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Time: May 18 - 19, 2017
Place: Rutgers Philosophy Department Workshop Organizer: Eddy Chen (eddy.chen@rutgers.edu) |
Workshop Theme:
What is the fundamental nature of physical reality? The traditional metaphysician of science would most likely answer in terms of objects, properties, and laws of fundamental physics. Structural realists ( Steven French, James Ladyman, Kerry McKenzie, and Don Ross, among others) reject the traditional answer. They argue from the pessimistic meta-induction, and the projects of contemporary physics such as quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and symmetry-based space-time theories, that there are no “objects” (or at any rate that we should not believe in “objects”) and that there is only “structure.” They go on to show that this revisionary metaphysical picture of physical reality fits well with the methodology of modern physics. However, many metaphysicians and philosophers of science are worried about the intelligibility and coherence of this new picture of an object-free and structure-only physical reality. It is not obvious how to formulate structural realism as a clear, precise, and positive metaphysical thesis.
These issues are on the cutting edge of both contemporary philosophy of physics and metaphysics. The two-day Rutgers workshop aims to provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions about these important issues.
(Information about the second workshop in 2018, on the metaphysics of quantum field theories, can be found here.)
For more information, please contact the organizer Eddy Chen (eddy.chen@rutgers.edu).
Faculty advisors: Barry Loewer, Jill North, Jonathan Schaffer, Ted Sider, Dean Zimmerman.
Invited Discussants:
Jill North, Jonathan Schaffer, Dean Zimmerman, Barry Loewer, Kerry McKenzie, Hans Halvorson, David Albert, Tim Maudlin, Vishnya Maudlin, Sheldon Goldstein, Hartry Field, Marco Dees, Jo Wolff, Alyssa Ney, Mark Johnston, Ned Hall, Elise Crull, Zee Perry, Thomas Barrett, Noel Swanson, Robbie Hirsch, Michaela McSweeney, Mark Balaguer, Christina Conroy, Laurenz Hudetz, Hedda Hassel Morch, Harvey Lederman, Jeremy Goodman, Jeff Russell, Andrew Bacon.
*This workshop is made possible through the generous support of the Marc Sanders Foundation, the Rutgers Philosophy Department, Professors Jill North, Ted Sider, and Dean Zimmerman. Special thanks are due to Professor Mark Johnston, Professor Larry Temkin (the department chair), the faculty advisors, Isaac Wilhelm, and the administrative staff at the Rutgers Philosophy Department.
What is the fundamental nature of physical reality? The traditional metaphysician of science would most likely answer in terms of objects, properties, and laws of fundamental physics. Structural realists ( Steven French, James Ladyman, Kerry McKenzie, and Don Ross, among others) reject the traditional answer. They argue from the pessimistic meta-induction, and the projects of contemporary physics such as quantum field theory, quantum gravity, and symmetry-based space-time theories, that there are no “objects” (or at any rate that we should not believe in “objects”) and that there is only “structure.” They go on to show that this revisionary metaphysical picture of physical reality fits well with the methodology of modern physics. However, many metaphysicians and philosophers of science are worried about the intelligibility and coherence of this new picture of an object-free and structure-only physical reality. It is not obvious how to formulate structural realism as a clear, precise, and positive metaphysical thesis.
These issues are on the cutting edge of both contemporary philosophy of physics and metaphysics. The two-day Rutgers workshop aims to provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions about these important issues.
(Information about the second workshop in 2018, on the metaphysics of quantum field theories, can be found here.)
For more information, please contact the organizer Eddy Chen (eddy.chen@rutgers.edu).
Faculty advisors: Barry Loewer, Jill North, Jonathan Schaffer, Ted Sider, Dean Zimmerman.
Invited Discussants:
Jill North, Jonathan Schaffer, Dean Zimmerman, Barry Loewer, Kerry McKenzie, Hans Halvorson, David Albert, Tim Maudlin, Vishnya Maudlin, Sheldon Goldstein, Hartry Field, Marco Dees, Jo Wolff, Alyssa Ney, Mark Johnston, Ned Hall, Elise Crull, Zee Perry, Thomas Barrett, Noel Swanson, Robbie Hirsch, Michaela McSweeney, Mark Balaguer, Christina Conroy, Laurenz Hudetz, Hedda Hassel Morch, Harvey Lederman, Jeremy Goodman, Jeff Russell, Andrew Bacon.
*This workshop is made possible through the generous support of the Marc Sanders Foundation, the Rutgers Philosophy Department, Professors Jill North, Ted Sider, and Dean Zimmerman. Special thanks are due to Professor Mark Johnston, Professor Larry Temkin (the department chair), the faculty advisors, Isaac Wilhelm, and the administrative staff at the Rutgers Philosophy Department.