The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos

by David A. Grandy

Overview

Light—our experience of light, our measurement of light, and the notion that light speed is constant—can be understood to mark our interface with the cosmos. David A. Grandy's book moves from the scientific to the existential, from Einstein to Merleau-Ponty, from light as a phenomenon to light as that which is constitutive of reality. To measure the speed of light is to measure something about the way we are measured or blended into the cosmos, and that universal blending predetermines our measurement of light speed in favor of a universal or constant value. It's quite a trip, one aimed at scientists who have pondered light speed constancy, philosophers inclined to question the idea that mind and world are distinct, and scientifically or philosophically inclined persons who enjoy stretching themselves in new ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253220868
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	07/06/2009
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David A. Grandy is Professor of Philosophy at Brigham Young University and author (with Dan Burton) of Magic, Mystery, and Science (IUP, 2004) and Leo Szilard: Science as a Mode of Being. He lives in Orem, Utah.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Space, Time, and Light Speed Constancy
2. Special Relativity
3. Horizonal Light
4. Experiential Light
5. Relational Light
6. Internal Relations
7. Light in a Vacuum
8. Ambient Light
9. Pre-reflective Experience
10. Body, World, and Light
11. Existential Light

Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

University of Toronto - Thaddeus J. Trenn

A brilliant and distinguished book . . . Grandy introduces a trans-scientific understanding of light as a deep ordering principle within the universe.

Universityof Toronto - Thaddeus J. Trenn

A brilliant and distinguished book . . . Grandy introduces a trans-scientific understanding of light as a deep ordering principle within the universe.

Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant and distinguished book . . . Grandy introduces a trans-scientific understanding of light as a deep ordering principle within the universe."—Thaddeus J. Trenn, University of Toronto

From the Publisher

"A brilliant and distinguished book... Grandy introduces a trans-scientific understanding of light as a deep ordering principle within the universe." —Thaddeus J. Trenn, University of Toronto

Thaddeus J. Trenn