-
6Infinitely Challenging: Pitowsky’s Subjective Interpretation and the Physics of Infinite SystemsIn Yemima Ben-Menahem & Meir Hemmo (eds.), Probability in Physics, Springer. pp. 219--232. 2012.On Itamar Pitowsky’s subjective interpretation of quantum mechanics, “the Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics [QM] is just a new kind of probability theory”, one whose probabilities correspond to odds rational agents would accept on the outcomes of gambles concerning quantum event structures. Our aim here is to ask whether Pitowsky’s approach can be extended from its original context, of quantum theories for systems with an finite number of degrees of freedom, to systems with an infinit…Read more
-
7Laplacian determinism, or is this any way to run a universe?Journal of Philosophy 68 (21): 729-744. 1971.
-
126Sharpening the Electromagnetic Arrow(s) of TimeIn Craig Callender (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time, Oxford University Press. 2011.Time in electromagnetism shares many features with time in other physical theories. But there is one aspect of electromagnetism's relationship with time that has always been controversial, yet has not always attracted the limelight it deserves: the electromagnetic arrow of time. Beginning with a re-analysis of a famous argument between Ritz and Einstein over the origins of the radiation arrow, this chapter frames the debate between modern Einsteinians and neo-Ritzians. It tries to find a clean s…Read more
-
20Curie’s Principle and spontaneous symmetry breakingInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 18 (2 & 3). 2004.In 1894 Pierre Curie announced what has come to be known as Curie's Principle: the asymmetry of effects must be found in their causes. In the same publication Curie discussed a key feature of what later came to be known as spontaneous symmetry breaking: the phenomena generally do not exhibit the symmetries of the laws that govern them. Philosophers have long been interested in the meaning and status of Curie's Principle. Only comparatively recently have they begun to delve into the mysteries of …Read more
-
8Why Space is Not a Substance (at Least Not to First Degree)Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 67 (4): 225-244. 1986.
-
285Weyling the time away: the non-unitary implementability of quantum field dynamics on curved spacetimeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 33 (2): 151-184. 2002.The simplest case of quantum field theory on curved spacetime—that of the Klein–Gordon field on a globally hyperbolic spacetime—reveals a dilemma: In generic circumstances, either there is no dynamics for this quantum field, or else there is a dynamics that is not unitarily implementable. We do not try to resolve the dilemma here, but endeavour to spell out the consequences of seizing one or the other horn of the dilemma.
-
27Reassessing the prospects for a growing Block model of the universeInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 22 (2). 2008.Although C. D. Broad's notion of Becoming has received a fair amount of attention in the philosophy-of-time literature, there are no serious attempts to show how to replace the standard 'block' spacetime models by models that are more congenial to Broad's idea that the sum total of existence is continuously increased by Becoming or the coming into existence of events. In the Newtonian setting Broad-type models can be constructed in a cheating fashion by starting with a Newtonian block model, car…Read more
-
71the success of classical equilibrium statistical mechanics. Our claim is based on the observations that dynamical systems for which statistical mechanics works are most likely not ergodic, and that ergodicity is both too strong and too weak a condition for the required explanation: one needs only ergodic-like behavior for the finite set of observables that matter, but the behavior must ensure that the approach to equilibrium for these obsersvables is on the appropriate..
-
16The Unruh effect for philosophersStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 42 (2): 81-97. 2011.The importance of the Unruh effect lies in the fact that, together with the related Hawking effect, it serves to link the three main branches of modern physics: thermal/statistical physics, relativity theory/gravitation, and quantum physics. However, different researchers can have in mind different phenomena when they speak of “the Unruh effect” in flat spacetime and its generalization to curved spacetimes. Three different approaches are reviewed here. They are shown to yield results that are so…Read more
-
2Infinities, Infinitesimals, and Indivisibles: The Leibnizian LabyrinthStudia Leibnitiana 7 (2). 1975.Es werden zwei Bedeutungen von „Infinitesimal“ unterschieden und zwei Thesen verteidigt: (1) Leibniz glaubte, das Infinitesimale in einer der beiden Bedeutungen sei nicht nur eine nützliche Erdichtung, sondern es sei sogar notwendig fur die Differentialrechnung; (2) die moderne Nichtstand-Analysis rechtfertigt weder Leibniz's Griinde fur die Einführung des Infinitesimalen noch seinen Gebrauch desselben
-
10Bayes, Hume, Price, and MiraclesIn E. Eells (ed.), Bayes's Theorem, Oxford University Press. pp. 91--110. 2008.This chapter discusses the Bayesian analysis of miracles. It is set in the context of the eighteenth-century debate on miracles. The discussion is focused on the probable response of Thomas Bayes to David Hume's celebrated argument against miracles. The chapter presents the claim that the criticisms Richard Price made against Hume's argument against miracles were largely solid.
-
44Thoroughly modern Mctaggart: Or, what Mctaggart would have said if he had read the general theory of relativityPhilosophers' Imprint 2 1-28. 2002.The philosophical literature on time and change is fixated on the issue of whether the B-series account of change is adequate or whether real change requires Becoming of either the property-based variety of McTaggart's A-series or the non-property-based form embodied in C. D. Broad's idea of the piling up of successive layers of existence. For present purposes it is assumed that the B-series suffices to ground real change. But then it is noted that modern science in the guise of Einstein's gener…Read more
-
32Forever is a day: Supertasks in Pitowsky and Malament-Hogarth spacetimesPhilosophy of Science 60 (1): 22-42. 1993.The standard theory of computation excludes computations whose completion requires an infinite number of steps. Malament-Hogarth spacetimes admit observers whose pasts contain entire future-directed, timelike half-curves of infinite proper length. We investigate the physical properties of these spacetimes and ask whether they and other spacetimes allow the observer to know the outcome of a computation with infinitely many steps
-
14Tracking down gauge: An ode to the constrained Hamiltonian formalismIn Katherine Brading & Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections, Cambridge University Press. pp. 140--62. 2002.Like moths attracted to a bright light, philosophers are drawn to glitz. So in discussing the notions of ‘gauge’, ‘gauge freedom’, and ‘gauge theories’, they have tended to focus on examples such as Yang–Mills theories and on the mathematical apparatus of fibre bundles. But while Yang–Mills theories are crucial to modern elementary particle physics, they are only a special case of a much broader class of gauge theories. And while the fibre bundle apparatus turned out, in retrospect, to be the ri…Read more
-
193Einstein and SingularitiesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 30 (2): 185-235. 1999.Except for a few brief periods, Einstein was uninterested in analysing the nature of the spacetime singularities that appeared in solutions to his gravitational field equations for general relativity. The existence of such monstrosities reinforced his conviction that general relativity was an incomplete theory which would be superseded by a singularity-free unified field theory. Nevertheless, on a number of occasions between 1916 and the end of his life, Einstein was forced to confront singulari…Read more
-
8This is the editors' introduction to a new anthology of commissioned articles covering the various branches of philosophy of physics. We introduce the articles in terms of the three pillars of modern physics: relativity theory, quantum theory and thermal physics. We end by discussing the present state, and future prospects, of fundamental physics.
-
40Contact with the nomic: A challenge for deniers of Humean supervenience about laws of nature part I: Humean superveniencePhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 71 (1). 2005.This is the first part of a two-part article in which we defend the thesis of Humean Supervenience about Laws of Nature (HS). According to this thesis, two possible worlds cannot differ on what is a law of nature unless they also differ on the Humean base. The Humean base is easy to characterize intuitively, but there is no consensus on how, precisely, it should be defined. Here in Part I, we present and motivate a characterization of the Humean base that, we argue, enables HS to capture what is…Read more
-
12This document records the discussion between participants at the workshop "Philosophy of Gauge Theory," Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, 18-19 April 2009.
-
10Space-time, or how to solve philosophical problems and dissolve philosophical muddles without really tryingJournal of Philosophy 67 (9): 259-277. 1970.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |