•  192
    Weak Discernibility for Quanta, the Right Way
    with Nick Huggett and Josh Norton
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 65 (1): 39-58. 2014.
    Muller and Saunders ([2008]) purport to demonstrate that, surprisingly, bosons and fermions are discernible; this article disputes their arguments, then derives a similar conclusion in a more satisfactory fashion. After briefly explicating their proof and indicating how it escapes earlier indiscernibility results, we note that the observables which Muller and Saunders argue discern particles are (i) non-symmetric in the case of bosons and (ii) trivial multiples of the identity in the case of fer…Read more
  •  120
    The ontological issues at stake given the theory of loop quantum gravity include the status of spacetime, the nature and reality of spin-networks, the relationship of classical spacetime to issues of causation and the status of the abstract-concrete distinction. I this paper I argue that, while spacetime seems to disappear, the spirit of substantival spacetime lives on under certain interpretations of the theory. Moreover, in order for there to be physical spin-networks, and not merely mathemati…Read more
  •  46
    Weak Discernibility and Relations between Quanta
    Philosophy of Science 82 (5): 1188-1199. 2015.
    Some authors have attempted to defend Leibniz’s Identity of Indiscernibles through weak discernibility. The idea is that if there is a symmetric, nonreflexive physical relation that holds between two particles, then those particles cannot be identical. In this article I focus only on Muller and Saunders’s account and argue that the means by which they achieve weak discernibility is not through a quantum mechanical observable but an alternate mathematical construction that is both unorthodox and …Read more
  •  44
    In this paper, I will argue that metaphysicians ought to utilize quantum theories of gravity as incubators for a future metaphysics. In §1, I will argue why this ought to be done. In §2, I will present case studies from the history of science where physical theories have challenged both the dogmatic and speculative metaphysician. In §3, I will present two theories of QG and demonstrate the challenge they pose to certain aspects of our current metaphysics; in particular, how they challenge our un…Read more
  •  37
    The Hole Argument Against Everything
    Foundations of Physics 50 (4): 360-378. 2020.
    The Hole Argument was originally formulated by Einstein and it haunted him as he struggled to understand the meaning of spacetime coordinates in the context of the diffeomorphism invariance of general relativity. This argument has since been put to philosophical use by Earman and Norton to argue against a substantival conception of spacetime. In the present work I demonstrate how Earman and Norton’s Hole Argument can be extended to exclude everything and not merely substantival manifolds. These …Read more
  •  31
    Suppressing spacetime emergence
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C): 50-59. 2021.
  •  28
    Loop quantum ontology: Spacetime and spin-networks
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 71 14-25. 2020.
  •  25
    Empirically Incoherent Quantum Gravity
    Theoria 87 (6): 1349-1379. 2021.
    It is argued that certain quantum theories of gravity — string theory, loop quantum gravity, non-commutative field theory — do not include spacetime as part of their fundamental ontology. There is a concern in the literature that theories of this kind are physically opaque and empirically incoherent. In this paper, I clarify and amend Huggett and Wüthrich’s argument against these claims. Whereas the content of this paper centres on the disappearance and re-emergence of spacetime in quantum gravi…Read more
  •  21
    Incubating a future metaphysics: quantum gravity
    Synthese 197 (5): 1961-1982. 2020.
    In this paper, I will argue that metaphysicians ought to utilize quantum theories of gravity as incubators for a future metaphysics. I will argue why this ought to be done and will present cases studies from the history of science where physical theories have challenged both the dogmatic and speculative metaphysician. I provide two theories of QG and demonstrate the challenge they pose to certain aspects of our current metaphysics; in particular, how they challenge our understanding of the abstr…Read more
  •  12
    A popular-level discussion of the mutual significance of physics and philosophy over the ages.
  •  5
    Introduction
    Theoria 88 (4): 727-732. 2022.
    Theoria, Volume 88, Issue 4, Page 727-732, August 2022.