beliefs: learning and normal science 222
• 10.4. The radical transformation of beliefs: learning and scientific revolution 226
• Conclusion 235
• References 249
• Index 269.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Based around the image of a carousel, this book uses epistemological theory to tackle the paradoxical acceleration and deceleration of time that is experienced by many. The consequence of this paradox is the observance of the past, present and future coinciding, where acceleration is combined with perfect immobility. The Carousel of Time proposes a model that focuses on a complex network of individual actors, and their relation to the analysis, structure and evolution of our socio-cognitive space-time. The first part of the book, "Foundations", presents the key bases of this model, as well as the notions that must be understood and integrated. The book then analyzes the concept of "Space", defining the parameters of the network's boundaries, and finishes with an exploration of "Time". This third part links the temporality of the network to its spatial characteristics and studies its evolution.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

As we navigate through life we instinctively model time as having a flowing present that divides a fixed past from open future. This model develops in childhood and is deeply saturated within our language, thought and behavior, affecting our conceptions of the universe, freedom and the self. Yet as central as it is to our lives, physics seems to have no room for this flowing present. What Makes Time Special? demonstrates this claim in detail and then turns to two novel positive tasks. First, by looking at the world "sideways" - in the spatial directions - it shows that physics is not "spatializing time" as is commonly alleged. Even relativity theory makes significant distinctions between the spacelike and timelike directions, often with surprising consequences. Second, if the flowing present is an illusion, it is a deep one worthy of explanation. The author develops a picture whereby the temporal flow arises as an interaction effect between an observer and the physics of the world. Using insights from philosophy, cognitive science, biology, psychology and physics, the theory claims that the flowing present model of time is the natural reaction to the perceptual and evolutionary challenges thrown at us. Modeling time as flowing makes sense even if it misrepresents it.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introductory Remarks
• Role of Evolution
• Science and the Progress of Science
• Remarks Concerning "World Equation"
• Container Principle Versus Projection Principle
• Quantum Weirdness
• Synchronicity: C G Jung and W Pauli
• Cosmological Considerations
• Cosmic Inflation: Do We Really Need It?.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The relationship between mind and reality is usually perceived as an event that takes place in reality and producing simultaneously an internal image in the mind. So it takes place twice, so to speak, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the two events. Within this conception, matter is embedded in space and time, and can be designated as "container-principle". This monograph emphasizes that the well-known philosopher Immanuel Kant denied this principle and he stated that reality is principally not recognizable to a human being, and modern biological evolution seems to lead exactly to Kant's point of view. Within the theory of evolution, man's image about reality in mind does not have to be complete and true in the sense of a precise reproduction, and it is relatively easy to recognize that even space and time should not be elements of reality outside. Within this conception, only a certain part of reality, which the human being needs for mastering life, is projected onto space and time, and we come to the so-called "projection principle". Then, spacetime defines the window to reality, leading to a number of exciting and essential questions, some of which are discussed in this monograph. As is known, current physics is mainly based on the container-principle. But this monograph proposes that the projection principle is obviously more suitable and could help to solve open-ended questions as, for example, in connection with the nature of time, the particle-wave duality, the cosmological constant, etc. Regarding the statistical behavior of matter, Einstein's statement "God does not play dice" has to be seen in a new light, but also Feynman's general viewpoint on quantum theory that it cannot be understood by man. However, conventional quantum theory is obviously not a consistent framework as per the projection principle. The term "world equation" is critically probed in this monograph.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

What is Time? Assuming no prior specialized knowledge by the reader, the book raises specific, hitherto overlooked questions about how time works, such as how and why anyone can be made to be, at the very same instant, simultaneous with events that are actually days apart. It examines abiding issues in the physics of time or at its periphery which still elude a full explanation - such as delayed choice experiments, the brain's perception of time during saccadic masking, and more - and suggests that these phenomena can only exist because they ultimately obey applicable mathematics, thereby agreeing with a modern view that the universe and everything within it, including the mind, are ultimately mathematical structures. It delves into how a number of conundrums, such as the weak Anthropic Principle, could be resolved, and how such resolutions could be tested experimentally. All its various threads converge towards a same new vision of the ultimate essence of time, seen as a side effect from a deeper reality.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface (A. Ashtekar, V. Petkov).- Part A - Introduction to Spacetime Structure.- Chap. 1 From Aether Theory to Special Relativity.- Chap. 2 The Historical Origins of Spacetime.- Chap. 3 Relativity Today.- Chap. 4 Acceleration and Gravity: Einstein's Principle.- Chap. 5 The Geometry of Newton's and Einstein's Theories.- Part B - Foundational Issues.- Chap. 6 Time in Special Relativity.- Chap. 7 Rigid Motion and Adapted Frames.- Chap. 8 Physics as Spacetime Geometry.- Chap. 9 Electrodynamics of Radiating Charges.- Chap. 10 The Nature and Origin of Time-Asymmetric Spacetime Structures.- Chap. 11 Teleparallelism: A new Insight into Gravity.- Chap. 12 Gravity and the Spacetime: An Emergent Perspective.- Chap. 13 Spacetime and the Passage of Time.- Part C - Spacetime Structure and Mathematics.- Chap. 14 Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group and Their Significance in Quantum Physics.- Chap. 15 Spinors.- Chap. 16 The Initial Value Problem in General Relativity.- Chap. 17 Dynamical and Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity.- Chap. 18 Positive Energy Theorems in General Relativity.- Chap. 19 Conserved Charges in Asymptotically (Locally) AdS Spacetimes.- Chap. 20 Spacetime Singularities.- Chap. 21 Singularities in Cosmological Spacetimes.- Part D - Confronting Relativity theories with observations.- Chap. 22 The experimental status of Special and General Relativity Chap.
• 23. Observational Constraints on Local Lorentz Invariance.- Chap. 24 Relativity in GNSS.- Chap. 25 Quasi Local Black Hole Horizons.- Chap. 26 Gravitational Astronomy.- Chap. 27 Probing Dynamical Spacetimes with Gravitational Waves.- Part E - General Relativity and the Universe.- Chap. 28 Einstein's Equation, Cosmology and Astrophysics.- Chap. 29 Viscous Universe Models.- Chap. 30 Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Cosmology.- Chap. 31 Exact Approach to Inflationary Universe Models.- Chap. 32 Cosmology with the Cosmic Microwave Background.- Part F - Spacetime Beyond Einstein.- Chap. 33 Quantum Gravity.- Chap. 34 Quantum Gravity via Causal Dynamical Triangulations.- Chap. 35 String Theory and Primordial Cosmology.- Chap. 36 Quantum Spacetime.- Chap. 37 Gravity, Geometry and the Quantum.- Chap. 38 Spin Foams.- Chap. 39 Loop Quantum Cosmology.- Acknowledgements.- About the Authors.- Subject Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

The Springer Handbook of Spacetime is dedicated to the ground-breaking paradigm shifts embodied in the two relativity theories, and describes in detail the profound reshaping of physical sciences they ushered in. It includes in a single volume chapters on foundations, on the underlying mathematics, on physical and astrophysical implications, experimental evidence and cosmological predictions, as well as chapters on efforts to unify general relativity and quantum physics. The Handbook can be used as a desk reference by researchers in a wide variety of fields, not only by specialists in relativity but also by researchers in related areas that either grew out of, or are deeply influenced by, the two relativity theories: cosmology, astronomy and astrophysics, high energy physics, quantum field theory, mathematics, and philosophy of science. It should also serve as a valuable resource for graduate students and young researchers entering these areas, and for instructors who teach courses on these subjects. The Handbook is divided into six parts. Part A: Introduction to Spacetime Structure. Part B: Foundational Issues. Part C: Spacetime Structure and Mathematics. Part D: Confronting Relativity theories with observations. Part E: General relativity and the universe. Part F: Spacetime beyond Einstein.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Aim and Structure of These Volumes xi Chapter One Classical Accounts of Space and Time 1 The Birth of Physics 1 Newton's First Law and Absolute Space 4 Absolute Time and the Persistence of Absolute Space 9 The Metaphysics of Absolute Space and Time 12 Chapter Two Evidence for Spatial and Temporal Structure 17 Newton's Second Law and the Bucket Experiment 17 Arithmetic, Geometry, and Coordinates 24 The Symmetries of Space and the Leibniz-Clarke Debate 34 Chapter Three Eliminating Unobservable Structure 47 Absolute Velocity and Galilean Relativity 47 Galilean Space-Time 54 Chapter Four Special Relativity 67 Special Relativity and Minkowski Space-Time 67 The Twins Paradox 77 Minkowski Straightedge, Minkowski Compass 83 Constructing Lorentz Coordinates 87 Chapter Five The Physics of Measurement 106 The Clock Hypothesis 106 Abstract Boosts and Physical Boosts 114 The "Constancy of the Speed of Light" 120 Deeper Accounts of Physical Principles 124 Chapter Six General Relativity 126 Curved Space and Curved Space-Time 126 Geometrizing Away Gravity 131 Black Holes and the Big Bang 140 The Hole Argument 146 Suggested Readings on General Relativity 152 Chapter Seven The Direction and Topology of Time 153 The Geometry of Time 153 Time Travel as a Technical Problem 162 The Direction of Time 165 Appendix: Some Problems in Special Relativistic Physics 171 References 177 Index 181.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

This concise book introduces nonphysicists to the core philosophical issues surrounding the nature and structure of space and time, and is also an ideal resource for physicists interested in the conceptual foundations of space-time theory. Tim Maudlin's broad historical overview examines Aristotelian and Newtonian accounts of space and time, and traces how Galileo's conceptions of relativity and space-time led to Einstein's special and general theories of relativity. Maudlin explains special relativity with enough detail to solve concrete physical problems while presenting general relativity in more qualitative terms. Additional topics include the Twins Paradox, the physical aspects of the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction, the constancy of the speed of light, time travel, the direction of time, and more. Introduces nonphysicists to the philosophical foundations of space-time theory Provides a broad historical overview, from Aristotle to Einstein Explains special relativity geometrically, emphasizing the intrinsic structure of space-time Covers the Twins Paradox, Galilean relativity, time travel, and more Requires only basic algebra and no formal knowledge of physics.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preliminaries
• McTaggart on time's unreality
• The block universe
• Asymmetries within time
• Tensed time
• Dynamic time
• Time and consciousness
• Time travel
• Conceptions of void
• Space : the classical debate
• Absolute motion
• Motion in spacetime
• Curved space
• Tangible space
• Spatial anti-realism
• Zeno and the continuum I
• Zeno and the continuum II
• Special relativity
• Relativity and reality
• General relativity
• Spacetime metaphysics
• Strings.

• Preface
• 1. The dark universe A. N. Taylor
• 2. Quantum spacetime and physical reality S. Majid
• 3. Causality, quantum theory and cosmology R. Penrose
• 4. On the fine structure of spacetime A. Connes
• 5. Where physics meets metaphysics M. Heller
• 6. The nature of time J. C. Polkinghorne
• Index.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

What is the true nature of space and time? These concepts are at the heart of science, but they remain deeply wrapped in enigma. Their structure at both the smallest pre-subatomic and the largest cosmological levels continues to defy modern physics and may require revolutionary new ideas for which science is still grasping. This unique volume brings together world leaders in cosmology, particle physics, quantum gravity, mathematics, philosophy and theology, to provide fresh insights into the deep structure of space and time. Andrew Taylor explains the evidence for dark matter and dark energy. Shahn Majid argues that space and time should be quantum. Roger Penrose explains what in his view comes before the 'Big Bang'. Alain Connes argues that matter is geometry as a fine structure to spacetime. Michael Heller explores the philosophical and theological implications of spacetime. John Polkinghorne argues for a theory of how time unfolds.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)