Laws of Nature
Organized by the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP), LMU München, in cooperation with the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS), TU München.
According to the Mill-Ramsey-Lewis conception of laws of nature, the laws supervene on the "Humean mosaic" of non-modal particular matters of fact: the laws are the axioms of the deductive system that best combines simplicity and strength. This workshop explores recent developments in Best-System-accounts of laws.
- Is the notion of a "best system" an essentially pragmatic notion?
- Should we think of science as providing us with a single best system, that has the fundamental laws of physics as its axioms or as providing us with multiple best systems, corresponding to different domains and scientific disciplines?
- Are Best-System-accounts, and Humean accounts of laws more generally, metaphysically too"‘thin" to capture the explanatory role of laws?
Speakers
- Helen Beebee (University of Birmingham)
- Craig Callender (University of California, San Diego)
- Michael Esfeld (Université de Lausanne)
- Mathias Frisch (University of Maryland, College Park)
- Carl Hoefer (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
- Markus Schrenk (Universität Köln)
Program
| Time | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome | |
| 09:15 – 10:15 | Mathias Frisch | Why Physics Can't Explain Everything |
| 10:30 – 11:30 | Carl Hoefer | Pragmatic Humeanism, Consistency and the Principal Principle |
| 11:45 – 12:45 | Helen Beebee | Ramsey vs. Lewis on conditionals and causation |
| 12:45 – 14:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 – 15:00 | Michael Esfeld | Humeanism and Dispositionalism in Quantum Physics |
| 15:15 – 16:15 | Markus Schrenk | Trouble with Properties for Better Best Systems |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Craig Callender | Building a Better System |
| 17:30 – 18:00 | Discussion | |
| 19:30 | Dinner at Vinorant Alter Hof |
Organizers
- Mathias Frisch
- Wolfgang Pietsch