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Randomness and Probability in Dynamical Theories: On the Proposals of the Prigogine School

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Robert W. Batterman
Robert W. Batterman*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Ohio State University
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Abstract

I discuss recent work in ergodic theory and statistical mechanics, regarding the compatibility and origin of random and chaotic behavior in deterministic dynamical systems. A detailed critique of some quite radical proposals of the Prigogine school is given. I argue that their conclusion regarding the conceptual bankruptcy of the classical conceptions of an exact microstate and unique phase space trajectory is not completely justified. The analogy they want to draw with quantum mechanics is not sufficiently close to support their most radical conclusion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 241 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

I would like to thank Larry Sklar, Mark Wilson, and Tim McCarthy for valuable comments and advice.

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