Philosophy of physics

In philosophy, philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in modern physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Philosophy of physics can be broadly divided into three areas:

• interpretations of quantum mechanics: mainly concerning issues with how to formulate an adequate response to the measurement problem and understand what the theory says about reality.
• the nature of space and time: Are space and time substances, or purely relational? Is simultaneity conventional or only relative? Is temporal asymmetry purely reducible to thermodynamic asymmetry?
• inter-theoretic relations: the relationship between various physical theories, such as thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. This overlaps with the issue of scientific reduction.