maudlin

The Metaphysics Within Physics
$35.00
What fundamental account of the world is implicit in physical theory? Physics straightforwardly postulates quarks and electrons, but what of the more intangible elements, such as laws of nature, universals, causation and the direction of time? Do they have a place in the physical structure of the world?
Tim Maudlin argues that the ontology derived from physics takes a form quite different from those most commonly defended by philosophers. Physics postulates irreducible fundamental laws, eschews universals, does not require a fundamental notion of causation, and makes room for the passage of time. In a series of linked essays The Metaphysics Within Physics outlines an approach to metaphysics opposed to the Humean reductionism that motivates much analytical metaphysics.

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years
$65.00
The design of this book is great. The entire collection is bound in army green canvas. Makes a great addition to the coffee table.

My Maudlin Career
$8.99
This is a group and a CD I bought entirely off the samples. Something about it seemed to work and, after playing the tracks many times, the songs do work. There's is something retro about the songs, almost like the 50's, but with a 'modern' lushness. The lyrics are catchy, but not trivial.

Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics (Aristotelian Society Monographs)
$46.95
I am a theoretical physicist from Germany and I appreciated Maudlin's introduction to special relativity and quantum physics. Much of it is in words and pictures and yet it is as precise as possible, if one doesn't want to evoke the entire apparatus of equations.
However, the philosophical implications and reasonings were not only far from being clear, but also so twisted, that nobody is able to really wrap up, what Maudlin's view is. Try to find it on the internet - nowhere will you find, what his upshot is. Why is that? Because it is impossible to wrap up a philosopher in a few words? Of course not! You will find many clear and sharp results of the philosophies even of Kant, Schopenhauer or Nietzsche, who also enjoyed writing in long essays.

So what is this book about? It first tries to explain the EPR-paradoxon by considering the collapse as a physical process. Therefore you have to talk about signalling or some kind of propagation at least with a speed which is faster than light (in order to reproduce the results of A. Aspect for example).
So Maudlin analyses, which aspect of the 'information' of 'a measurement being performed' must minimally be submitted from one EPR-particle to another. He keeps analysing and approaches the problem from all kinds of sides. This is very lenghthy and repetative.

And then, suddenly, on the last 3 pages of the book: A miracle happens!
Suddenly Maudlin choses the Many Minds Interpretation, which has never before been motivated in the book!
He himself finds this a bit ad hoc and says: Well, you might feel a bit betrayed, that we now do not at all come to a conclusion which has anything to do with the rest of the book.
However, this solution suddenly seems logical to him and he choses it.
The reader stays back in bewilderment.

As I said, try to find someone, who sums up Maudlin's real conclusion of this book in a precise phrase.
You will fail.
I think, because there is none.

So after all, I would say: The book offers a good introduction to quantum physics and the EPR-problem, but it is way overrated in being innovative, brilliant or conclusive. It totally failed me in saying anything new. And don't tell me his concept of hyperplanes was new. Gordon Fleming has published this many years ago.