The Self-evolving Cosmos

Book excerpt: 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. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Introduction Individuation and the Quest for Unity (77 KB). 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.