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Chance in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Roman Frigg
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Abstract

In two recent papers Barry Loewer (2001, 2004) has suggested to interpret probabilities in statistical mechanics as chances in David Lewis's (1994) sense. I first give a precise formulation of this proposal, then raise two fundamental objections, and finally conclude that these can be overcome only at the price of interpreting these probabilities epistemically.

Type
New Approaches to Equilibrium in Thermodynamics and Statistical
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 75 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2006 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. Edited by Cristina Bicchieri and Jason Alexander , December 2008 , pp. 670 - 681
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Jossi Berkovitz, Nancy Cartwright, David Lavis, Carl Hoefer, Barry Loewer, and Charlotte Werndl for helpful discussion and/or comments on earlier drafts. Thanks also to the audiences of the conference Time, Chance, and Reduction in Munich and the PSA meeting in Vancouver for feedback and suggestions.

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