-
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
-
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.
-
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
-
46Time, Relativity, and the Spatiality of Mental EventsIn Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara (ed.), Language, Quantum, Music, Springer. pp. 197-207. 1999.Sellars once wrote that “‘the problem of time’ is rivaled only by the ‘mind-body problem’ in the extent to which it inexorably brings into play all the major concerns of philosophy”. Considering that time plays a major role both in our inner life and in the description of the outer world, one could suggest that two problems are deeply related: our progress in understanding bits of the problem of time might shed light into the mind-body problem and vice versa. In this paper, I will test the plaus…Read more
-
Il tempo analizzato: origine e significato della metafora del flusso del tempoNuova Civiltà Delle Macchine 17 (4): 28-37. 1999.
-
37Time and the metaphysics of relativityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34 (1): 154-158. 2003.
-
79Relativity theory between structural and dynamical explanationsInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 21 (1). 2006.(2007). Relativity Theory between Structural and Dynamical Explanations. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science: Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 95-102
-
Cao on substantivalism and the development of 20th century field theoriesEpistemologia 22 (1): 151-166. 1999.
-
20Preface Bridging a Gulf (... or Perhaps Two!)European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 8 (1): 4-13. 2012.
-
74Absolute becoming, relational becoming and the arrow of time: Some non-conventional remarks on the relationship between physics and metaphysicsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (3): 559-576. 2006.The literature on the compatibility between the time of our experience--characterized by passage or becoming--and time as is represented within spacetime theories has been affected by a persistent failure to get a clear grasp of the notion of becoming, both in its relation to an ontology of events tt"spreadtt" in a four-dimensional manifold, and in relation to temporally asymmetric physical processes.In the first part of my paper I try to remedy this situation by offering what I consider a clear…Read more
-
M. Ferrari & I.-O. Stamatescu (Eds), Symbol and Physical Knowledge: On the Conceptual Structure of PhysicsInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 17 (1): 95-96. 2003.
-
557Realism and instrumentalism about the wave function. How should we choose?In Shao Gan (ed.), Protective Measurements and Quantum Reality: Toward a New Understanding of Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge University Press. 2014.The main claim of the paper is that one can be ‘realist’ (in some sense) about quantum mechanics without requiring any form of realism about the wave function. We begin by discussing various forms of realism about the wave function, namely Albert’s configuration-space realism, Dürr Zanghi and Goldstein’s nomological realism about Ψ, Esfeld’s dispositional reading of Ψ Pusey Barrett and Rudolph’s realism about the quantum state. By discussing the articulation of these four positions, and thei…Read more
-
307The irrelevance of the presentist/eternalist debate for the ontology of Minkowski spacetimeIn Dennis Geert Bernardus Johan Dieks (ed.), The ontology of spacetime, Elsevier. pp. 93-109. 2006.In this paper I argue that the debate between the so-called “presentists” – according to whom only the present is real – and the “eternalists”, according to whom past present and future are equally real, has no ontological significance. In particular, once we carefully distinguish between a tensed and a tenseless sense of existence, it is difficult to find a single ontological claim on which the two parties could disagree. Since the choice of using a tense or a tenseless language is dictated by …Read more
-
Holism and Structuralism in Classical and Quantum GRIn Dean Rickles, Steven French & Juha T. Saatsi (eds.), The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Oxford University Press. 2006.
-
155In recent times, there have been notable attempts to introduce an objective present in Minkowski spacetime, a structure that, however, should also be capable to explain some aspects of our experience of time. I claim that the “interactive present” introduced by Arthur and Savitt for such purposes is inadequate, since it turns out to be neither a physically relevant property nor a good explanans of our temporal experience. In its conclusive part, and after having proposed a more adequate model fo…Read more
-
211Dispositions, relational properties and the quantum worldIn Maximilien Kistler (ed.), Dispositions and Causal Powers, Routledge, 2017,, Routledge. 2017.In this paper I examine the role of dispositional properties in the most frequently discussed interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. After offering some motivation for this project, I briefly characterize the distinction between non-dispositional and dispositional properties in the context of quantum mechanics by suggesting a necessary condition for dispositionality – namely contextuality – and, consequently, a sufficient condition for non-dispositionality, namely non-contextuali…Read more
-
1Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on DeterminismThorverton UK: Imprint Academic. 2002.
-
268Properties and dispositions: Some metaphysical remarks on quantum ontologyAmerican Institute of Physics (1): 139-157. 2006.After some suggestions about how to clarify the confused metaphysical distinctions between dispositional and non-dispositional or categorical properties, I review some of the main interpretations of QM in order to show that – with the relevant exception of Bohm’s minimalist interpretation – quantum ontology is irreducibly dispositional. Such an irreducible character of dispositions must be explained differently in different interpretations, but the reducibility of the contextual properties in th…Read more
-
75La natura delle cose: introduzione ai fondamenti e alla filosofia della fisica (edited book)Carocci. 2005.The year 2005 has been named the World Year of Physics in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's "Miracle Year," in which he published four landmark papers which had deep and great influence on the last and the current century: quantum theory, general relativity, and statistical mechanics. Despite the enormous importance that Einstein’s discoveries played in these theories, most physicists adopt a version of quantum theory which is incompatible with the idea that motivated Ein…Read more
-
The Reality of the Future: Spacetime Physics and the Objectivity of Temporal BecomingDissertation, The Johns Hopkins University. 1993.Temporal becoming is usually considered the essence of the concept of time. But in our century most physicists and philosophers have defended the view that becoming is dependent on the existence of conscious beings and that there is no ontological difference between past and future. I evaluate these related claims both in light of their conceptual implications and by bringing to bear our best spacetime theories. ;Since a mind-independent becoming should be grounded in an ontological, non-epistem…Read more
-
401In this paper I present and critically discuss the main strategies that Bohr used and could have used to fend off the charge that his interpretation does not provide a clear-cut distinction between the classical and the quantum domain. In particular, in the first part of the paper I reassess the main arguments used by Bohr to advocate the indispensability of a classical framework to refer to quantum phenomena. In this respect, by using a distinction coming from an apparently unrelated philosophi…Read more
-
327Kant, Gödel and RelativityIn Peter Gardenfors, Jan Wolenski & Katarzina Kijania-Placek (eds.), In the Scope of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Proceedings of the Invited Lectures for the 11th International Congress of Logic Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Kluwer. 2002.Since the onset of logical positivism, the general wisdom of the philosophy of science has it that the kantian philosophy of (space and) time has been superseded by the theory of relativity, in the same sense in which the latter has replaced Newton’s theory of absolute space and time. On the wake of Cassirer and Gödel, in this paper I raise doubts on this commonplace by suggesting some conditions that are necessary to defend the ideality of time in the sense of Kant. In the last part of the pape…Read more
-
44Time and the metaphysics of relativity - William Lane Craig, kluwer academic publisher, dordrecht, 2000, 292pp. $US 92, ISBN 0-792-36668- (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 34 (1): 154-158. 2003.
-
22Facts, Events, Things and the Ontology of PhysicsPoznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 76 343-364. 2000.
-
119Scientific explanation and scientific structuralismIn Alisa Bokulich & Peter Bokulich (eds.), Scientific Structuralism, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of science, Springer. pp. 161--176. 2011.In this paper we argue that quantum mechanics provides a genuine kind of structural explanations of quantum phenomena. Since structural explanations only rely on the formal properties of the theory, they have the advantage of being independent of interpretative questions. As such, they can be used to claim that, even in the current absence of one agreed-upon interpretation, quantum mechanics is capable of providing satisfactory explanations of physical phenomena. While our proposal clearly canno…Read more
-
322Determinism, chance, and freedomIn Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Determinism, Thorverton Uk: Imprint Academic. pp. 321--38. 2002.After a brief but necessary characterization of the notion of determinism, I discuss and critically evaluate four views on the relationship between determinism and free will by taking into account both (i) what matters most to us in terms of a free will worth-wanting and (ii) which capacities can be legitimately attributed to human beings without contradicting what we currently know from natural sciences. The main point of the paper is to argue that the libertarian faces a dilemma: on the one ha…Read more
-
95In 1877 Peirce distinguished four different methods of “fixating our beliefs”, among which I here concentrate on what could be called the “method of tenacity” and the “method of science”. I then use these distinctions to argue that despite their apparent conflict, pragmatism, relying on the method of tenacity, and naturalism, relying on the method of science, can and should coexist, both in science and in metaphysics.
-
Aspetti epistemologici del concetto di tempoNuova Civiltà Delle Macchine 13 (1/2): 99-111. 1995.In questo saggio analizzo alcuni problemi sollevati dalla concezione analitia del tempo
-
Università degli Studi Roma TreDipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e SpettacoloRegular Faculty