Time and Timelessness in Fundamental Physics and Cosmology

Silvia De Bianchi is Associate Professor at the University of Milan and PI of the ERC project PROTEUS—“Paradoxes and Metaphors of Time in Early Universe(s)” (2018-2024) and of the project COSMOS. Her research interests cover the history and philosophy of modern cosmology, history and philosophy of modern physics and history of philosophy, with emphasis on Kant’s work on natural science. She also works on the conceptual foundations of quantum gravity approaches, including Group Field Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity. With Claus Kiefer, she edited “Hundred Years of Gauge Theory” (Springer 2020), and edited two special issues for Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and one for HOPOS, devoted to the philosophical and mathematical underpinning of cosmology (18th-20th century). Marco Forgione is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Milan within the COSMOS project and before within the ERC Project PROTEUS: “Paradoxes and Metaphors of Time in Early Universe(s)”. He works on instances of space–time emergence in the context of different approaches to quantum gravity. Previously, he extensively worked on the history and philosophy of quantum electrodynamics and Feynman’s theorizing. His research interests focus on history and philosophy of science and philosophy of physics. Laura Marongiu is Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Milan within the COSMOS project and before within the ERC Project PROTEUS: “Paradoxes and Metaphors of Time in Early Universe(s)”. Her research interests focus on the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics and cosmology, with special emphasis on the Platonic tradition. Her previous research focused on the role of mathematics in Plato’s work; she is currently working on the reception of Plato’s Timaeus and on the history of mathematics and cosmology in Late Antiquity.

Part I. Time and Timelessness: Historical Outlooks.- Chapter 1. Atemporality and the Origins of the Eternal Cosmos: Debates on Timeless Simultaneity within Platonic Cosmogonies.- Chapter 2. Time and Atemporality of Time in Hegel's Naturphilosophie.- Chapter 3. Not Even Ideal. Kant on Absolute Time and Gödel's Rotating Universes.- Part II. Time and Timelessness in the Philosophy of Physics.- Chapter 4. Time is Order.- Chapter 5. En Route to Reduction: Lorentzian Manifolds and Causal Sets.- Chapter 6. Causation as Constraints in Causal Set Theory.- Chapter 7. Covariant Canonical Quantization and the Problem of Time .- Chapter 8. Asymptotic Reasoning and Universality in (Space)time Dynamics .- Chapter 9. On the Problem of Time in Asymptotically Safe Quantum Gravity .- Part III. Time and Timelessness in Cosmology.- Chapter 10. Time, Spacetime and F-Theory.- Chapter 11. Hydrodynamics on (Mini)superspace or a Non-linear Extension of Quantum Cosmology.- Chapter 12. Arrows of Time in Bouncing Cosmologies.- Chapter 13. Noether Symmetries in Quantum Cosmology: A Selection Rule For Observable Universes.