Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Structures of many different sorts arise in physics, e.g., the concrete structures of material bodies, the structure exemplified by the spatiotemporal configuration of a set of bodies, the structures of more abstract objects like states, state-spaces, laws, and so on. To each structure of any of these types there corresponds a set of transformations which map it onto itself. These are its symmetries. Increasingly ubiquitous in theoretical discussions in physics, the notion of symmetry is also at the root of some time-worn philosophical debates. This work consists of a set of essays on overlapping topics drawn from both fields.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-204) and indexes.