Scientific Realism and the Quantum Events
Scientific Realism and the Quantum: Final Conference
Date: September 12th, 2017 — September 13th, 2017
Keynote Speakers:
- Doreen Fraser (Waterloo)
- Carl Hoefer (Barcelona)
- George Musser
- Adrian Kent (Cambridge)
- Alyssa Ney (UC Davis)
- David Wallace (USC)
Download the programme HERE as PDF, including abstracts
Venue:
The conference will be in the Law School (no. 16 on the map here – just behind the Business School, off Clarendon Rd), in The Moot Court in the first floor.
Programme:
12. September 2017
Workshop for Science Communicators
10am Launch
10:05 – 11:00 George Musser: Keynote
11:00 – 11:15 Coffee
11:15 – 12:00 Mini-talks
- Juha Saatsi (Leeds)
- Alyssa Ney (UC Davis)
- Doreen Fraser (Waterloo)
- David Wallace (USC)
12:15 – 13:00 Q&A and panel discussion
Conference Starts
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:15 Alyssa Ney (UC Davis): The Fundamentality of Quantum Theories
15:15 – 15:30 Coffee
15:30 – 16:45 David Wallace (USC): Quantum Mechanics as a Theory Framework
16:45 – 17:00 Tea
17:00 – 18:15 Adrian Kent (Cambridge): Testing the Bell Nonlocality of the Gravitational Field
19:00 – Drinks and Dinner
13. September 2017
09:30 – 10:45 Carl Hoefer (Barcelona): Quantum natural kinds: like atoms, or phlogiston?
10:45 – 11:00 Coffee
11:00 – 11:45 Raffael Krismer (Vienna): Pragmatism, Realism, and Quantum Mechanics
11:45 – 12:30 Mauro Dorato (Roma Tre): Is Healey’s pragmatist approach compatible with physicalism?
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:15 Matthias Egg (Bern): Metaphysical Underdetermination in QM and QFT
14:20 – 15:05 Joshua Rosaler (RWTH Aachen): Branching, Scientific Realism, and the Set Selection Problem
15:10 – 15:55 Diego Romero Maltrana and Pablo Acuna (PUCV): Quantum Mechanics as a Framework Theory
15:55 – 16:15 Tea
16:15 – 17:30 Doreen Fraser (Waterloo): The non-miraculous success of formal analogies in quantum theories
17:30 – 17:45 George Musser: Concluding thoughts
18:00 – Close. Drinks.
Conference Description:
This conference brings together philosophy of quantum physics and the scientific realism debate in general philosophy of science. The focus is on epistemological issues of scientific (anti-)realism regarding the nature and limits of our knowledge and understanding of quantum physics and phenomena. This exemplifies a growing trend in the realism debate to study such epistemological issues more ‘locally’ in relation to the details of particular scientific theories. The leading questions are:
- What support is there for or against realism about quantum physics?
- How do we square the metaphysical and interpretational ambiguities alive in quantum physics with the epistemic optimism characteristic of scientific realism?
- Would it be better to adopt a pragmatist or non-realist attitude towards quantum physics (as has been recently argued in various quarters)?
The conference aims to bring together current research on these inter-sub-disciplinary issues, exploring different perspectives on various issues involved in the scientific realism debate in the detailed context of quantum physics. Specific issues of interest include the following:
- The impact of quantum mechanics on standard forms of scientific realism.
- The viability of pragmatic approaches to quantum physics.
- The possibility of adopting a realist stance towards the quantum state.
- The status of the wave-function in the realist context.
- The adoption of agnostic attitudes in the context of underdetermination with regard to the interpretations of quantum mechanics.
- The role of analogies in quantum physics and their impact on realism.
- The challenges facing naturalistic approaches in quantum physics in general.
- The impact of the development of renormalization group approaches to quantum field theory on scientific realism.
Local Organisers:
- Douglas Earl
- Steven French
- Simon Newey
- Juha Saatsi
Program Committee
- Valia Allori (Northern Illinois University)
- Soazig LeBihan (University of Montana)
- Dennis Dieks (Utrecht University)
- Matthias Egg (University of Bern)
- Steven French (University of Leeds)
- Richard Healey (University of Arizona)
- Lina Jansson (University of Nottingham)
- Peter Lewis (Dartmouth College)
- Wayne Myrvold (Western University)
- Laura Ruetche (University of Michigan)
- Chris Timpson (Oxford)
- David Wallace (University of Southern California)