Space, time, and irreversibility: The philosophical problems of contemporary astrophysics

Authors

  • Gustavo Esteban Romero National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and National University of La Plata (Argentina).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8478

Keywords:

ontology, space-time, epistemology, black holes, gravitational waves

Abstract

 

Scientific philosophy is that which is informed by science. It uses exact tools such as logic and mathematics and provides a framework for scientific activity to solve more general questions about nature, the language we use to describe it, and the knowledge we obtain thanks to it. Many of the scientific philosophy theories can be proven and evaluated using scientific evidence. In this paper, I focus on showing how several classical philosophy topics, such as the nature of space and time or the dimensionality of the future, can be addressed philosophically using the tools from current astrophysics research and, in particular, from the study of black holes and gravitational waves.

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Author Biography

Gustavo Esteban Romero, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and National University of La Plata (Argentina).

PhD in Physics and professor of Relativistic Astrophysics of the National University of La Plata (Argentina). He is a senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy, has published almost 300 papers and ten books on astrophysics, gravitation, and scientific philosophy, and has delivered lectures and courses on these topics in more than twenty countries.

References

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Rescher, N. (2001). Nature and understanding: The metaphysics and methods of science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Romero, G. E. (2017). On the ontology of spacetime: Substantivalism, relationism, eternalism, and emergence. Foundations of Science, 22(1), 141–159. doi: 10.1007/s10699-015-9476-1

Romero, G. E., & Pérez, D. (2011). Time and irreversibility in an accelerating universe. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 20(14), 2831–2838. doi: 10.1142/S021827181102055X

Romero, G. E., & Vila, G. S. (2014). Introduction to black hole astrophysics. Heidelberg: Springer.

Stolpovskiy, M. (2016, March, 19-26). QUBIC Experiment. Conference 51th Rencontres de Moriond, La Thuile, Italy. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1605.04869v1.pdf

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Published

2017-06-20

How to Cite

Romero, G. E. (2017). Space, time, and irreversibility: The philosophical problems of contemporary astrophysics. Metode Science Studies Journal, (7), 201–209. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.7.8478
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Violent universe. High-energy astrophysics and cosmology in the twenty-first century

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