MCMP – Philosophy of Science
86 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★ - 1 ratingMathematical Philosophy - the application of logical and mathematical methods in philosophy - is about to experience a tremendous boom in various areas of philosophy. At the new Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, which is funded mostly by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, philosophical research will be carried out mathematically, that is, by means of methods that are very close to those used by the scientists.
The purpose of doing philosophy in this way is not to reduce philosophy to mathematics or to natural science in any sense; rather mathematics is applied in order to derive philosophical conclusions from philosophical assumptions, just as in physics mathematical methods are used to derive physical predictions from physical laws.
Nor is the idea of mathematical philosophy to dismiss any of the ancient questions of philosophy as irrelevant or senseless: although modern mathematical philosophy owes a lot to the heritage of the Vienna and Berlin Circles of Logical Empiricism, unlike the Logical Empiricists most mathematical philosophers today are driven by the same traditional questions about truth, knowledge, rationality, the nature of objects, morality, and the like, which were driving the classical philosophers, and no area of traditional philosophy is taken to be intrinsically misguided or confused anymore. It is just that some of the traditional questions of philosophy can be made much clearer and much more precise in logical-mathematical terms, for some of these questions answers can be given by means of mathematical proofs or models, and on this basis new and more concrete philosophical questions emerge. This may then lead to philosophical progress, and ultimately that is the goal of the Center.
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Episodes
How Almost Everything in Space-time Theory Is Illuminated by Simple Particle Physics: The Neglected Case of Massive Scalar Gravity
April 18, 2019 23:57 - 59 minutes - 909 MB VideoJ. Brian Pitts (Cambridge) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (6 February, 2013) titled "How Almost Everything in Space-time Theory Is Illuminated by Simple Particle Physics: The Neglected Case of Massive Scalar Gravity". Abstract: Both particle physics from the 1920s-30s and the 1890s Seeliger-Neumann modification of Newtonian gravity suggest considering a “mass term,” an additional algebraic term in the gravitational potential. The “graviton mass” gives gravity a finite range. The smooth m...
Evaluating Risky Prospects: The Distribution View
April 18, 2019 23:55 - 1 hour - 983 MB VideoLuc Bovens (LSE) gives a talk at the 6th Munich-Sydney-Tilburg Conference on "Models and Decisions" (10-12 April, 2013) titled "Evaluating Risky Prospects: The Distribution View". Abstract: Policy Analysts need to rank policies with risky outcomes. Such policies can be thought off as prospects. A prospect is a matrix of utilities. On the rows we list the people who are affected by the policy. In the columns we list alternative states of the world and specify a probability distribution over th...
On the Conception of Fundamentality of Time-Asymmetries in Physics
April 18, 2019 23:54 - 50 minutes - 770 MB VideoDaniel Wohlfarth (Bonn) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (30 January, 2013) titled "On the Conception of Fundamentality of Time-Asymmetries in Physics". Abstract: The goal of my talk is to argue for two connected proposals: Firstly: I shall show that a new conceptual understanding of the term ‘fundamentality’ - in the context of time-asymmetries - is applicable to cosmology and in fact shows that classical and semi-classical cosmology should be understood as time-asymmetric theories. S...
Simplicity and Measurability in Science
April 18, 2019 23:52 - 42 minutes - 639 MB VideoLuigi Scorzato (Roskilde) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (16 January, 2013) titled "Simplicity and Measurability in Science". Abstract: Simple assumptions represent a decisive reason to prefer one theory to another in everyday scientific praxis. But this praxis has little philosophical justification, since there exist many notions of simplicity, and those that can be defined precisely strongly depend on the language in which the theory is formulated. Moreover, according to a common gener...
Descriptivism about Theoretical Concepts Implies Ramsification or (Poincarean) Conventionalism
April 18, 2019 23:51 - 47 minutes - 734 MB VideoHolger Andreas (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Descriptivism about Theoretical Concepts Implies Ramsification or (Poincarean) Conventionalism".
Theoretical Terms and Induction
April 18, 2019 23:48 - 58 minutes - 896 MB VideoHannes Leitgeb (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Theoretical Terms and Induction".
Causality and Theoretical Terms in Physics
April 18, 2019 23:48 - 50 minutes - 770 MB VideoC. Ulises Moulines (LMU) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Causality and Theoretical Terms in Physics".
Theoretical Terms, Ideal Objects and Zalta's Abstract Objects Theory
April 18, 2019 23:45 - 33 minutes - 523 MB VideoXavier de Donato (USC) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Theoretical Terms, Ideal Objects and Zalta's Abstract Objects Theory".
Causal-descriptivism Revisited
April 18, 2019 23:45 - 54 minutes - 844 MB VideoStathis Psillos (Athens) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Causal-descriptivism Revisited".
Avoiding Reification
April 18, 2019 23:44 - 29 minutes - 454 MB VideoMichele Ginammi (Pisa) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Avoiding Reification".
Leibniz Equivalence
April 18, 2019 23:44 - 53 minutes - 827 MB VideoJeffrey Ketland (Oxford) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Leibniz Equivalence".
Implicitly defining mathematical terms
April 18, 2019 23:42 - 35 minutes - 536 MB VideoDemetra Christopoulou (Patras) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Implicitly defining mathematical terms".
Definition, elimination and introduction of theoretical terms
April 18, 2019 23:40 - 30 minutes - 479 MB VideoGauvain Leconte (Paris) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Definition, elimination and introduction of theoretical terms".
Theoretical Terms, Ramsey Sentences and Structural Realism
April 18, 2019 23:40 - 49 minutes - 760 MB VideoJohn Worrall (LSE) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Theoretical Terms, Ramsey Sentences and Structural Realism".
Typicality in Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems Theory
April 18, 2019 23:38 - 37 minutes - 588 MB VideoCharlotte Werndl (LSE) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "Typicality in Statistical Physics and Dynamical Systems Theory".
The epsilon-reconstruction of theories and scientific structuralism
April 18, 2019 23:37 - 30 minutes - 468 MB VideoGeorg Schiemer (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "The epsilon-reconstruction of theories and scientific structuralism".
The Criteria for the Empirical Significance of Terms
April 18, 2019 23:37 - 35 minutes - 545 MB VideoSebastian Lutz (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the conference on "The Analysis of Theoretical Terms" (3-5 April, 2013) titled "The Criteria for the Empirical Significance of Terms".
Cooperation and (structural) Rationality
April 18, 2019 23:37 - 51 minutes - 794 MB VideoJulian Nida-Rümelin (LMU) gives a talk at the 6th Munich-Sydney-Tilburg Conference on "Models and Decisions" (10-12 April, 2013) titled "Cooperation and (structural) Rationality". Abstract:Cooperation remains a challenge for the theory of rationality, rational agents should not cooperate in one shot prisoner's dilemmas. But they do, it seems. There is a reason why mainstream rational choice theory is at odds with cooperative agency: rational action is thought to be consequentialist, but this ...
Idealization, Prediction, Difference-Making
April 18, 2019 23:34 - 41 minutes - 645 MB VideoMichael Strevens (NYU) gives a talk at the 6th Munich-Sydney-Tilburg Conference on "Models and Decisions" (10-12 April, 2013) titled "Idealization, Prediction, Difference-Making". Abstract: Every model leaves out or distorts some factors that are causally connected to its target phenomena – the phenomena that it seeks to predict or explain. If we want to make predictions, and we want to base decisions on those predictions, what is it safe to omit or to simplify, and what ought a causal model ...
Rationality and the Bayesian Paradigm
April 18, 2019 23:34 - 46 minutes - 715 MB VideoItzhak Gilboa (HEC) gives a talk at the 6th Munich-Sydney-Tilburg Conference on "Models and Decisions" (10-12 April, 2013) titled "Rationality and the Bayesian Paradigm". Abstract: It is claimed that rationality does not imply Bayesianism. We first define what is meant by the two terms, so that the statement is not tautologically false. Two notions of rationality are discussed, and related to two main approaches to statistical inference. It is followed by a brief survey of the arguments again...
From Shannon's Axiomatic Approach to a New Sense of Biological Information
April 18, 2019 23:31 - 52 minutes - 816 MB VideoOmri Tal (CPNSS/LSE) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (17 April, 2013) titled "From Shannon's Axiomatic Approach to a New Sense of Biological Information". Abstract: Shannon famously remarked that a single concept of information could not satisfactorily account for the numerous possible applications of the general field of communication theory. Recent interest in assessing the ‘population signal’ from genetic samples has mainly focused on empirical results. I employ some basic principles f...
A Model-Based Epistemology of Measurement
April 18, 2019 23:27 - 49 minutes - 764 MB VideoEran Tal (Bielefeld) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (12 June, 2013) titled "A Model-Based Epistemology of Measurement". Abstract: The epistemology of measurement is an interdisciplinary area of research concerned with the conditions under which measurement and standardization methods produce knowledge, the nature, scope, and limits of this knowledge and the sources of its reliability. A primary goal of such studies is to better understand the ways in which theoretical and statistical ass...
Separating Truth from Its Idealization
April 18, 2019 23:27 - 47 minutes - 745 MB VideoPaul Teller (UC Davis) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 April, 2013) titled "Separating Truth from Its Idealization". Abstract: Science never succeeds in providing representations that are both perfectly precise and completely accurate. Instead science constructs models that are always in some ways inexact – imprecise, not perfectly accurate, or both. If this goes for the results of science, how much more should we expect it to hold for human knowledge generally! I explore this expe...
Making sense of multiple climate models' projections
April 18, 2019 23:25 - 38 minutes - 563 MB VideoClaudia Tebaldi (Climate Central & NCAR) gives a talk at the 6th Munich-Sydney-Tilburg Conference on "Models and Decisions" (10-12 April, 2013) titled "Making sense of multiple climate models' projections". Abstract: In the last decade or so the climate change research community has adopted multi-model ensemble projections as the standard paradigm for the characterization of future climate changes. Why multiple models, and how we reconcile and synthesize -- or fail to -- their different proje...
On the Justification of Deduction and Induction
April 18, 2019 23:22 - 1 hour - 1.05 GB VideoFranz Huber (Toronto) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (7 May, 2014) titled "On the Justification of Deduction and Induction". Abstract: In this talk I will first present my preferred variant of Hume (1739; 1748)'s argument for the thesis that we cannot justify the principle of induction. Then I will criticize the responses the resulting problem of induction has received by Carnap (1963; 1968) and by Goodman (1954), as well as briefly praise Reichenbach (1938; 1940)'s approach. Some of the...
An Analogical Inductive Logic for Partially Exchangeable Families of Attributes
April 18, 2019 23:21 - 1 hour - 1.11 GB VideoSimon Huttegger (UC Irvine) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (22 May, 2014) titled "An Analogical Inductive Logic for Partially Exchangeable Families of Attributes". Abstract: Since Carnap started his epic program of developing an inductive logic, there have been various attempts to include analogical reasoning into systems of inductive logic. I will present a new system based on de Finetti's concept of partial exchangeability. Together with a set of plausible axioms, partial exchangeabili...
On Bell's local causality in local classical and quantum theory
April 18, 2019 23:17 - 58 minutes - 892 MB VideoGábor Hofer-Szabó (Budapest) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (9 April, 2014) titled "On Bell's local causality in local classical and quantum theory". Abstract: This paper aims to give a clear-cut definition of Bell's notion of local causality. Having provided a framework, called local physical theory, which integrates probabilistic and spatiotemporal concepts, we formulate the notion of local causality and relate it to other locality and causality concepts. Then we compare Bell's local c...
The Completion of Logical Empiricism: Hempel's Pragmatic Turn
April 18, 2019 23:17 - 36 minutes - 560 MB VideoGereon Wolters (Konstanz) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (22 October, 2014) titled "The Completion of Logical Empiricism: Hempel's Pragmatic Turn". Abstract: For most of his life Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997) subscribed to the Carnapian variant of logical empiricism. According to Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970) philosophy of science is "rational reconstruction" (syntactically and/or semantically) of basic methodological concepts like probability, explanation, confirmation, and so on. Practica...
Computational Model as Generic Mechanisms
April 18, 2019 23:13 - 48 minutes - 741 MB VideoCatherine Stinson (Ryerson University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (21 May, 2014) titled "Computational Model as Generic Mechanisms". Abstract: The role of computational models in science is a bit of a puzzle. They seem to be very unlike experiments in terms of their access to empirical facts about their target systems, yet scientists make liberal use of computational models to experiment and make discoveries. I connect this problem to one concerning mechanistic explanation. There a p...
Persistence of the lifeworld? On the relation of lifeworld and science
April 18, 2019 23:12 - 33 minutes - 515 MB VideoGregor Schiemann (Wuppertal) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (28 May, 2014) titled "Persistence of the lifeworld? On the relation of lifeworld and science". Abstract: In contrast to the concept of science, the concept of the lifeworld describes an experience, which is characterised by familiar social relations, actions that are performed as a matter of course, and a lack of professionalism. Divergent relations between science and the life-world are possible, as I will demonstrate in the f...
Agent-based simulations in empirical sociological research
April 18, 2019 23:09 - 47 minutes - 722 MB VideoIsabelle Drouet (Paris-Sorbonne) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (4 June, 2014) titled "Agent-based simulations in empirical sociological Research". Abstract: Agent-based models and simulations are more and more widely used in the empirical sciences. In sociology, they have been put at the core of a research project: analytical sociology, as theorized and practiced in, e.g., Hedström’s Dissecting the social (2005). Analytical sociologists conceive of ABMs as tools for causal analysis. Mor...
On the Distinction between Internal and External Symmetries
April 18, 2019 23:09 - 43 minutes - 674 MB VideoRadin Dardashti (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (2 July, 2014) titled "On the Distinction between Internal and External Symmetries". Abstract: There is no doubt that symmetries play an important role in fundamental physics, but there is no agreement among physicists on what this role exactly is. So it is not surprising that it has caught the interest of philosophers in recent years leading to a lively discussion on the epistemological and ontological significance of symmetries....
Model Tuning and Predictivism
April 18, 2019 23:06 - 40 minutes - 620 MB VideoMathias Frisch (Maryland) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (26 June, 2014) titled "Model Tuning and Predictivism". Abstract: Many climate scientists maintain that evidence used in tuning or calibrating a climate model cannot be used to evaluate the model. By contrast, the philosophers Katie Steele and Charlotte Werndl have argued, appealing to Bayesian confirmation theory, that tuning is simply an instance of hypothesis testing. In this paper I argue against both views and for a weak predi...
Rational Routines
April 18, 2019 23:06 - 36 minutes - 567 MB VideoMartin Peterson (Eindhoven) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 June, 2014) titled "Rational Routines". Abstract: Recent research in evolutionary economics suggests that firms and other organizations are governed by routines. What distinguishes successful firms and organizations from less successful ones is that the former are better at developing, using and modifying routines that fit with the circumstances faced by the organization. Individual agents also rely on routines: many peopl...
Propensities, Chance Distributions, and Experimental Statistics
April 18, 2019 23:05 - 55 minutes - 852 MB VideoMauricio Suarez (London, Madrid) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (12 November, 2014) titled "Propensities, Chance Distributions, and Experimental Statistics". Abstract: Probabilistic or statistical modelling may be described as the attempt to characterise (finite) experimental data in terms of models formally involving probabilities. I argue that a coherent understanding of much of the practice of probabilistic modelling calls for a distinction between three notions that are often conflat...
Fifteen Dimensions of Evaluating Theories of Causation. A Case Study of the Structural Model and the Ranking Theoretic Approach to Causation
July 10, 2015 03:00 - 57 minutes - 884 MB VideoWolfgang Spohn (Konstanz) gives a talk at the Workshop on Causal and Probabilistic Reasoning (18-20 June, 2015) titled "Fifteen Dimensions of Evaluating Theories of Causation. A Case Study of the Structural Model and the Ranking Theoretic Approach to Causation". Abstract: The point of the talk is not to defend any exciting thesis. It is rather to remind you of all the dimensions theories of causation must take account of. It explains 15 such dimensions, not just in the abstract, but as exempl...
Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge. A Model of Knowledge Integration and its Limitations.
July 08, 2015 05:00 - 43 minutes - 656 MB VideoDavid Ludwig (VU University Amsterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (17 June, 2015) titled "Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge. A Model of Knowledge Integration and its Limitations". Abstract: Philosophical debates about indigenous knowledge often focus on the issue of relativism: given a diversity of local knowledge systems, how can certain types of (e.g. scientific or metaphysical) knowledge claim to transcend their historical and cultural contexts? In contrast with philosophical wo...
Navigating the Twilight of Uncertainty: Decisions from Experience
July 08, 2015 03:00 - 54 minutes - 834 MB VideoRalph Hertwig (Max Planck Institute for Human Development) gives a talk at the Workshop on Causal and Probabilistic Reasoning (18-20 June, 2015) titled "Navigating the Twilight of Uncertainty: Decisions from Experience". Abstract: In many of our decisions we cannot consult explicit statistics telling us about the relative risks involved in our actions. In lieu of explicit statistics, we can search either externally or internally for information, thus making decisions from experience (as oppos...
Context, Conversation, and Fragmentation
July 08, 2015 02:00 - 47 minutes - 726 MB VideoDirk Kindermann (Graz) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (25 June, 2015) titled "Context, Conversation, and Fragmentation". Abstract: What is a conversational context?One inuential account (Lewis, Stalnaker, Roberts) says that it is a shared body of information | the information conveyed and/or presupposed by all interlocutors. Conversation, on this account, proceeds by variously influencing, and being influenced, by this body of information. In this talk, I argue that standard idealising a...
On the Role of the Light Postulate in Relativity
June 30, 2015 06:00 - 57 minutes - 882 MB VideoR. A. Rynasiewicz (Johns Hopkins University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (10 June, 2015) titled "On the Role of the Light Postulate in Relativity". Abstract: As presented by Einstein in 1905, the theory of special relativity follows from two postulates: first, what he called the principle of relativity, and second, an empirical fact about the relation of the propagation of light relative to its source that has come to be called the light postulate. In 1910 Waldemar von Ignatowsky clai...
Explaining Macroscopic Systems from Microscopic Principles
June 30, 2015 05:00 - 42 minutes - 654 MB VideoPeter Pickl (LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (10 June, 2015) titled "Explaining Macroscopic Systems from Microscopic Principles". Abstract: The revolutionary idea of the late 19th century that the physics of gases can be explained by the dynamics of small, point-like particles had a great influence on physics as well as mathematics and philosophy. This idea has changed our understanding of the physics of macroscopic systems significantly as well as the way we see our universe as a wh...
Convergence of Iterated Belief Updates
June 30, 2015 04:00 - 54 minutes - 840 MB VideoBerna Kilinç (Boğaziçi University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (3 June, 2015) titled "Convergence of Iterated Belief Updates". Abstract: One desideratum on belief upgrade operations is that their iteration is truth-tropic, either on finite or infinite streams of reliable information. Under special circumstances repeated Bayesian updating satisfies this desideratum as shown for instance by the Gaifman and Snir theorem. There are a few analogous results in recent research within dynam...
The Causual Nature of Modeling in Data-Intensive Science
June 30, 2015 03:00 - 1 hour - 940 MB VideoWolfgang Pietsch (MCTS/TU Munich) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (3 June, 2015) titled "The Causual Nature of Modeling in Data-Intensive Science". Abstract: Abstract: I argue for the causal character of modeling in data-intensive science, contrary to wide-spread claims that big data is only concerned with the search for correlations. After introducing and discussing the concept of data-intensive science, several algorithms are examined with respect to their ability to identify causal rel...
Against Grue Mysteries
June 30, 2015 02:00 - 45 minutes - 697 MB VideoAlexandra Zinke (Konstanz) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (28 May, 2015) titled "Against Grue Mysteries". Abstract: In a recent paper, Freitag (2015) reduces Goodman’s new riddle of induction to the problem of doxastic dependence. We are not justified in projecting grue because our grue-evidence is doxastically dependent on defeated evidence. I try to implement this solution into an inductive extension of AGM belief revision theory. It turns out that the grue-example is nothing but an in...
On Einstein's Reality Criterion
June 30, 2015 01:00 - 42 minutes - 642 MB VideoGábor Hofer-Szabó (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (28 May, 2015) titled "On Einstein's Reality Criterion". Abstract: In the talk we characterize the different interpretations of QM in an operationalist-frequentist framework and show what entities the different interpretations posit. We define completeness and correctness of an interpretation in terms of how this posited ontology relates to the "real world ontology" posited by principles independent of the i...
Predicting Outcomes in Five Person Spatial Games: An Aspiration Model Approach
May 28, 2015 11:00 - 1 hour - 1.2 GB VideoBernard Grofman (Irvine) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (13 May, 2015) titled "Predicting Outcomes in Five Person Spatial Games: An Aspiration Model Approach". Abstract: There are many situations where voters must choose a single alternative and where both the voters and the alternatives can be characterized as points in a one or two or more dimensional policy space. In committees and legislatures, often choice among these alternatives will be done via a decision agenda in which alterna...
Modeling Cognitive Representations with Evolutionary Game Theory
May 12, 2015 04:20 - 35 minutes - 541 MB VideoMarc Artiga (MCMP) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (7 May, 2015) titled "Modeling Cognitive Representations with Evolutionary Game Theory". Abstract: Cognitive science has been developed on the idea that cognitive systems are representational. Recently, however, some people have challenged this idea. The goal of this talk is to provide some mathematical tools for resolving this question. More precisely, I will defend two claims. First, I will argue that Evolutionary Game Theory can help u...
Structures, Mechanisms and Dynamics in Theoretical Neuroscience
May 12, 2015 02:14 - 50 minutes - 766 MB VideoHolger Lyre (Magdeburg) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (6 May, 2015) titled "Structures, Mechanisms and Dynamics in Theoretical Neuroscience". Abstract: Proponents of mechanistic explanations have recently proclaimed that all explanations in the neurosciences appeal to mechanisms – including computational and dynamical explanations. The purpose of the talk is to critically assess these statements. I shall defend an understanding of both dynamical and computational explanations according ...
Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics from an Emergentist Viewpoint
May 12, 2015 01:07 - 1 hour - 973 MB VideoDavid Wallace (Balliol College) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (15 April, 2015) titled "Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics from an Emergentist Viewpoint". Abstract: I sketch a view of the philosophy of statistical mechanics as (a) concerned primarily with the interrelations between different dynamical systems describing more or less coarse-grained degrees of freedom of a system, and only secondarily with thermodynamic notions like equilibrium and entropy, and (b) informed by development...
The Mathematical Route to Causal Understanding
May 11, 2015 06:06 - 47 minutes - 724 MB VideoMichael Strevens (NYU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (30 April, 2015) titled "The Mathematical Route to Causal Understanding". Abstract: Causal explanation is a matter of isolating the elements of the causal web that make a difference to the explanandum event or regularity (so I and others have argued). Causal understanding is a matter of grasping a causal explanation (so says what I have elsewhere called the "simple theory" of understanding). It follows that causal understanding is a m...