Abstract

A clear presentation and exploration of the philosophical implications of the classical picture of the physical world and the ways in which contemporary physics has changed it. Capek argues that physics has now moved from a universe governed by a "timeless world formula" toward a world which is irreversible and incomplete, where "becoming has been re-instated." The author's careful attention to the differences between the special and general theories of relativity helps to clear up important misconceptions about the space-time continuum and the "dilatation" of time. Capek is more successful in explaining and clarifying physics than he is in assessing its precise philosophic impact.--B. J. H.