Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

7-2016

Abstract

This article highlights the limitations of typicality accounts of thermodynamic behavior so as to promote an alternative line of research: understanding and accounting for the success of the techniques and equations physicists use to model the behavior of systems that begin away from equilibrium. This article also takes steps in this promising direction. It examines a technique commonly used to model the behavior of an important kind of system: a Brownian particle that has been introduced to an isolated fluid at equilibrium. It also accounts for the success of the model, by identifying and grounding the technique's key assumptions.

Discipline

Philosophy | Philosophy of Science

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Philosophy of Science

Volume

83

Issue

3

First Page

393

Last Page

411

ISSN

0031-8248

Identifier

10.1086/685744

Publisher

Philosophy of Science Association

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1086/685744

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