The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics

By: Steven Gimbel, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Steven Gimbel

Philosophers have long puzzled over the nature of space, time, and matter. These inquiries led to the flowering of physics with the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century. Since then, the spectacular success of modern physics might appear to have made philosophy irrelevant. But new theories have created a new range of philosophical concerns: What is the shape of space? Is time travel possible? Is there a grand unified theory that unites all of physics?

Treating these and other puzzles with an entertaining and accessible approach, The Great Questions of Philosophy and Physics guides you through the concepts, theories, and speculations that underlie our understanding of reality. In 12 stimulating, half-hour lectures, award-winning teacher and philosopher Steven Gimbel of Gettysburg College covers the fundamental ideas of modern physics, highlighting the role of philosophy in setting ground rules, interpreting the results, and posing new questions.

Professor Gimbel describes the grand synthesis that Isaac Newton achieved with his universal theory of gravitation and its picture of absolute space and time. Then, you see how Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, combined with quantum theory, overthrew the Newtonian paradigm, posing a host of philosophical puzzles. Among them is Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment about a cat that is simultaneously dead and alive according to the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics. You survey philosophical attempts to escape from this and other paradoxes, and you also investigate the role of mathematics in physical theories. Does its extraordinary success imply that the world is a mathematical system?

You close by exploring theological arguments that invoke the discoveries of physics to posit a creator God. As with other theories covered in the course, you carefully weigh both sides using scientific evidence and the tools of philosophy.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC

Great Information and entertainment

I was greatly surprised how informative and entertaining these lectures were presented as a free bonus with the Audible subscription! The Professor was clear and concise while explaining these difficult topics in simple,easy terms. I recommend this audible for anyone interested in science and it’s philosophical background. Enjoy.

Great Overview

Enjoyed this presentation, and the presenters humor! The only problem I had was with the way Dr. Gimbel pronounced the names of other philosophers (many times I had difficulty hearing to whom he referred).

Awesome

Awesome lectures. Awesome lecturer. I would love to hear more from this guy. Lots of energy and info. Good for meta’s and new learners of physics alike.

Informative and thought-provoking

All-around great presentation! I would recommend this to anybody. I think it’s also very important to anybody in STEM to be familiar with these subjects and content.

superb!

one of the best great courses and review of modern physics for a non physicist

well done

explains the difficult concepts in simpler terms. however, it's a bit harder to listen to the narrator. he starts a statement in normal volume but trails off to low volume making me miss the final gist.

Interesting topics fun presentation

The course provides Thought providing ideas and explanations without forcing one approach down your throat.

Great Listen

Great lectures walking through the history of philosophy and physics. This one actually makes sense as an audiobook - the supplemental material is nice, but not required to follow along. The narrator does a great job with his cadence of the lecture, with some good light humor mixed in.

Great read , not for the shallow minded

Made great sense of some really deep theories. Not a casual read by any stretch

Informative, Accessible and Entertaining

This author manages to deliver clear explanations about the most difficult topics in physics in a clever, entertaining way.