The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics

Eleanor Knox is Reader in Philosophy of Physics at King’s College London. She works in philosophy of physics, particularly the philosophy of spacetime physics, and is also interested in issues of reduction and emergence, and how these two come together in quantum gravity. Alastair Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and Senior Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University. He works on philosophy of physics, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and epistemology, with special interests in the philosophy of quantum theory and the metaphysics of dependence. He is the author of The Nature of Contingency: Quantum Physics as Modal Realism (2020).

Introduction I: Newtonian Mechanics 1. Newtonian Mechanics 2. Formulations of Classical Mechanics 3. Classical Spacetime Structure 4. Relationism in Classical Dynamics II: Special Relativity 5. Relativity and Space-Time Geometry 6. The Dynamical Approach to Spacetime Theories 7. Relativity and the A-Theory 8. Relativistic Constraints on Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics III: General Relativity 9. The Equivalence Principle(s) 10. The Hole Argument 11. Relativistic Spacetime Structure IV: Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics 12. Bell’s Theorem, Quantum Probabilities, and Superdeterminism 13. Quantum Decoherence 14. The Everett Interpretation: Structure 15. The Everett Interpretation: Probability 16. Collapse Theories 17. Bohmian Mechanics V: Quantum Field Theory 18. The Quantum Theory of Fields 19. Renormalization Group Methods 20. Locality in (Axiomatic) Quantum Field Theory: A Minority Report 21. Particles in Quantum Field Theory VI: Quantum Gravity 22. The Development of Quantum Gravity: From Feelings to Phenomena 23. String Theory 24. Quantum Gravity from General Relativity 25. Spacetime "Emergence" 26. The Problem of Time VII: Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics 27. Equilibrium in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics 28. Equilibrium in Gibbsian Statistical Mechanics 29. Quantum Foundations of Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics 30. Entropy Asymmetry VIII: Explanation 31. Causal Explanation in Physics 32. Non-Causal Explanations in Physics 33. Mechanistic Explanation in Physics 34. The Explanatory Value of Choosing the Appropriate Scale(s) IX: Intertheoretic Relations 35. Nagelian Reduction in Physics 36. Phase Transitions 37. Universality 38. Chance and Determinism X: Symmetries 39. Symmetry and Superfluous Structure: A Metaphysical Overview 40. Symmetry and Superfluous Structure: Lessons from History and Tempered Enthusiasm 41. Permutations 42. Gauge Theories 43. Time Reversal 44. Symmetry Breaking XI: Metaphysics 45. Laws 46. Chance 47. Holism 48. Dimensionality 49. Fundamentality XII: Cosmology 50. Why Is There Something, Rather Than Nothing? 51. Time in Cosmology 52. The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life 53. Dark Matter and Dark Energy 54. Evidence in Astrophysics