…of underdetermination we are dealing with. In the end, all these winding strings left us a bit wound up, and so the group retired to tank up on lunch before returning for Lee’s talk. Soul Physics is authored by Bryan W. Roberts. Thanks for subscribing. Want more Soul Physics? Try the Soul Physics Tweet….
Read more…w through? Here’s a preliminary list, ordered alphabetically. Albert, David: QM & Experience Albert, David: Time & Chance Barrett, Jeff: QM of minds & worlds Bell, John: Speakable & Unspeakable in QM Bub, Jeff: Interpreting the Quantum World Cartwright, Nancy: How the Laws of Physics Lie Earman, John: Bangs, Crunches, Whimpers & Shrieks Earman, John: Primer on Determinism Earman, John: World Enough & Spacetime Fine, Arthur: The Shaky Game Friedman…
Read more…y of science issues. Cosmic Variance is (Caltech physicist) Sean Carroll’s frequent cyber-stomping ground. Apart from the general entertainment value of this blog, it is of special interest to for both its physical and its philosophical content. Backreaction is one of my very favorite blogs. Sabine Hossenfelder and Stefan Scherer (Perimeter Institute) provide a lot of great updates on physics, but also some excellent contributions to the philosoph…
Read more…little essay on what our discussion was about. Asymmetries in time We all experience asymmetry in time. We’re not getting any younger. We smash glasses, but don’t un-smash them. We notice cigarette smoke dissipating but never compressing back into the cigarette. However, those time asymmetries only appear in systems arranged with special initial conditions. They occur when a system begins in a “highly organised” low entropy state, and therefore m…
Read more…m the description and explanation of empirical fact, as is the language of prescription and justification. Although Sellars was concerned with the philosophy of mind, there is something important here for philosophers of physics to learn as well. A major activity of physics is the collection of empirical facts. Another is the prediction and justification of these facts. But the activity of investigating meaning is a distinct activity altogether. T…
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