Philosophical Problems of Space and Time: Second, enlarged edition

by Adolf Grünbaum

It is ten years since Adolf Griinbaum published the first edition of this book. It was promptly recognized to be one of the few major works in the philosophy of the natural sciences of this generation. In part, this is so because Griinbaum has chosen a problem basic both to philosophy and to the natural sciences - the nature of space and time; and in part, this is so because he so admirably exemplifies that Aristotelian devotion to the intimate and mutual dependence of actual science and philosophical understanding. More than this, however, the quality of his work derives from his achievement in combining detail with scope. The problems of space and time have been among the most difficult in contemporary and classical thought, and Griinbaum has been responsible to the full depth and complexity of these difficulties. This revised and enlarged second edition is a work in progress, in the tradition of reflective analysis of modern science of such figures as Ehrenfest and Reichenbach. In publishing this work among the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, we hope to contribute to and encourage that broad tradition of natural philosophy which is marked by the close collaboration of philoso­ phers and scientists. To this end, we have published the proceedings of our Colloquia, of meetings and conferences here and abroad, as well as the works of single authors.

Genres: Philosophy

Paperback

First published December 31, 1973

Reviews

[Anthony Faber · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very dense book. I may have missed the point, but he seems to be fussing about stuff that seems either obvious, trivial or undecidable to me. The physics part was okay, though.

[Albert-Jan Jorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive. Mostly read the last chapters that I needed for my studies, but it is clear that this is a very informative book and the result of some thorough investigation and hard labour by the author. Will definitely read the first half of the book at a later time to be fully up to date on the relativistic physics as I feel, this book delivers on the details more than with most other sources even though it is old!