Thermostatistics, Information, Subjectivity: Why Is This Association So Disturbing?

Didier Lairez ()
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Didier Lairez: Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, École Polytechnique, CEA, CNRS, IPP, 91128 Palaiseau, France

Mathematics, 2024, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-27

Abstract: Although information theory resolves the inconsistencies (known in the form of famous enigmas) of the traditional approach of thermostatistics, its place in the corresponding literature is not what it deserves. This article supports the idea that this is mainly due to epistemological rather than scientific reasons: the subjectivity introduced into physics is perceived as a problem. Here is an attempt to expose and clarify where exactly this subjectivity lies: in the representation of reality and in probabilistic inference, two aspects that have been integrated into the practice of science for a long time and which should no longer frighten anyone but have become explicit with information theory.

Keywords: thermodynamics; statistical mechanics; information theory; subjectivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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