1st Munich Graduate Workshop in Mathematical Philosophy: Philosophy of Physics (April 9-11, 2015)
Idea & Motivation
The Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP) was organizing the first Munich Graduate Workshop in Mathematical Philosophy from 9th - 11th April 2015. The theme of the 2015 workshop was the philosophical foundations of physics and we invited submissions from masters and doctoral students interested in presenting a paper on this topic.
In addition to student presentations and keynote lectures, the workshop featured three 'working groups’ focused upon open questions at the forefront of contemporary research. The themes of the working groups were the foundations of: gravitational physics, statistical physics and quantum physics (all broadly construed). Each of the three invited speakers lead one session, with the remainder lead by internal lecturers.
Program
Day 1 (9 April, 2015)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 08:45 - 09:15 | Registration |
| 09:15 - 09:30 | Welcome: Stephan Hartmann & Karim Thébault |
| 09:30 - 11:00 | Keynote Lecture: Rüdiger Schack (Royal Holloway): Introduction to QBism Chair: Stephan Hartmann |
| 11:00 - 11:45 | Coffee Break |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Emily Adlam (Cambridge): The Problem of Confirmation in the Everett Interpretation Chair: Michael Cuffaro |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | Benjamin Feintzeig (UC Irvine): Toward an Understanding of Parochial Observables Chair: Michael Cuffaro |
| 12:45 - 14:15 | Lunch |
| 14:15 - 14:45 | David Schroeren (Princeton): Explanatory Equivalence of Scientific Theories Chair: Samuel Fletcher |
| 14:45 - 15:15 | Niels Martens (Oxford): Against Comparativism about Mass in Newtonian Gravity Chair: Samuel Fletcher |
| 15:15 - 15:45 | Wonyl Choi (LMU): Curie’s Principle and Time Symmetry in Classical Systems Chair: Samuel Fletcher |
| 15:45 - 16:30 | Coffee Break |
| 16:30 - 18:30 | Working Groups: Foundations of Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics: Typicality, Irreversibility and the Status of Macroscopic Laws (Paula Reichert) Foundations of Gravitation: How to Understand the Local Validity of Special Relativity in General Relativity (Harvey Brown) Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Non-Classical Probability Spaces, Quantum Mechanics and No-Go Theorems (Radin Dardashti) |
| 19:00 | Informal Dinner and Drinks |
Day 2 (10 April, 2015)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:30 - 11:00 | Keynote Lecture: Charlotte Werndl (Salzburg): Reconceptualising Equilibrium in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics and Characterising its Existence Chair: Samuel Fletcher |
| 11:00 - 11:45 | Coffee Break |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Patricia Palacios (MCMP/LMU): Do Renormalization Group Methods Explain Continuous Phase Transitions? Chair: Paula Reichert |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | Casey McCoy (UC San Diego): Interpreting Probability Measures in Statistical Mechanics Chair: Paula Reichert |
| 12:45 - 14:15 | Lunch |
| 14:15 - 14:45 | Paul Boes (Oxford): Closure in Quantum Measure Theory Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 14:45 - 15:15 | Brian Padden (MCMP/LMU): The Feynman Path Integral and the Interpretational Project Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 15:15 - 15:45 | Hannah Ochner (LMU): On the Metaphysics of Relativistic GRW Flash Theory Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 15:45 - 16:30 | Coffee Break |
| 16:30 - 18:30 | Working Groups: Foundations of Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics: Probability, Measures and Equilibrium in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics (Charlotte Werndl) Foundations of Gravitation: Physicality, Cosmology, and Global Spacetime Structure (Samuel Fletcher) Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: The Copenhagen Interpretation(s) of Quantum Mechanics (Michael Cuffaro) |
| 19:00 | Conference Dinner |
Day 3 (11 April, 2015)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 - 11:00 | Working Groups: Foundations of Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics: Problems with the Third Law of Thermodynamics (Erik Curiel) Foundations of Gravitation: The Hole Argument and The Problem of Time: The View from Canonical Gravity (Karim Thébault) Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Why Wigner's Friend Matters (Rüdiger Schack) |
| 11:00 - 11:45 | Coffee Break |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Jonathan Burton (LSE): Paraparticles in the Feynman-Goyal Approach to Quantum Mechanics Chair: Radin Dardashti |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | Misha Panchenko (LMU): Measurements of Localization in Quantum Field Theory Chair: Radin Dardashti |
| 12:45 - 13:15 | Andrea Oldofredi (Lausanne): A Particle Must be Somewhere! Position Operators and Localization Chair: Radin Dardashti |
| 13:15 - 14:45 | Lunch |
| 14:45 - 15:15 | Feraz Azhar (Cambridge): Testing Typicality in Multiverse Cosmology Chair: Erik Curiel |
| 15:15 - 15:45 | Juliusz Doboszewski (Jagiellonian): Emergence of Spacetime in Causal Dynamical Triangulations Chair: Erik Curiel |
| 15:45 - 16:15 | Sebastian de Haro (Amsterdam/Cambridge): Dualities and Emergent Gravity in Holographic Scenarios Chair: Erik Curiel |
| 16:15 - 17:00 | Coffee Break |
| 17:00 - 18:30 | Keynote Lecture: Harvey Brown (Oxford): How Einstein Replaced Mach’s Principle with the Action-Reaction Principle in Selling General Relativity Chair: Karim Thébault |
| 19:00 | Informal Dinner and Drinks |
Acknowledgement
The workshop is organized by the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (LMU Munich). We are very grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for financial support.