Storrs McCall presents an original philosophical theory of the nature of the universe based on a striking new model of its space-time structure and argues that the fact that the model throws light on such a large number of problems constitutes strong evidence that the universe is as the model portrays it. An ambitious, controversial, and ingenious idea for a completely new metaphysical foundation for philosophy and physics, this book discusses a broad range of topics within the framework of the new theory, and will be of special interest to physicists for its original new interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Storrs McCall presents an original philosophical theory of the nature of the universe based on a striking new model of its space-time structure. He shows that this theory can illuminate a wide variety of hitherto unresolved philosophical problems. These include: the direction and flow of time; the nature of scientific laws; the interpretation of quantum mechanics; the definition of probability; counterfactual semantics; and the notions of identity, essential properties, deliberation, decision, and free will. A particular instance of the explanatory powers of the proposed space-time model is its account of quantum non-locality in the EPR and GHZ experiments. Professor McCall argues that the fact that the model explains and throws light on such a broad range of problems constitutes strong evidence that the universe is as the model portrays it.

This volume contains six new and fifteen previously published essays -- plus a new introduction -- by Storrs McCall. Some of the essays were written in collaboration with E. J. Lowe of Durham University. The essays discuss controversial topics in logic, action theory, determinism and indeterminism, and the nature of human choice and decision. Some construct a modern up-to-date version of Aristotle's bouleusis, practical deliberation. This process of practical deliberation is shown to be indeterministic but highly controlled and the antithesis of chance. Others deal with the concept of branching four-dimensional space-time, explain non-local influences in quantum mechanics, or reconcile God's omniscience with human free will. The eponymous first essay contains the proof of a fact that in 1931 Kurt Godel had claimed to be unprovable, namely that the set of arithmetic truths forms a consistent system."