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Monday, April 4, 2011

Nature's Unity-in-Diversity

THE SELF-EVOLVING COSMOS
A Phenomenological Approach to Nature's Unity-in-Diversity
by Steven M Rosen (City University of New York, USA)



This unique book offers an original way of thinking about two of the most significant problems confronting modern theoretical physics: the unification of the forces of nature and the evolution of the universe. In bringing out the inadequacies of the prevailing approach to these questions, the author demonstrates the need for more than just a new theory. The meanings of space and time themselves must be radically rethought, which requires a whole new philosophical foundation. To this end, the book turns to the phenomenological writings of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Heidegger. Their insights into space and time bring the natural world to life in a manner well-suited to the dynamic phenomena of contemporary physics.

In aligning continental thought with problems in physics and cosmology, the book makes use of topology. Phenomenological intuitions about space and time are systematically fleshed out via an unconventional and innovative approach to this qualitative branch of mathematics. The author's pioneering work in topological phenomenology is applied to such topics as quantum gravity, cosmogony, symmetry, spin, vorticity, dimension theory, Kaluza-Klein and string theories, fermion-boson interrelatedness, hypernumbers, and the mind-matter interface.


Contents:
Introduction: Individuation and the Quest for Unity
The Obstacle to Unification in Modern Physics
The Phenomenological Challenge to the Classical Formula
Topological Phenomenology
The Dimensional Family of Topological Spinors
Basic Principles of Dimensional Transformation
Waves Carrying Waves: The Co-Evolution of Lifeworlds
The Forces of Nature
Cosmogony, Symmetry, and Phenomenological Intuition
The Self-Evolving Cosmos
The Psychophysics of Cosmogony

Readership: Philosophically-oriented readers drawn to current developments in physics and cosmology. For academics and scientists dealing with the foundations of physics, the philosophy of science in general, and or contemporary phenomenological thought.

“The Self-Evolving Cosmos is an exciting, creative, interdisciplinary, and scholarly work recalling the collaboration between Hermann Weyl and Edmund Husserl on the function of mathematical intuition in cosmological physics … It is a major, ground-breaking, poetic work of powerful intelligence illustrating the use of a promising new research tool in the challenging areas of quantum and cosmological physics.”
Patrick A Heelan
William A Gaston Professor of Philosophy
Georgetown University
author of ‘Space-Perception and the Philosophy of Science’

“Rosen writes extremely well; each sentence is deep yet meticulously crafted, as it needs to be — describing a new paradigm is tricky business. This book, then, is not an easy read! It requires perusing in ‘depth’ and time spent in the ‘hiding places’, the ‘folds or nuances’, in order to absorb the imagery. But Rosen's vision, one that he has nurtured for decades, is well worth the effort.”
The Journal of Mind and Behavior

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