1. Required reading for this course is linked from the Syllabus. Citations for the required reading (and some of the optional reading) are at Philosophy of the Cosmos - Reading Citations.
2. There is additional optional reading tied to the lecture topics. This is also linked from the Syllabus.
3. Below is some extra optional reading which is less specifically tied to the lecture topics. You might find this fun and/or helpful for your final essays.
You can add to this list!
You can also give us feedback. E.g.: at the moment these links are not in the same order as the lectures. Does anybody care?
Jason
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
- Simon Blackburn, "Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy", Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Any edition is fine. I recommend this to anyone who's at all interested in any kind of philosophy. It's short and funny.
- Wikipedia is very good for some things, especially definitions of scientific terms. It's also pretty good at history. It's not so good in places where the issues are contentious. (One good place to find out which issues are contentious is the lectures.)
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu, is much better than Wikipedia at contentious issues in philosophy. Unfortunately it's rather long-winded, but I strongly recommend having a look at it anyway.
- Stathis Psillos, "A-Z of Philosophy of Science" (I'm too lazy to look up the full citation at the moment; email me if you need it).
General philosophy of science
"Science: Key Concepts in Philosophy" by Steven French: a really good book, written by a philosopher who knows more physics than most physicists!
Particularly recommended (but optional) reading for quantum mechanics
- Huw Price: Einstein and the Quantum Spooks http://bunny.xeny.net/POTC/optional-reading/Price%20-%20Einstein%20and%20the%20Quantum%20Spooks.pdf
- Hilary Putnam: A Philosopher Looks at Quantum Mechanics (Again) http://bunny.xeny.net/POTC/optional-reading/Putnam%20-%20A%20Philosopher%20Looks%20at%20Quantum%20Mechanics%20Again.pdf
Possible initial formation of life on Earth
- Slides from an informal talk: http://bunny.xeny.net/linked/Ball%20seminar%20slides%20-%20the%20life%20story%20of%20hydrogen%20peroxide%2c%202016.pdf
A non-fiction version of the reverse-entropy star thought experiment
- Huw Price - A Telescope To Look Into The Future? http://bunny.xeny.net/POTC/optional-reading/Huw%20Price%20-%20A%20Telescope%20To%20Look%20Into%20The%20Future%3f.pdf
The large-scale structure of the universe
On cosmology and particle physics, which turn out to be linked in strange ways
A great introduction to Special Relativity, with links to notes and examples
(by Joe Wolfe, UNSW)More on the arrow of time in Cosmology
- Huw Price, A Point on the Arrow of Time
Video dialogue on the big bang, expansion and multiverses
- philosophical discussion by one of the participants: http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/03/15/science-and-unobservable-things/
On dark matter
On the history of astronomy
On large numbers
- http://powersof10.com/index.php?mod=power_detail&id_power=8 — Use the chart of numbers on the far right to navigate. See also similar things listed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powers_of_ten##External_links.
- http://www.vendian.org/howbig/?&page=welcome_game.html — This reads like it's written for kids, but despite that it's really very useful.
Yet more on quantum theory
- On the double slit experiment:
- Good explanations of (one version of) the Copenhagen Interpretation of QM and Bohm's theory: http://home.sprynet.com/~owl1/qm.htm
On causation
- Bertrand Russell —- Causal Laws in Physics
London: George Allen & Unwin, 1927
http://apache.xeny.net/bunny/potc/Russell%20-%20Causal%20Laws%20in%20Physics.pdf
- Huw Price —- Causal Perspectivalism
http://homepage.mac.com/huw.price/preprints/CausalPerspectivalism.pdf
- John Norton —- Causation as Folk Science
http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/1214/
On the Fermi paradox
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