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COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Copyright Service. sydney.edu.au/copyright 0 The Many Dimensions of the String Theory Wars Sophie Ritson A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History and Philosophy of Science. The University of Sydney 2016 1 Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 7 The many points of conflict ................................................................................................................ 8 What is string theory? ....................................................................................................................... 10 String theory: candidate theory of everything ‘TOE’ and tool ..................................................... 11 Thesis approach ................................................................................................................................ 13 Outline of chapters ............................................................................................................................ 13 Chapter One: Contested philosophies ................................................................................................... 16 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 16 1. Thematic concerns expressed in the literature .............................................................................. 19 1.1 String theory as case study: divergent positions on philosophical methodology .................... 19 1.2 How should we understand the lack of empiricism? .............................................................. 21 1.2.1 Empiricism and demarcation ........................................................................................... 26 1.3 How should we evaluate progress? ......................................................................................... 29 1.4 Arguments for a change in methodology ................................................................................ 33 1.5 How should the string dualities be interpreted? ...................................................................... 48 1.5.1 Underdetermination and consequences for realism ......................................................... 50 1.5.2 Fundamentality and reductionism .................................................................................... 53 2. Philosophically motivated constraints of a (unified?) theory of quantum gravity ........................ 56 3. Final points.................................................................................................................................... 62 3.1 ‘Philosophical’ contributions to the string wars ...................................................................... 62 3.2 The descriptive accounts of the string wars are overly simplistic ........................................... 62 Chapter Two: Contested boundaries ..................................................................................................... 64 Preface........................................................................................................................................... 64 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 64 1. The discourse of demarcation ....................................................................................................... 66 1.1 The concept of boundary work ............................................................................................... 66 1.2 Is string theory really science? ................................................................................................ 67 1.3 String theory is a testable in principle. Just not yet in practice ............................................... 70 1.4 Self-immunisation strategies and ad hoc manoeuvres ............................................................ 72 1.5 Retrodictions and counterfactual histories .............................................................................. 73 1.6 String theory makes progress by solving problems ................................................................ 74 1.7 Against Falsificationism ......................................................................................................... 77 1.8 The landscape of string theory: physics or metaphysics? ....................................................... 80 2 2. The string theory debates and the ideology of physics ................................................................. 82 Chapter Three: Contested sociologies ................................................................................................... 85 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 85 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 90 1. ‘Sociology’ and the ‘academy’ ..................................................................................................... 91 1.1 Smolin and Polchinski’s use of the word ‘sociology’ ............................................................. 91 1.2 ‘The academy’ or ‘toy sociology’ ........................................................................................... 92 1.3 Smolin’s academy ................................................................................................................... 92 1.4 Woit’s academy ...................................................................................................................... 93 2. Dominance .................................................................................................................................... 95 2.1 Unhealthy reliance on the vision of leaders ............................................................................ 95 2.2 Arrogance ................................................................................................................................ 96 2.3 Groupthink .............................................................................................................................. 97 2.4 Monopolisation of resources and the job market .................................................................... 98 2.5 Motivations ........................................................................................................................... 100 2.6 The ‘scientific judgement’ response ..................................................................................... 101 2.7 The ‘no alternatives’ response .............................................................................................. 102 3. Expertise ..................................................................................................................................... 104 3.1 Contested domains of science: disputes over popularisation ................................................ 104 3.1.1 Creating scientific facts .................................................................................................. 104 3.1.2 Not acknowledging failure ............................................................................................. 105 3.1.3 Public as important, non-expert, decision makers (arbiters) .......................................... 105 3.1.4 The ‘you are distorting the facts’ response .................................................................... 106 3.1.5 The ‘you have used an illegitimate site, the public arena, to criticise’ response ........... 108 3.2 Contested domains of science: disputes over organisation ................................................... 109 3.2.1 Homogenous experience is necessary (but probably not sufficient) in order to judge success....................................................................................................................................