1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
  3. Research and innovation
  4. Scientific Realism and the Quantum Events

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)