This paper was written by Huw Price and published in 2002. In it Price uncovers a unique approach to resolving a fundamental problem: Why are the laws of mechanics symmetric with respect to time and the fundamental laws of thermodynamics asymmetric with respect to time? This difference is fundamental to the irreversible processes investigated in the “thermodynamic school” of evolutionary theory. Price proposes an interesting way to understand it.
The abstract states: “Since the late nineteenth century, physics has been puzzled by the time asymmetry of the thermodynamic phenomena in the light of the apparent T-symmetry of the underlying laws of mechanics. However, a compelling solution to this puzzle has proved elusive. In part, I argue, this can be attributed to a failure to distinguish two conceptions of the problem. According to one, the main focus of our attention is a time asymmetric law-like generalization. According to the other, it is a particular fact about the early universe. This paper aims (i) to distinguish these two different conceptions of the time-asymmetric explanandum in thermodynamics; (ii) to argue in favour of the latter; and (iii) to show that whichever we choose, our rational expectations about the thermodynamic behaviour of the future must depend on what we know about the past—contrary to the common view, statistical arguments alone do not give us good reason to expect that entropy will always continue to increase.”
Huw Price. 2002. Boltzmann’s Time Bomb. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 53/1: 83-119.