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40We provide an analysis of the empirical consequences of the AdS/CFT duality with reference to the application of the duality in a fundamental theory, effective theory and instrumental context. Analysis of the first two contexts is intended to serve as a guide to the potential empirical and ontological status of gauge/gravity dualities as descriptions of actual physics at the Planck scale. The third context is directly connected to the use of AdS/CFT to describe real quark-gluon plasmas. In the l…Read more
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194Causal Realism and the Laws of NatureIn Borchert (ed.), Philosophy of Science, Macmillan. pp. 261-276. 2006.This paper proposes a revision of our understanding of causation that is designed to address what Hartry Field has suggested is the central problem in the metaphysics of causation today: reconciling Bertrand Russell’s arguments that the concept of causation can play no role in the advanced sciences with Nancy Cartwright’s arguments that causal concepts are essential to a scientific understanding of the world. The paper shows that Russell’s main argument is, ironically, very similar to an argumen…Read more
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48MOND and meta-empirical theory assessmentSynthese 200 (5): 1-28. 2022.While $$\Lambda $$ Λ CDM has emerged as the standard model of cosmology, a small group of physicists defends modified newtonian dynamics (MOND) as an alternative view on cosmology. Exponents of MOND have employed a broad, at times explicitly philosophical, conceptual perspective in arguing their case. This paper offers reasons why that MONDian defense has been ineffective. First, we argue that the defense is ineffective according to Popperian or Lakatosian views–ostensibly the preferred philosop…Read more
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51Meta-empirical confirmation: Addressing three points of criticismStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 93 (C): 66-71. 2022.
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Does the No Alternatives Argument Need Gerrymandering to Be Significant?British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 717081. forthcoming.In a recent paper, Tushar Menon has argued that the no-alternatives argument can only be significant if the priors for numbers of alternatives are tuned in an implausible way (gerrymandered, as he calls it). In this paper, I demonstrate that priors needed for making a no-alternatives argument significant are in line with what can be plausibly assumed in a successful research field.
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2The Role of Meta-Empirical Theory Confirmation in the Acceptance of AtomismStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 90 50-60. 2021.The universal acceptance of atomism in physics and chemistry in the early 20th century went along with an altered view on the epistemic status of microphysical conjectures. Contrary to the prevalent understanding during the 19th century, on the new view unobservable objects could be ‘discovered’. It is argued in the present paper that this shift can be connected to the implicit integration of elements of meta-empirical theory assessment into the concept of theory confirmation.
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399Testability and Viability: Is Inflationary Cosmology “Scientific”?European Journal for Philosophy of Science 13 (4): 51. 2023.We provide a philosophical reconstruction and analysis of the debate on the scientific status of cosmic inflation that has played out in recent years. In a series of critical papers, Ijjas et al. have questioned the scientificality of the current views on cosmic inflation. Proponents of cosmic inflation have in turn defended the scientific credentials of their approach. We argue that, while this defense, narrowly construed, is successful against Ijjas et al., the latter's reasoning does point to…Read more
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On the Empirical Consequences of the AdS/CFT DualityIn Nick Huggett, Keizo Matsubara & Christian Wüthrich (eds.), Beyond Spacetime: The Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Cambridge University Press.. pp. 284-303. 2020.
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3Epistemology of Fundamental Physics: Why Trust a Theory? (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2019.
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34String Theory and Scientific RealismProceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy 60 9-12. 2018.We will investigate the implications of string theory for the scientific realism debate. Duality relations, which constitute a crucial conceptual characteristic of string theory, are of particular importance for the question of scientific realism in two ways. First, string dualities relate seemingly very different realizations of string theory to each other and establish their empirical equivalence. This feature of string theory works against an ontologically realist interpretation of the theory…Read more
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52Epistemic Separability and Everettian Branches: A Critique of Sebens and CarrollBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 73 (3): 711-721. 2022.We discuss the proposal by Sebens and Carroll to derive the Born rule in Everettian quantum mechanics from a principle they call ‘ESP-QM’. We argue that the proposal fails: ESP-QM is not, as Sebens and Carroll argue, a ‘less general version’ of an independently plausible principle, ESP, and can only be motivated by the empirical success of quantum mechanics, including use of the Born rule. Therefore, ESP-QM cannot have the status of a meta-theoretical principle of reasoning and provides no viabl…Read more
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46Chronical Incompleteness, Final Theory Claims, and the Lack of Free Parameters in String TheoryIn Nick Huggett, Keizo Matsubara & Christian Wüthrich (eds.), Beyond Spacetime: The Foundations of Quantum Gravity, Cambridge University Press.. pp. 237-256. 2020.String theory has not even come close to a complete formulation after half a century of intense research. On the other hand, a number of features of the theory suggest that the theory, once completed, may be a final theory. It is argued in this chapter that those two conspicuous characteristics of string physics are related to each other. What links them together is the fact that string theory has no dimensionless free parameters at a fundamental level. The paper analyses possible implications o…Read more
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160The No Miracles Argument without the Base Rate FallacySynthese 195 (9): 4063-4079. 2016.According to an argument by Colin Howson, the no-miracles argument is contingent on committing the base-rate fallacy and is therefore bound to fail. We demonstrate that Howson’s argument only applies to one of two versions of the NMA. The other version, which resembles the form in which the argument was initially presented by Putnam and Boyd, remains unaffected by his line of reasoning. We provide a formal reconstruction of that version of the NMA and show that it is valid. Finally, we demonstra…Read more
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25Non-Empirical But Scientific (Response to "Physics on Edge" by George Ellis)Inference 3 (3). 2017.
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31According to the no miracles argument, scientific realism provides the only satisfactory explanation of the predictive success of science. It is argued in the present article that a different explanatory strategy, based on the posit of strong limitations to the underdetermination of scientific theory building by the available empirical data, offers a more convincing understanding of scientific success.
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57Scientific Realism and High Energy PhysicsIn Juha Saatsi (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism, Routledge. pp. 279-290. 2017.The paper discusses major implications of high energy physics for the scientific realism debate. The first part analyses the ways in which aspects of the empirically well-confirmed standard model of particle physics are relevant for a reassessment of entity realism, ontological realism and structural realism. The second part looks at the implications of more far-reaching concepts like string theory. While those theories have not found empirical confirmation, if they turned out viable, their impl…Read more
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72The Significance of Non-Empirical Confirmation in Fundamental PhysicsIn Radin Dardashti, Richard Dawid & Karim Thebault (eds.), Why Trust a Theory? Epistemology of ModernPhysics, Cambridge University Press. pp. 99-119. 2019.In the absence of empirical confirmation, scientists may judge a theory's chances of being viable based on a wide range of arguments. The paper argues that such arguments can differ substantially with regard to their structural similarly to empirical confirmation. Arguments that resemble empirical confirmation in a number of crucial respects provide a better basis for reliable judgement and can, in a Bayesian sense, amount to significant \textit{non-empirical} confirmation. It is shown that thre…Read more
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119Delimiting the UnconceivedFoundations of Physics 48 (5): 492-506. 2018.It has been argued in Dawid that physicists at times generate substantial trust in an empirically unconfirmed theory based on observations that lie beyond the theory’s intended domain. A crucial role in the reconstruction of this argument of “non-empirical confirmation” is played by limitations to scientific underdetermination. The present paper discusses the question as to how generic the role of limitations to scientific underdetermination really is. It is argued that assessing such limitation…Read more
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55String dualities and empirical equivalenceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 59 21-29. 2017.String dualities establish empirical equivalence between theories that often look entirely different with respect to their basic ontology and physical structure. Therefore, they represent a particularly interesting example of empirical equivalence in physics. However, the status of duality relations in string physics differs substantially from the traditional understanding of the role played by empirical equivalence. The paper specifies three important differences and argues that they are relate…Read more
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136According to the no miracles argument, scientific realism provides the only satisfactory explanation of the predictive success of science. It is argued in the present article that a different explanatory strategy, based on the posit of limitations to the underdetermination of scientific theory building by the available empirical data, offers a more convincing understanding of scientific success.
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42Marginalisation Of The Phenomena And The Limits Of Scientific Knowledge In High Energy PhysicsManuscrito 33 (1): 165-206. 2010.It is argued that the evolution of fundamental microphysics throughout the twentieth century is characterised by two interrelated developments. On the one hand, the experimental signatures which confirm theoretical statements are moving towards the fringes of the phenomenal world and, at the same time, leave increasingly wide spaces for entirely theoretical reasoning with little or no empirical interference. On the other hand, assessments of limitations to scientific underdetermination gain impo…Read more
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79String Theory and the Scientific MethodCambridge University Press. 2013.String theory has played a highly influential role in theoretical physics for nearly three decades and has substantially altered our view of the elementary building principles of the Universe. However, the theory remains empirically unconfirmed, and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future. So why do string theorists have such a strong belief in their theory? This book explores this question, offering a novel insight into the nature of theory assessment itself. Dawid approaches the to…Read more
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152Underdetermination and Theory Succession from the Perspective of String TheoryPhilosophy of Science 73 (3): 298-322. 2006.This article investigates the implications of string theory for the conception of scientific theory confirmation. The classical understanding of theory confirmation is based on the assumption that scientific theory building is underdetermined by the available empirical data. Several arguments are presented, which suggest a devaluation of this ‘principle of scientific underdetermination’ in the context of string theory. An altered conception of scientific progress emerges that is not based on the…Read more
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85The extra value of novel confirmation over accommodation is explained based on an analysis of the underdetermination of scientific theory building. Novel confirmation can provide information on the number of possible scientific alternatives to a predictively successful theory. This information, in turn, can raise the probability that the given theory is true or will be empirically viable in the future.
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164Bayesian Perspectives on the Discovery of the Higgs ParticleSynthese 194 (2): 377-394. 2017.It is argued that the high degree of trust in the Higgs particle before its discovery raises the question of a Bayesian perspective on data analysis in high energy physics in an interesting way that differs from other suggestions regarding the deployment of Bayesian strategies in the field.
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225Scientific realism in the age of string theoryPhysics and Philosophy. 2007.String theory currently is the only viable candidate for a unified description of all known natural forces. This article tries to demonstrate that the fundamental structural and methodological differences that set string theory apart from other physical theories have important philosophical consequences. Focussing on implications for the realism debate in philosophy of science, it is argued that both poles of that debate face new problems in the context of string theory. On the one hand, the cla…Read more
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51Why Moritz Schlick’s View on Causality Is Rooted in a Specific Understanding of Quantum MechanicsIn Sebastian Lutz & Adam Tamas Tuboly (eds.), Logical Empiricism and the Physical Sciences: From Philosophy of Nature to Philosophy of Physics, Routledge. pp. 283-294. 2021.Moritz Schlick’s interpretation of the causality principle is based on Schlick’s understanding of quantum mechanics and on his conviction that quantum mechanics strongly supports an empiricist reading of causation in his sense. The present paper compares the empiricist position held by Schlick with Bas van Fraassen’s more recent conception of constructive empiricism. It is pointed out that the development from Schlick’s understanding of logical empiricism to constructive empiricism reflects a di…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Physical Science |
General Philosophy of Science |