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422Quantum gravity meets structuralism: Interweaving relations in the foundations of physicsIn Dean Rickles, Steven French & Juha T. Saatsi (eds.), The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Oxford University Press. pp. 1--39. 2006.
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147Mirror Symmetry and Other Miracles in Superstring TheoryFoundations of Physics 43 (1): 54-80. 2013.The dominance of string theory in the research landscape of quantum gravity physics (despite any direct experimental evidence) can, I think, be justified in a variety of ways. Here I focus on an argument from mathematical fertility, broadly similar to Hilary Putnam’s ‘no miracles argument’ that, I argue, many string theorists in fact espouse in some form or other. String theory has generated many surprising, useful, and well-confirmed mathematical ‘predictions’—here I focus on mirror symmetry an…Read more
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12Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom, eds. , Human Enhancement . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 31 (1): 64-66. 2011.
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75Dual theories: ‘Same but different’ or ‘different but same’?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 59 62-67. 2017.I argue that, under the glitz, dual theories are examples of theoretically equivalent descriptions of the same underlying physical content: I distinguish them from cases of genuine underdetermination on the grounds that there is no real incompatibility involved between the descriptions. The incompatibility is at the level of unphysical structure. I argue that dual pairs are in fact very strongly analogous to gauge- related solutions even for dual pairs that look the most radically distinct, such…Read more
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34In this chapter I consider what recent work on background independent physics can do for structuralism, and what structuralism can do for background independent physics. I focus on the problems of time and observables in gravitational physics. The ‘frozen’ character of the observables of general relativity is usually considered to constitute a serious problem for the theory. I argue that by invoking correlations between physical quantities we can provide a natural explanation of the appear- ance…Read more
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1Alexander R. Pruss, The Principle of Sufficient Reason: A ReassessmentPhilosophy in Review 27 (5): 370. 2007.
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66Review of M. Gasperini, & J. Maharana (Eds.) (2008). String theory and fundamental interactions. Gabriele Veneziano and theoretical physics: Historical and contemporary perspectives (pp. xviii + 974, hardback, €99.95). Springer, ISBN 978-3-540-74232- (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 41 (2): 160-162. 2010.
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116Review: Physical Relativity: Space-time Structure from a Dynamical Perspective (review)Mind 116 (463): 736-740. 2007.
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7Peter Machamer and Gereon Wolters, eds. Thinking About Causes: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Physics Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 30 (2): 127-131. 2010.
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116Interpreting quantum gravityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36 (4): 691-715. 2005.This is an essay review of two textbooks on quantum gravity by Carlo Rovelli and Claus Kiefer.
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100Bringing the hole argument back in the loop: A response to PooleyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (2): 381-387. 2006.
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82The Ashgate Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Physics (edited book)Ashgate. 2008."Introducing the reader to the very latest developments in the philosophical foundations of physics, this book covers advanced material at a level suitable for ...
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22Structural Realism: Structure, Object, and Causality (edited book)Springer. 2012.Structural realism has rapidly gained in popularity in recent years, but it has splintered into many distinct denominations, often underpinned by diverse motivations. There is, no monolithic position known as ‘structural realism,’ but there is a general convergence on the idea that a central role is to be played by relational aspects over object-based aspects of ontology. What becomes of causality in a world without fundamental objects? In this book, the foremost authorities on structural realis…Read more
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20I examine the early history of quantum gravity and comment on its suitability as an episode that demands an integrated approach to history and philosophy of science.
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43Melville Y. Stewart, ed. , Science and Religion in Dialogue (2 vols.) . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 32 (1): 62-68. 2012.
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4Kit Fine, Modality and Tense: Philosophical Papers Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 26 (4): 250-252. 2006.
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106In this chapter we consider economic systems, and in particular financial systems, from the perspective of the physics of complex systems (i.e. statistical physics, the theory of critical phenomena, and their cognates). This field of research is known as econophysics—alternative names are ‘financial physics’ and ‘statistical phynance.’ This title was coined in 1995 by Eugene Stanley, and since then its researchers have attempted to forge it as an independent and important field, one that stands …Read more
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82Who's afraid of background independence?In Dennis Dieks (ed.), The Ontology of Spacetime II, Elsevier. pp. 133--52. 2008.Background independence is generally considered to be ‘the mark of distinction’ of general relativity. However, there is still confusion over exactly what background independence is and how, if at all, it serves to distinguish general relativity from other theories. There is also some confusion over the philosophical implications of background independence, stemming in part from the definitional problems. In this paper I attempt to make some headway on both issues. In each case I argue that a pro…Read more
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1Understanding permutation symmetryIn Katherine Brading & Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections, Cambridge University Press. pp. 212--38. 2003.
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41Patrick Rebuschat, Martin Rohrmeier, John Hawkins, and Ian Cross, eds. , Language and Music as Cognitive Systems . Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 32 (4): 253-258. 2012.
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2Jon Elster, Explaining Social Behaviour: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 28 (3): 169-172. 2008.
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20Causality in complex interventionsMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 12 (1): 77-90. 2009.In this paper I look at causality in the context of intervention research, and discuss some problems faced in the evaluation of causal hypotheses via interventions. I draw attention to a simple problem for evaluations that employ randomized controlled trials. The common alternative to randomized trials, the observational study, is shown to face problems of a similar nature. I then argue that these problems become especially acute in cases where the intervention is complex (i.e. that involves int…Read more
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15The Birth of String Theory (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (4): 524-526. 2013.
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124AdS/CFT duality and the emergence of spacetimeStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (3): 312-320. 2013.The AdS/CFT duality has been a source of several strong conceptual claims in the physics literature that have yet to be explored by philosophers. In this paper I focus on one of these: the extent to which spacetime geometry and locality can be said to emerge from this duality, so that neither is fundamental. I argue: that the kind of emergence in question is relatively weak, involving one kind of spacetime emerging from another kind of spacetime; inasmuch as there is something conceptually inter…Read more
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4Robert C. Bishop, The Philosophy of the Social Sciences: An Introduction Reviewed by (review)Philosophy in Review 28 (3): 169-172. 2008.
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Nothingness For CompositionalistsAnnales Philosophici 1 73-76. 2010.Given that worlds are defined compositionally as maximally spatiotemporally interrelated sums of possible objects, or as recombinations of actual states of affairs: what of empty worlds? It seems that such theories cannot admit such worlds, for nothing cannot come from the fusion or recombination of something. This is generally supposed to rule out metaphysical nihilism, the claim that there might have been nothing. In this brief note, I argue that the two positions can be made compatible by mod…Read more
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