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143Substantivalism, Relationism, and Structural Spacetime RealismFoundations of Physics 30 (10): 1605-1628. 2000.Debates about the ontological implications of the general theory of relativity have long oscillated between spacetime substantivalism and relationism. I evaluate such debates by claiming that we need a third option, which I refer to as “structural spacetime realism.” Such a tertium quid sides with the relationists in defending the relational nature of the spacetime structure, but joins the substantivalists in arguing that spacetime exists, at least in part, independently of particular physical o…Read more
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7Dalla freccia di Lucrezio all’ascensore di Einstein: alcune considerazioni sul ruolo degli esperimenti mentali nella scienzaRivista di Estetica 42 21-37. 2009.In this essay I claim that thought experiments have invariably been very important to inquire into the foundations of natural science (in particolar physics). In particular, they have proved essential to test the stability of allegedly clear but ultimately contradictory concepts, that were nonetheless at the basis of widely shared scientific theories. By quickly reviewing some famous Gedankenexperimenten proposed by Einstein against the completeness of (Bohr’s interpretation of) quantum mechanic…Read more
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148Putnam on Time and Special Relativity: A Long Journey from Ontology to EthicsEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy 4 (2): 51-70. 2008.1.: In this paper I discuss Putnam’s view on time and the special theory of relativity. I first locate Putnam’s philosophical approach within a more general framework, essentially making reference to Sellar’s distinction between the scientific image and the manifest image of the world. I then reconstruct Putnam’s argument in favour of the reality of the future and the determinateness of truth-value for future tense sentences by showing that it is based on three premises that generate a contradic…Read more
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61Becoming and the arrow of causationPhilosophy of Science 67 (3): 534. 2000.The conceptual relation between objective becoming and the direction of time is explored by discussing an ontologically asymmetric notion of causation. It is claimed that such a notion, in terms of which Stein defined objective becoming in Minkowski spacetime, has either a purely metaphysical status or is reducible to physical concepts. In the former case, it is adequate for Stein's purpose but irrelevant to physical theories. In the latter, the causal asymmetry can be related to irreversible ph…Read more
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357Ph.DIn Stanely Tweyman (ed.), Studies in early modern philosophy, Caravan Books Delmar. pp. 127-156. 1993.In this paper I sketch the evolution of the main theories of the relationship between time and motion from Descartes to Newton, by defending an hypothesis that traces back Newton’s realism about time to Barrow’s “metric realism”, which Newton developed as the claim that measuring a magnitude X implies that X exists independently of our measures.
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387In this paper we argue that the different positions taken by Dyson and Feynman on Feynman diagrams’ representational role depend on different styles of scientific thinking. We begin by criticizing the idea that Feynman Diagrams can be considered to be pictures or depictions of actual physical processes. We then show that the best interpretation of the role they play in quantum field theory and quantum electrodynamics is captured by Hughes' Denotation, Deduction and Interpretation theory of model…Read more
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Università degli Studi Roma TreDipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e SpettacoloRegular Faculty