Platonia (philosophy)
Encyclopedia
In Julian Barbour
's book The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, Platonia is the name given to his hypothetic entity of a time
less realm containing every possible "Now" or momentary configuration of the universe.
The term can also be applied more generally to the "world of Forms" or "Plato's heaven" in Platonic
metaphysics
, and to the "ultimate ensemble
" in Max Tegmark
's variation of multiverse
theory.
Julian Barbour
Julian Barbour is a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science.Since receiving his Ph.D. degree on the foundations of Einstein's general theory of relativity at the University of Cologne in 1968, Barbour has supported himself and his family without an...
's book The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, Platonia is the name given to his hypothetic entity of a time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
less realm containing every possible "Now" or momentary configuration of the universe.
The term can also be applied more generally to the "world of Forms" or "Plato's heaven" in Platonic
Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism...
metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, and to the "ultimate ensemble
Ultimate ensemble
In physics and cosmology, the mathematical universe hypothesis , also known as the Ultimate Ensemble, is a speculative "theory of everything" proposed by the theoretical physicist, Max Tegmark.-Description:...
" in Max Tegmark
Max Tegmark
Max Tegmark is a Swedish-American cosmologist. Tegmark is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and belongs to the scientific directorate of the Foundational Questions Institute.-Early life:...
's variation of multiverse
Multiverse
The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics...
theory.
- The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, 1999, ISBN 0-297-81985-2 ; 2000, ISBN 0-19-511729-8 (paperback: ISBN 0-7538-1020-4)
See also
- Julian BarbourJulian BarbourJulian Barbour is a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science.Since receiving his Ph.D. degree on the foundations of Einstein's general theory of relativity at the University of Cologne in 1968, Barbour has supported himself and his family without an...
- Mathematical realism
- Modal realismModal realismModal realism is the view, notably propounded by David Kellogg Lewis, that all possible worlds are as real as the actual world. It is based on the following tenets: possible worlds exist; possible worlds are not different in kind from the actual world; possible worlds are irreducible entities; the...
- PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...