Machian Dynamics: The End of Time?

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• Jeremy Butterfield, Trinity College
• Monday 23 October 2006, 16:30-18:00
• Meeting Room 14, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jeremy Nicholas Butterfield.

I discuss Julian Barbour’s Machian theories of dynamics, and his proposal that a Machian perspective enables one to solve the problem of time in quantum geometrodynamics (by saying that there is no time!). I concentrate on his 1999 book, The End of Time. The talk will stress philosophical issues, not technicalities.

This talk will also introduce some foundational themes in classical mechanics, especially in the Lagrangian approach. I expect in the next two meetings (30 October and 6 November) to pursue those themes: independently of Machianism, and including the Hamiltonian approach.

This talk is part of the Philosophy of Physics series.

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