A model of the universe : space-time, probability, and decision /

McCall, an expert in logic, here surveys an impressive field of contemporary Anglo-American analytic epistemology. Using a "branched-tree" model of space-time, McCall resolves contemporary antinomies in such current questions as causality, probability, temporality, and decision theory. His model clarifies questions in quantum measurement theory and presents a realists' resolution to issues raised by the Bell theorems and similar controversies. The coverage is encyclopedic, e.g., there are 38 post-1970 books searched for arguments on time-flow. Despite the impressive scope, some areas receive broad but shallow coverage such that examples get better treated than their underlying propositions (e.g., the "Mermin Machine" model of quantum measurement theory). Some rare editing errors, as in a mis-drawn Stern-Gerlach apparatus, reinforce the impression that the proposed "model of the universe" is an advance on its predecessors more in the area of logic (where the model is supported by mathematical appendixes) than in physics. Recommended for all collections of current analytic philosophy, and to comprehensive collections on the philosophy of science. Upper-division undergraduate through faculty. P. D. Skiff; Bard College