-
59David Lewis' "Principal Principle" is a purported principle of rationality connecting credence and objective chance. Almost all of the discussion of the Principal Principle in the philosophical literature assumes classical probability theory, which is unfortunate since the theory of modern physics that, arguably, speaks most clearly of objective chance is the quantum theory, and quantum probabilities are not classical probabilities. Given the generally accepted updating rule for quantum probabil…Read more
-
59Fulling Non‐uniqueness and the Unruh Effect: A Primer on Some Aspects of Quantum Field TheoryPhilosophy of Science 70 (1): 164-202. 2003.We discuss the intertwined topics of Fulling non‐uniqueness and the Unruh effect. The Fulling quantization, which is in some sense the natural one for an observer uniformly accelerated through Minkowski spacetime to adopt, is often heralded as a quantization of the Klein‐Gordon field which is both physically relevant and unitarily inequivalent to the standard Minkowski quantization. We argue that the Fulling and Minkowski quantizations do not constitute a satisfactory example of physically relev…Read more
-
58There is currently no viable alternative to the Bayesian analysis of scientific inference, yet the available versions of Bayesianism fail to do justice to several aspects of the testing and confirmation of scientific hypotheses. Bayes or Bust? provides the first balanced treatment of the complex set of issues involved in this nagging conundrum in the philosophy of science. Both Bayesians and anti-Bayesians will find a wealth of new insights on topics ranging from Bayes's original paper to contem…Read more
-
58Quantum Bayesianism AssessedThe Monist 102 (4): 403-423The idea that the quantum probabilities are best construed as the personal/subjective degrees of belief of Bayesian agents is an old one. In recent years the idea has been vigorously pursued by a group of physicists who fly the banner of quantum Bayesianism. The present paper aims to identify the prospects and problems of implementing QBism, and it critically assesses the claim that QBism provides a resolution of some of the long-standing foundations issues in quantum mechanics, including the me…Read more
-
57Interpreting Probabilities in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Statistical MechanicsIn Claus Beisbart & Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Probabilities in Physics, Oxford University Press. pp. 263. 2011.Philosophical accounts of quantum theory commonly suppose that the observables of a quantum system form a Type-I factor von Neumann algebra. Such algebras always have atoms, which are minimal projection operators in the case of quantum mechanics. However, relativistic quantum field theory and the thermodynamic limit of quantum statistical mechanics make extensive use of von Neumann algebras of more general types. This chapter addresses the question whether interpretations of quantum probability …Read more
-
55Testing Scientific Theories (edited book)Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1983.Rich with historical and cultural value, these works are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.
-
53Philosophical Problems of the Internal and External World (edited book)University of Pittsburgh Press. 1993.Now, considering the determinism or indeterminism of the world, ... The question of free will, and the mind-body problem, are two that come to mind. ...
-
52World enough and space‐time: Absolute versus relational theories of space and timePhilosophical Review 101 (3): 723. 1989.
-
51On the Other Hand...: A Reconsideration of Kant, Incongruent Counterparts, and Absolute SpaceIn James Van~Cleve & Robert E. Frederick (eds.), The Philosophy of Right and Left, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 235--255. 1991.In his 1768 essay ‘Concerning the Ultimate Foundation of the Differentiation of the Regions in Space’, Kant used incongruent counterparts in an attempt to refute a Leibnizian-relationist account of space. It is hard to imagine that scholars could be more divided on how to understand Kant’s argument and on how to assess its effectiveness. Two years later in 1770 incongruent counterparts resurface in Kant’s Inaugural Dissertation, this time as part of a proof that our knowledge of space is intuiti…Read more
-
49Infinities, 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
-
45Cosmic CensorshipPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1992. 1992.The cosmic censorship hypothesis states that the general theory of relativity has built in mechanisms to prevent the formation of "naked singularities," pathologies in the spacetime structure that lead to a breakdown in predictability and determinism. This paper discusses some attempts to turn the vague hypothesis into a precise conjecture. Evidence in favor of and against the conjecture is briefly reviewed. Finally the possibility of forming naked singularities via black hole evaporation due to…Read more
-
43Recent years have seen a growing consensus in the philosophical community that the grandfather paradox and similar logical puzzles do not preclude the possibility of time travel scenarios that utilize spacetimes containing closed timelike curves. At the same time, physicists, who for half a century acknowledged that the general theory of relativity is compatible with such spacetimes, have intensely studied the question whether the operation of a time machine would be admissible in the context of…Read more
-
42Infinitely Challenging: Pitowsky’s Subjective Interpretation and the Physics of Infinite SystemsIn Yemima Ben-Menahem & Meir Hemmo (eds.), Probability in Physics, Springer. pp. 219--232. 2011.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
-
40The Problem of IrreversibilityPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986. 1986.After reviewing recent literature from physics and philosophy, it is concluded that we are still far from having a satisfying explanation of the nature and origins of irreversibility. It is proposed that the most fruitful approach to this problem is to concentrate on conditions needed for a rigorous derivation of the Boltzmann equation.
-
39Determinism in the Physical SciencesIn Merrilee H. Salmon (ed.), Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, Hackett. pp. 232. 1992.
-
39Perceptions and Relations in the MonadologyStudia Leibnitiana 9 (2). 1977.Leibniz vertrat auf der einen Seite die Überzeugung, es gebe Relationen weder als abstrakte Universalien noch als konkrete Akzidenzen. Auf der anderen Seite war er überzeugt, daß es relationale Eigenschaften von physischen Gegenständen, die nicht auf nicht-relationale Eigenschaften dieser Objekte reduziert werden können, gebe. Die wirklichen Einzeldinge haben jedoch keine nicht-formalen relationalen Eigenschaften. Sie stehen zwar in Beziehung oder sind miteinander verknüpft, aber nur durch Perze…Read more
-
37Why Space is Not a Substance (at Least Not to First Degree)Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 67 (4): 225-244. 1986.
-
34Discussions of branching time and branching spacetime have become common in the philosophical literature. If properly understood, these conceptions can be harmless. But they are sometimes used in the service of debatable and even downright pernicious doctrines. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the pernicious branching and prune it back.
-
32Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers, and Shrieks: Singularities and Acausalities in Relativistic SpacetimesPhilosophical Review 107 (1): 142. 1998.For much of this century, philosophers hoped that Einstein’s general theory of relativity would play the role of physician to philosophy. Its development would positively influence the philosophy of methodology and confirmation, and its ontology would answer many traditional philosophical debates—for example, the issue of spacetime substantivalism. In physics, by contrast, the attitude is increasingly that GTR itself needs a physician. The more we learn about GTR the more we discover how odd are…Read more
-
31The implications of general covariance for the ontology and ideology of spacetimeIn Dennis Dieks (ed.), The Ontology of Spacetime, Elsevier. pp. 3--24. 2006.It generally agreed that the requirement of formal general covariance is a condition of the well-formedness of a spacetime theory and not a restriction on its content. Physicists commonly take the substantive requirement of general covariance to mean that the laws exhibit diffeomorphism invariance and that this invariance is a gauge symmetry. This latter requirement does place restrictions on the content of a spacetime theory. The present paper explores the implications of these restrictions for…Read more
-
31Einstein and SingularitiesStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 30 (2): 185-235. 1998.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
-
31World Enough and SpacetimeMIT press. 1989.Newton's Principia introduced conceptions of space and time that launched one of themost famous and sustained debates in the history of physics, a controversy that involves fundamentalconcerns in the foundations of physics, metaphysics, and scientific epistemology.This bookintroduces and clarifies the historical and philosophical development of the clash between Newton'sabsolute conception of space and Leibniz's relational one. It separates the issues and provides newperspectives on absolute rel…Read more
-
30Remarks on Relational Theories of MotionCanadian Journal of Philosophy 19 (1). 1989.In a recent article in this journal, Barbara Lariviere offers a very useful distinction between two ways of understanding the claims that Leibniz, or relational theorists in general, might wish to make about the nature of motion and the structure of space and time; viz., There is no real inertial structure to space-time.and There is a real inertial structure to space-time, but it is dynamical rather than absolute.Citing the authority of Weyl, the author argues that L1 is untenable; indeed, the a…Read more
-
28The Cosmos of Science: Essays of Exploration (edited book)University of Pittsburgh Press. 1997.The inaugural volume of the series, devoted to the work of philosopher Adolf Grünbaum, encompasses the philosophical problems of space, time, and cosmology, the ...
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 |