Introduction to Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time

Introduction to philosophy of physics: space and time

Dr. Neil Dewar Wintersemester 16 Mondays, 12:00–14:00 (ct) Ludwigstraße 31, 021

Overview

This course is an introduction to the philosophy of physics, focusing on issues con- cerning space, time, and motion. We will consider these issues in the context of New- tonian and special-relativistic physics, through a combination of historical, contem- porary, and formal considerations. Major topics include the role that space and time play in physical theory; the criteria for preferring one interpretation of a theory over another; and the relationship between philosophical interpretation and formal repre- sentation in such theories. The main book for this course will be Tim Maudlin’s Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time (Princeton University Press, 2012); you may nd it useful to purchase a copy. In addition, the following are both good overviews of much of the material we will discuss: • Dasgupta, Shamik. “Substantivalism vs Relationalism About Space in Classical Physics: Substantivalism vs Relationalism About Space.” Philosophy Compass 10, no. 9 (September 2015): 601–24. doi:10.1111/phc3.12219.

• Pooley, Oliver. “Substantivalist and Relationalist Approaches to Spacetime.” In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Physics, 522–86. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univerity Press, 2013.

1 Schedule of lectures and readings

1 Introduction (Oct 17)

Why study the philosophy of physics, and why the philosophy of spacetime? General housekeeping. A survey of thinking about space from Aristotle to Descartes. Suggested reading:

• Aristotle, excerpts from Physics and On the Heavens (chapter 4 of Huggett)

• Huggett, N. Commentary on chapter 4.

• Descartes, excerpts from The Principles of Philosophy (chapter 6 of Huggett)

• Huggett, N. Commentary on chapter 6.

2 Newton on space and time (Oct 24)

Newton’s views on space and time. Introduction to a ne geometry. Required reading:

• Maudlin, chapter 1

• Newton, Preface and Scholium to Denition VIII of Principia Mathematica, up to §IV para. 8 (pp.116–121 of Huggett, or pp.143–146 and pp.152–157 of Alexander (ed.), The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (Manchester University Press, 1956)).

Suggested reading:

• Malament, D. Notes on Geometry and Spacetime, §§1–2. Available at http:// www.socsci.uci.edu/~dmalamen/courses/geometryspacetimedocs/GST.pdf

3 Leibniz on space and time (Oct 31)

Leibniz’s rejection of Newtonian spacetime: the static and kinematic shifts. Relation- alism about space. Relative conguration space. Required reading:

• Leibniz and Clarke, excerpts from The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (chapter 8 of Huggett).

2 • Huggett, N. Commentary on chapter 8.

Suggested reading:

• Maudlin, “The symmetries of space and the Leibniz-Clarke debate” in chap. 2, and “Absolute Velocity and Galilean Relativity” in chap. 3 (pp. 34–54)

• Belot, Gordon. “Geometry and Motion.” The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 51, no. 4 (December 1, 2000): 561–95. doi:10.1093/bjps/51.4.561.

4 Sophisticated substantivalism (Nov 7)

Haecceitism and the static shift. Expressibility and epistemic accessibility. Does the static shift argument really tell against substantivalism? How do these arguments relate to debates in the metaphysics of modality? Required reading:

• Rickles, D. Symmetry, Structure and Spacetime (Elsevier, 2008), §§2.2–2.4 (pp. 31– 39).

• Dasgupta, Shamik. “Inexpressible Ignorance.” Philosophical Review 124, no. 4 (October 1, 2015): 441–80. doi:10.1215/00318108-3147001.

Suggested reading:

• Kaplan, David. “How to Russell a Frege-Church.” The Journal of Philosophy 72, no. 19 (1975): 716–29. doi:10.2307/2024635.

5 The bucket argument (Nov 14)

How does the bucket argument support Newton’s account of spatiotemporal structure? Required reading:

• Newton, remainder of the Scholium to Denition VIII of the Principia Mathe- matica.

• Huggett, N. Commentary on chapter 7.

Suggested reading:

3 • Maudlin, chap 2 (pp. 17–34 only)

• Sklar, L. (1974). Newton’s Argument for Substantival Space. §III.C.1 (pp. 182– 191) of Space, Time and Spacetime (University of California Press, 1974).

6 Galilean spacetime (Nov 21)

The structure of Galilean spacetime. The relationship between Newtonian and Galilean spacetime. Coordinates and geometry. Required reading:

• Maudlin, rest of chap 3

• Sklar, Neo-Newtonian Spacetime. §III.D.3 (pp. 202–206) of Space, Time and Space- time (University of California Press, 1974).

Suggested reading:

• Wallace, David. “Who?s Afraid of Coordinate Systems? An Essay on Represen- tation of Spacetime Structure”. http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/11988/.

7 Symmetry and spacetime (Nov 28)

Spacetime and dynamical symmetries. Earman’s principle. Required reading:

• Earman, J., “Choosing a Classical Space-Time”, chapter 3 of World Enough and Space-Time: Absolute versus Relational Theories of Space and Time. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989.

Suggested reading:

• Dasgupta, Shamik. “Symmetry as an Epistemic Notion (TwiceOver).” The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67, no. 3 (September 1, 2016): 837–78. doi:10.1093/bjps/axu049.

• Ismael J., and B. van Fraassen (2003). Symmetry as a guide to superuous the- oretical structure. Chapter 23 of Brading, K. and E. Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reections (Cambridge University Press, 2003)

4 8 Rotation (Dec 5)

How to cast Leibniz’s view in spacetime terms. Barbour-Bertotti theory. Required reading:

• Earman, J., “Rotation”, chapter 4 of World Enough and Space-Time: Absolute versus Relational Theories of Space and Time. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989.

9 Einstein’s revolution (Dec 12)

The problem of electromagnetism and the ether. Einstein’s 1905 solution. The Lorentz transformations. Required reading:

• Einstein, A. (1905). On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, §§1–3 (of the Kinematical Part).

Suggested reading:

• Brown, Harvey R. Physical Relativity (Oxford University Press, 2005), Chapter 2.

10 Minkowski spacetime (Dec 19)

How to characterise Minkowski spacetime. The relationship between Newtonian, Galilean, and Minkowski spacetime. Required reading:

• Maudlin, rst part of chapter 4 (pp. 67–76)

• Sklar, L. The Spacetime of Special Relativity and Absolute Acceleration. §III.D.4 (pp. 206–209) of Space, Time and Spacetime (University of California Press, 1974).

• Malament, D. Notes on Geometry and Spacetime, §§3.1–3.2. Available at http: //www.socsci.uci.edu/~dmalamen/courses/geometryspacetimedocs/GST.pdf

11 Relativistic eects (Jan 16)

Length contraction, time dilation, and the twins “paradox”. Required reading:

5 • Maudlin, second part of chapter 4 (pp. 77–105).

• Einstein, A. (1905), On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, §4.

12 Special relativity and the philosophy of time (Jan 23)

What does relativity tell us about the nature of time? How does it bear on the metaphysics of time? Required reading:

• Putnam, H. (1967). Time and physical geometry. The Journal of Philosophy, 240-247.

• Brading, K. 2015. Physically locating the present: a case of reading physics as a contribution to philosophy. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 50, 13-19.

13 Spatiotemporal explanation (Jan 30)

Does spacetime geometry play a distinctive kind of explanatory role? What is the relationship between spacetime geometry and dynamical theory? Required reading:

• Maudlin, Chapter 5.

• Brown, H. R. and Pooley, O. (2001). The origin of the spacetime metric: Bell’s ‘Lorentzian pedagogy’ and its signicance in general relativity, §§1–4. In C. Cal- lender and N. Huggett (eds.), Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale (Cam- bridge University Press, 2001).

14 Synopsis and review (Feb 6)