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Explaining the Emergence of Cooperative Phenomena

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Chuang Liu
Chuang Liu*
Affiliation:
University of Florida
*
†Department of Philosophy, 330 Griffin-Floyd Hall, P.O. Box 118545, Gainesville, FL 32611–8545; e-mail: cliu@phil.ufl.edu.
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Abstract

Phase transitions are well-understood phenomena in thermodynamics (TD), but it turns out that they are mathematically impossible in finite SM systems. Hence, phase transitions are truly emergent properties. They appear again at the thermodynamic limit (TL), i.e., in infinite systems. However, most, if not all, systems in which they occur are finite, so whence comes the justification for taking TL? The problem is then traced back to the TD characterization of phase transitions, and it turns out that the characterization is the result of serious idealizations which under suitable circumstances approximate actual conditions.

Type
Foundations of Statistical Physics, Spacetime Theories, and Quantum Field Theory
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 66 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 1999 , 1999 , pp. S92 - S106
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Gérard Emch for countless discussions and suggestions related to this paper. I would also like to thank those who attended the PSA 1998 session at which I read an earlier version of this paper, asked questions, and/or gave comments.

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