The reading group is a forum for philosophers (faculty members and graduate students) in Southern California to meet and discuss their own research and other recent articles in philosophy of physics. We intend to meet 2-3 times per quarter, with topics determined by the interests of the group.

Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be hosted by the LPS department at UC Irvine, in the LPS seminar room (777 Social Science Tower) [directions]. For instructions regarding parking and to reserve a permit, contact Patty Jones, LPS Department Manager.

Go to the listserv homepage to subscribe to a listserv with announcements related to the reading group. Feel free to contact me (wuthrich [-at-] ucsd.edu) with questions or comments.

Topic: Chris Smeenk and Chris Wüthrich: "Time machines"

Readings: An electronic copy of the paper will hopefully be made available in time.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; May 16, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Giovanni Valente (Maryland, Paris, UC Irvine, Pittsburgh), "On the Persistence of Entanglement in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory"

Readings: An electronic copy of the paper can be found here. The paper is a draft and not fit for distribution.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; April 18, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Craig Callender, "Hot and Heavy Matters in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics"

Readings: An electronic copy of the paper can be found here. If you are on the email distribution list, you will have received from Craig a list of items to read (ordered by importance).

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; February 21, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: David Baker (Michigan), "Broken Symmetry and Spacetime"

Readings: An electronic copy of the paper can be found here.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; January 24, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Peter Byrne on the history of Hugh Everett`s PhD thesis

Readings: Peter suggested we read excerpts from the transcript of the Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics that took place at Xavier University in 1962, where Everett presented his viewpoint to several other leading quantum mechanists. An electronic copy can be found here. Please focus on the exchange with Everett, pages 91-98 of the PDF file. As background reading, have a look at the paper Peter gave at the Everett conference at Oxford last year. Here it is.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; November 15, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: John Earman on superselection

Readings: please read his paper "Superselection Rules for Philosophers". An electronic copy can be found here.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; October 25, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Dennis Lehmkuhl on mass-energy-momentum in general relativity

Readings: Please read Dennis`s manuscript. Find an electronic copy here.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; September 28, 3:00 p.m.