Visits since 11/10/06:
Philosophy of Physics Reading Group |
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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. |
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Schedule 2007-2008 |
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| May 24, 2008 | Topic: John Manchak on supertasks in Malament-Hogarth spacetimes Readings: please read chapter 4 of John Earman`s Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic Spacetimes (Oxford UP, 1995). An electronic copy can be found here. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; May 24, 3:00 p.m. |
| May 10, 2008 | Topic: Jeff Barrett on the measurement problem in QFT Readings: the reading for this meeting is a manuscript by Jeff entitled "Wigner`s friend and Bell`s field beables". Find an electronic copy here. Also, Jeff suggested that we read a manuscript by David Albert, which can be found here. We will discuss Albert`s particle interaction story and consider a translation of it into a simple field theory. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; May 10, 3:00 p.m. |
| April 5, 2008 | Topic: David Albert on Significables Readings: the reading for this meeting is a manuscript by David Albert entitled "The technique of significables". Find an electronic copy here. Also, please read the first first chapter of a book he is currently writing. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; April 5, 3:00 p.m. |
| Feb. 16, 2008 | Topic: Brett Bevers and Tucker Lentz, Arntzenius and Greaves on time reversal invariance Readings: the primary reading for this meeting is Frank Arntzenius and Hilary Greaves, "Time reversal in classical electromagnetism" (find an electronic copy here); the secondary reading is Hilary Greaves, "Towards a geometric understanding of the CPT theorem" (find an electronic copy here); as background reading for those not familiar with the debate, Brett and Tucker recommend David Albert, Time and Chance, Chapter 1 ("Time-reversal invariance") [.pdf], John Earman, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 16 (2002) 245–264 [.pdf], and David Malament, Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 35 (2004) 295–315 [.pdf] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; February 16, 3:00 p.m. |
| Jan. 19, 2008 | Topic: Adrian Wüthrich, Minimal Assumption Derivation of a Bell-type Inequality Readings: Adrian has put together a reader for the meeting. Find an electronic copy here. If you cannot read the entire reader, you should concentrate on the article by Grasshoff, Portmann and Wüthrich, "Minimal Assumption Derivation of a Bell-type Inequality", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 56 (2005), 663–680. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; January 19, 3:00 p.m. |
| Dec. 1 | Topic: Jeff Barrett and Craig Callender, Maudlin's The Metaphysics within Physics Readings: Tim Maudlin, The Metaphysics within Physics, Chapter 3 ("Suggestions from Physics for Deep Metaphysics") and Chapter 4 ("On the Passing of Time") Find an electronic copy here. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; December 1, 3:00 p.m. |
| Nov. 10 | Topic: Steven Weinstein, Causality and Determinism in Classical Special-relativistic Theories Readings: Weinstein, "Causality and Relativity'' [140 kb .pdf]. Background reading: Price, "Causal Perspectivalism" [.pdf] and Kutach, "The Physical Foundations of Causation" [.pdf]. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; November 10, 3:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 13 | Topic: Sheldon Smith, Recent Work on Kant's Philosophy of Physics Readings: Kant, Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, Chapter 2: "Metaphysical Foundations of Dynamics". Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; October 13, 12:00 p.m. |
Meetings 2006-2007 (Links may be broken) |
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| June 16 | Topic: Chris Smeenk, Time's Arrow in Electromagnetism Readings: Earman, ``Sharpening the Electromagnetic Arrow(s) of Time'' [640 kb .pdf]. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; June 16, 3:00 p.m. |
| May 19 | Topic: Malament and Callender, Foundations of Statistical Mechanics Readings: Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; March 19, 3:00 p.m. |
| April 7 | Topic: Bob Geroch, Computation and Physics Readings: Section 15 of Computation, Quantum and Otherwise on the Grover Construction (lecture notes by Geroch [588 kb .pdf]), also section 16 (time permitting) Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; April 7, 3:00 p.m. |
| Mar. 10 | Topic: Tilman Sauer and Ioan Muntean, Unified Field Theory Readings: To be circulated. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; March 10, 3:00 p.m. |
| Jan. 28 (Sunday) | Topic: Chris Wüthrich, Loop Quantum Cosmology Readings: Chris Wüthrich, PhD Thesis, Chapters 7-8 [680 kb .pdf]; Martin Bojowald, “Loop Quantum Cosmology,” Living Reviews in Relativity [1.4 Mb .pdf]; Ashtekar, Bojowald, and Lewandowski, “Mathematical Structure of Loop Quantum Cosmology” Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics 2003 [340 kb .pdf]. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Jan. 28, 3:00 p.m |
| Dec. 2 | Topic: John Manchak, Gödel Spacetime Readings: David Malament, “Time Travel in the Gödel Universe,” PSA 1984 [link]; “Minimal Acceleration Requirements for Time Travel in Gödel Spacetime,” JMP 1985 [link]; “A Note about CTCs in Gödel Spacetime,” JMP 1987 [link]. Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Dec. 2, 3:00 p.m |
| Oct. 21 | Topic: Readings: Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Oct. 21, 3:00 p.m |
| Sept. 30 | Topics: Readings: Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, September 30, 1:00 p.m |
Meetings 2005-2006 (Links may be broken) |
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| June 3 | Topic: Tilman Sauer, Einstein's Method in the Discovery of General Relativity Readings: “Pathways out of Classical Physics. Einstein's Double Strategy in his Search for the Gravitational Field Equation,” by Tilman Sauer and Jürgen Renn [Link to Tilman's homepage] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, June 3, 3:00 p.m. |
| May 7 | Topic: Caro Brighouse, “Determinism in Modern Physics” Readings: “Aspects of Determinism in Modern Physics,” by John Earman [476 Kb .pdf] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, May 7, 3:00 p.m. |
| Mar. 26 | Topic: Stephan Hartmann, “Probability and Decoherence.” Readings: “Inequalities for Dealing with Detector Efficiencies in GHZ experiments” [link]; “Probabilistic Results for Six Detectors in a Three-Particle GHZ Experiment ” [link] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, March 26, 3:00 p.m. |
| Feb. 26 | Topic: Chris Smeenk, Philosophy of Cosmology. Readings: “Issues in the Philosophy of Cosmology”, by G.F.R. Ellis [link 411 Kb .pdf] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Feb. 26, 3:00 p.m. |
| Jan. 29 | Topic: Sheldon Smith, Non-Locality in Classical Electrodynamics. Readings: Chapters 3-4 from Inconsistency, Asymmetry, and Non-Locality, by Matthias Frisch [link 20 MB .pdf] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Jan. 29, 2:00 p.m. |
| Dec. 3 | Topic: Jeff Barrett, Dualism and the Preferred Basis Problem. Readings: “A quantum mechanical argument for mind-body dualism,” [link 105 Kb .doc] “The preferred-basis problem and the quantum mechanics of everything” [link 125 Kb .pdf] Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Dec. 3 starting at 10:00 a.m. |
| Nov. 6 | Topic: Craig Callender, Time Reversal Invariance Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Nov. 6 starting at 3:00 p.m. |
| Oct. 1 | Topic: David Malament, “Classical General Relativity” [link (4.9 MB .pdf)] Spacetime coordinates: 10:00 a.m. at UC Irvine, LPS seminar room (777 Social Science Tower) |