MCMP
66 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 6 years ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsMathematical 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
Mathematical Empiricism. A Methodological Proposal
March 17, 2018 15:16 - 1 hour - 1.24 GB VideoHannes Leitgeb (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Mathematical Empiricism. A Methodological Proposal". Abstract: I will propose a way of doing (mathematical) philosophy which I am calling 'mathematical empiricism'. It is the proposal to rationally reconstruct language, thought, ends, decision-making, communication, social interaction, norms, ideals, and so on, in conceptual frameworks. The core of each such ...
Notations and Diagrams in Algebra
March 17, 2018 15:02 - 19 minutes - 293 MB VideoSilvia de Toffoli (Stanford University) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Notations and Diagrams in Algebra". Abstract: The aim of this talk is to investigate the roles of Commutative Diagrams (CDs) in a specific mathematical domain, and to unveil the reasons underlying their effectiveness as a mathematical notation; this will be done through a case study. It will be shown that, differently from other mathematical dia...
Ethics and Morality in the Vienna Circle
March 17, 2018 15:01 - 53 minutes - 818 MB VideoAnne Siegetsleitner (Innsbruck) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Ethics and Morality in the Vienna Circle". Abstract: In my talk I will present key aspects of a long-overdue revision of the prevailing view on the role and conception of ethics and morality in the Vienna Circle. This view is rejected as being too partial and undifferentiated. Not all members supported the standard view of logical empiricist ethics, whi...
Degrees of Truth Explained Away
March 17, 2018 15:00 - 17 minutes - 268 MB VideoRossella Marrano (Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Degrees of Truth Explained Away". Abstract: The notion of degrees of truth arising in infinite-valued logics has been the object of long-standing criticisms. In this paper I focus on the alleged intrinsic philosophical implausibility of degrees of truth, namely on objections concerning their very nature and their role, rather than on ob...
What Are No-Go Theorems Good for?
March 17, 2018 15:00 - 20 minutes - 308 MB VideoRadin Dardashti (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "What Are No-Go Theorems Good for?". Abstract: No-go Theorems in physics have often been construed as impossibility results with respect to some goal. These results usually have had two effects on the field. Either, the no-go result effectively stopped that research programme or one or more of the assumptions involved in the derivation were questioned. In thi...
Mathematical Philosophy and Leitgeb’s Carnapian Big Tent: Past, Present, Future
March 17, 2018 14:59 - 35 minutes - 539 MB VideoAndré W. Carus (LMU) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Mathematical Philosophy and Leitgeb’s Carnapian Big Tent: Past, Present, Future". Abstract: Hannes Leitgeb’s conception of mathematical philosophy, reflected in the success of the MCMP, is characterized by a pluralism — a Big Tent program — that shows remarkable continuity with the Vienna Circle, as now understood. But logical empiricism was notoriously opposed to...
Valuing Questions
March 17, 2018 14:58 - 18 minutes - 286 MB VideoLiam Kofi Bright (CMU Pittsburgh) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Valuing Questions". Abstract: If all scientists seek the truth, will they agree on how this search should be carried out? Social epistemologists have alleged that were scientists to be truth seekers they would display an unwelcome homogeneity in their choice of what projects to pursue. However, philosophers of science have argued that the injunction t...
Relating Theories of Intensional Semantics: Established Methods and Surprising Results
March 17, 2018 14:53 - 19 minutes - 293 MB VideoKristina Liefke (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Relating Theories of Intensional Semantics: Established Methods and Surprising Results". Abstract: Formal semantics comprises a plethora of ‘intensional’ theories which model propositional attitudes through the use of different ontological primitives (e.g. possible/impossible worlds, partial situations, unanalyzable propositions). The ontological relations b...
Inductive Reasoning with Conceptual Spaces: A Proposal for Analogy
March 17, 2018 14:49 - 22 minutes - 338 MB VideoMarta Sznajder (University of Groningen/MCMP) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Inductive Reasoning with Conceptual Spaces: A Proposal for Analogy". Abstract: In his late work on inductive logic Carnap introduced the conceptual level of representations – i.e. conceptual spaces – into his system. Traditional inductive logic (e.g. Carnap 1950) is a study of inductive reasoning that belongs to the symbolic level of cogni...
Five Years MCMP: Looking Back
March 17, 2018 14:47 - 23 minutes - 356 MB VideoRoland Poellinger (LMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the Workshop on Five Years MCMP: Quo Vadis, Mathematical Philosophy? (2-4 June, 2016) titled "Five Years MCMP: Looking Back". Abstract: In this presentation I will speak about the MCMP's outreach and line up some of the center's achievements in the last five years. I will put special emphasis on our media output since many of our activities are mirrored in our media-related efforts such as our video channels on iTunes U, our Coursera online courses...
On Some Puzzling Features of Existential Discourse
March 17, 2018 13:27 - 1 hour - 1.01 GB VideoDolf Rami (Göttingen) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (21 January, 2016) titled "On Some Puzzling Features of Existential Discourse". Abstract: Existence is a very puzzling notion that bewitched philosophers since the beginning of Western Philosophy. In this talk, I will compare the three most popular general views on existence and I will point out their main advantages and weaknesses. These are (a) the often so-called second-level view of existence, (b) the Meinongian view of existence a...
On the Role of Supplementation Principles in Mereology
March 17, 2018 13:26 - 1 hour - 971 MB VideoAaron Cotnoir (St. Andrews) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (4 February, 2016) titled "On the Role of Supplementation Principles in Mereology". Abstract: Mereology is the formal theory of parts and wholes. Despite the frequent claim that a certain class of `supplementation' principles are analytically true of the concept of parthood, students of mereology often find such principles tricky to understand. This is made more complicated by the supposed relation between supplementation and mer...
Causation & Time Reversal
March 17, 2018 13:22 - 58 minutes - 887 MB VideoMatt Farr (Queensland) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (20 January, 2016) titled "Causation & Time Reversal". Abstract: What would it be for a process to happen ‘backwards’ in time? Would such a process involve different causal relations? On a standard interpretation of time reversal, time reversal symmetric theories radically underdetermine causal relations between events. This has led many to imply that time reversal symmetry motivates eliminativism about causation. This paper assesses ...
On the Relationship Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Justifications
March 17, 2018 13:19 - 56 minutes - 864 MB VideoNeil Barton (Birkbeck) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (14 January, 2016) titled "On the Relationship Between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Justifications". Abstract: Recent discussions of the justification of new axioms for set theory have often focussed on a distinction between two different kinds of justification. Intrinsic justifications argue that putative axioms are implied by an underlying mathematical conception, whereas extrinsic justifications concern the consequences of said principl...
Turbulence, Universality and Emergence
March 17, 2018 13:15 - 44 minutes - 676 MB VideoMargaret Morrison (Toronto) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (3 February, 2016) titled "Turbulence, Universality and Emergence". Abstract: Turbulent flows are paradigm cases of complex systems where multi-scale modelling is required. The fundamental problems in the field are strong fluctuations and couplings – problems that are also present in condensed matter physics (CMP) and field theory. Like the latter two areas of physics, renormalization group methods have been used to treat some ...
How (not) to make everyone better off
March 17, 2018 13:15 - 48 minutes - 748 MB VideoAnna Mahtani (LSE) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (16 December, 2015) titled "How (not) to make everyone better off". Abstract: he concept of ‘pareto superiority’ plays a central role in welfare economics. Pareto superiority is sometimes taken as a relation between outcomes, and sometimes as a relation between actions – even where the outcome of the actions is uncertain. Whether one action is classed as (ex ante) pareto superior to another depends on the prospects under the actions for e...
Non-Classical Knwoledge
March 17, 2018 13:14 - 59 minutes - 912 MB VideoEthan Jerzak (Berkeley) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (17 December, 2015) titled "Non-Classical Knwoledge".
The Quantified Argument Calculus
March 17, 2018 13:12 - 47 minutes - 724 MB VideoHanoch Ben-Yami (CEU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (16 December, 2015) titled "The Quantified Argument Calculus". Abstract: I present the principles of a logic I have developed, in which quantified arguments occur in the argument position of predicates. That is, while the natural language sentence ‘Alice is polite’ is formalised P(a), the sentence ‘Some students are polite’ is formalised P(∃S). In this and several other respects, this logic is closer to Natural Language than is any ver...
Anaphora and Presuppositions in Dependent Type Semantics
March 17, 2018 13:06 - 1 hour - 1.3 GB VideoDaisuke Bekki (Ochanomizu University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (2 December, 2015) titled "Anaphora and Presuppositions in Dependent Type Semantics". Abstract: Dependent type semantics (DTS) is a framework of proof-theoretic discourse semantics based on dependent type theory, following the line of Sundholm and Ranta. DTS attains compositionality as required to serve as a semantic component of modern formal grammars including variations of categorial grammars, which is achieved by a...
Ensemble Realism. A new Approach to Statistical Mechanical Probability
March 17, 2018 12:55 - 52 minutes - 807 MB VideoNick Tosh (NUI Galway) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (2 December, 2015) titled "Ensemble Realism. A new Approach to Statistical Mechanical Probability". Abstract: “What we know about a body can generally be described most accurately and most simply by saying that it is one taken at random from a great number (ensemble) of bodies which are completely described.” So wrote Willard Gibbs in 1902, but with his fingers crossed, for he regarded ensembles as convenient fictions. A century later...
Pan-Perspectival Realism
March 17, 2018 12:54 - 40 minutes - 617 MB VideoPaul Teller (UC Davis) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (10 December, 2015) titled "Pan-Perspectival Realism". Abstract: Conventional scientific realism is just the doctrine that our theoretical terms refer. Conventional antirealism denies, for various reasons, theoretical reference and takes theory to give us only information about the word of the perceptual where reference, it would appear, is secure. But reference fails for the perceptual every bit as much for the perceptual as for th...
Anti-Exceptionalism About Logic
March 17, 2018 12:54 - 50 minutes - 771 MB VideoOle Hjortland (Bergen) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (3 December, 2015) titled "Anti-Exceptionalism About Logic". Abstract: Logic isn’t special. Its theories are continuous with science; its method continuous with scientific method. Logic isn’t a priori, nor are its truths analytic truths. Logical theories are revisable, and if they are revised, they are revised on the same grounds as scientific theories. These are the tenets of anti-exceptionalism about logic. The position is most famo...
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Nonstandard Analysis
March 17, 2018 12:52 - 54 minutes - 835 MB VideoSam Sanders (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (26 November, 2015) titled "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Nonstandard Analysis". Abstract: There is a persistent belief, propagated by such luminaries as Errett Bishop and Alain Connes, that infinitesimals (in the sense of Robinson’s Nonstandard Analysis (NSA) ) somehow are fundamentally non-constructive and that NSA is devoid of numerical meaning, as Bishop was wont to say. In this talk, we disprove the Bishop-Connes claim regard...
Gini vs. Shannon: The Case for Quadratic Entropy in Formal Philosophy of Science
March 17, 2018 12:51 - 45 minutes - 691 MB VideoVincenzo Crupi (Turin) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (26 November, 2015) titled "Gini vs. Shannon: The Case for Quadratic Entropy in Formal Philosophy of Science". Abstract: A probabilistic representation of the notion of uncertainty is an important tool in formal philosophy of science and epistemology: it yields theoretical and mathematical connections with the informativeness of a statement, gradational accuracy, evidential support, how a probability distribution diverges from another...
Quantum Causal Models, Faithfulness and Retrocausality
March 17, 2018 12:49 - 45 minutes - 694 MB VideoPeter Evans (Queensland) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (25 November, 2015) titled "Quantum Causal Models, Faithfulness and Retrocausality". Abstract: Wood and Spekkens (2015) argue that any causal model explaining the EPRB correlations and satisfying no-signalling must also violate the assumption that the model faithfully reproduces the statistical dependences and independences---a so-called “fine-tuning” of the causal parameters; this includes, in particular, retrocausal explanations o...
Positive Reflection Calculi
March 17, 2018 11:59 - 1 hour - 1.07 GB VideoLev Beklemishev (Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (12 November, 2015) titled "Positive Reflection Calculi". Abstract: We deal with the fragment of propositional modal logic consisting of implications of formulas built up from the variables and the constant `true' by conjunction and diamonds only. We call such fragments strictly positive. The interest towards strictly positive modal logics independently emerged around 2010 in two different disciplines: th...
Counterfactual Belief and Actuality
March 17, 2018 11:57 - 54 minutes - 839 MB VideoJan Heylen (KU Leuven) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (19 November, 2015) titled "Counterfactual Belief and Actuality". Abstract: The central question of this article is how to combine counterfactual theories of knowledge with the notion of actuality. It is argued that the straightforward combination of these two elements leads to problems, viz. the problem of collapsing knowledge and the problem of missing knowledge. In other words, there is overgeneration of knowledge and there is unde...
Where are the Woman in Medieval Logic?
March 17, 2018 11:51 - 41 minutes - 634 MB VideoSara Uckelman (Durham University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 November, 2015) titled "Where are the Woman in Medieval Logic?". Abstract: Recent research into medieval logic has shown that the field is full of material of interest to the contemporary logicians, from dynamic analyses of the relationship between proof and knowledge, to novel solutions to the Liar paradox (and others), to logics for deceit and lying, to reasoning about uncertainty and ignorance, and much, much more. R...
Truthlikeness, Accuracy and Epistemic Value
March 17, 2018 11:48 - 1 hour - 938 MB VideoGraham Oddie (Boulder) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (29 October, 2015) titled "Truthlikeness, Accuracy and Epistemic Value".
Doxastic Responsibility and the Basing Relation
March 17, 2018 11:48 - 55 minutes - 853 MB VideoAnne Meylan (Basel) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (11 November, 2015) titled "Doxastic Responsibility and the Basing Relation". Abstract: People are responsible for their beliefs and not only for their actions. However, they are not apparently able to control their beliefs as they are able to control their actions. This is what I call “the problem of doxastic responsibility”. The aim of this presentation is to describe a difficulty for a particular solution to this problem. This soluti...
Admissibility Decisions, Permissible Previsions
March 17, 2018 11:47 - 49 minutes - 754 MB VideoArthur Pedersen (Max Planck Institute/MCMP) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (5 November, 2015) titled "Admissibility Decisions, Permissible Previsions". Abstract: In this talk I shall consider the problem of designing a theory of judgment and decision making that adequately addresses outstanding challenges to the normative adequacy of strict “Bayesian” theories inspired by the pioneering developments of Ramsey, de Finetti, and Savage. The questions I shall ask are basic ones: how are pers...
Gustav Shpet on the Function of Understanding History
March 17, 2018 11:43 - 47 minutes - 728 MB VideoElena Tatievskaya (Augsburg) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (4 November, 2015) titled "Gustav Shpet on the Function of Understanding History". Abstract: I discuss the question whether the method of history can be characterized with the help of the concept of understanding without reference to empathy. I consider as an argument for such a possibility Shpet’s (1879-1937) “logic of history”. Its formulation is based upon the assumption that the subject matter of history defines the peculiar...
First Steps towards Non-Classical Logic of Informal Provability
March 17, 2018 11:36 - 34 minutes - 526 MB VideoRafal Urbaniak (Ghent) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (29 October, 2015) titled "First Steps towards Non-Classical Logic of Informal Provability". Abstract: Mathematicians prove theorems in a semi-formal setting, providing what we'll call informal proofs. There are various philosophical reasons not to reduce informal provability to formal provability within some appropriate axiomatic theory (see Marfori 2010, Leitgeb 2009). But the main worry is that we have a strong intuition that whate...
Epistemic Logic, Game Theory and Behavior
March 17, 2018 11:17 - 39 minutes - 607 MB VideoRohit Parikh (CUNY) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (29 October, 2015) titled "Epistemic Logic, Game Theory and Behavior". Abstract: Enormous developments have taken place in epistemic reasoning since the foundational work of Hintikka and Lewis. But the entry of computer scientists in this area has made for much more rapid and more technical developments. We will cover the following topics: (a) Kripke structures and Aumann structures; (b) Formalism and completeness; (c) Communication a...
Panel III: Discussion on "Has Physics changed? - and should it?"
March 13, 2018 13:14 - 1 hour - 1.43 GB VideoDiscussion on "Has Physics changed? - and should it?" at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015).
Panel II: Discussion on "How far do we get with Empirical Data?"
March 13, 2018 13:01 - 1 hour - 1.25 GB VideoDiscussion on "How far do we get with Empirical Data?" at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015).
Panel I: Discussion on "Why Trust a Theory?"
March 13, 2018 13:01 - 1 hour - 1.31 GB VideoDiscussion on "Why Trust a Theory?" at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015).
String Theory to the Rescue
March 13, 2018 12:46 - 1 hour - 932 MB VideoDavid Gross (UC Santa Barbara) presented Joseph Polichinski's (UC Santa Barbara) talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "String Theory to the Rescue". Abstract: The search for a theory of quantum gravity faces two great challenges: the incredibly small scale of the Planck length and time, and the possibility that the observed constants of nature are in part the result of random processes. A priori, one might have expected these obstacles to be insuperable. H...
What is a Theory?
March 13, 2018 12:45 - 53 minutes - 807 MB VideoDavid Gross (UC Santa Barbara) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "What is a Theory?".
The Limits of Cosmology, Post-Planck
March 13, 2018 12:36 - 30 minutes - 461 MB VideoJoseph Silk (Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore/Univ. Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "The Limits of Cosmology, Post-Planck". Abstract: I will discuss how one might follow up on the Planck satellite which has given us a remarkable confirmation to high precision of what has become known as the “standard model of cosmology.” This model is purely phenomenological and establishes a robust framework around which a number of...
Fundamental Theories and Epistemic Shifts: Can History of Science serve as a Guide?
March 13, 2018 12:27 - 32 minutes - 490 MB VideoHelge Kragh (Copenhagen) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Fundamental Theories and Epistemic Shifts: Can History of Science serve as a Guide?". Abstract: Epistemic standards and methodologies of science inevitably reflect the successes and failures of the past. In this sense, they are in part of a historical nature. Moreover, the commonly accepted methodological criteria have to some extent changed over time. Faced with the problem of theories...
Aspects of Quantum Gravity
March 13, 2018 12:12 - 41 minutes - 621 MB VideoDieter Lüst (LMU) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Aspects of Quantum Gravity".
What can we learn from Analogue Experiments?
March 13, 2018 12:10 - 33 minutes - 506 MB VideoKarim Thebault (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "What can we learn from Analogue Experiments?". Abstract: In 1981 Unruh proposed that fluid mechanical experiments could be used to probe key aspects of the quantum phenomenology of black holes. In particular, he claimed that an analogue to Hawking radiation could be created within a fluid mechanical 'dumb hole'. Since then an entire sub-field of 'analogue gravity' has been created. In ...
Considering the Role of Information Theory in Fundamental Physics
March 13, 2018 12:09 - 30 minutes - 463 MB VideoChris Wüthrich (Geneva) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Considering the Role of Information Theory in Fundamental Physics". Abstract: Information theory presupposes the notion of an epistemic agent, such as a scientist or an idealized human. Despite that, information theory is increasingly invoked by physicists concerned with fundamental physics, physics at very high energies, or generally with the physics of situations in which even idealize...
Scientific Methodology: A View from Early String Theory
March 13, 2018 12:09 - 29 minutes - 446 MB VideoElena Castellani (Florence) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Scientific Methodology: A View from Early String Theory". Abstract: Looking at the developments of quantum field theory and string theory since their very beginnings, it does not seem that the methodology in fundamental physics has changed. The same strategies are applied in theory building and assessment. The methodology leading to the string idea and its successive developments is ...
Lost in Math
March 13, 2018 12:08 - 29 minutes - 441 MB VideoSabine Hossenfelder (NORDITA, Stockholm) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Lost in Math". Abstract: I will speak about the role of social and cognitive biases in hypotheses pre-selection, and reflect on the rationale behind the concepts of naturalness, simplicity and beauty.
Limits in testing the Multiverse
March 13, 2018 12:08 - 41 minutes - 82.9 MB VideoGeorge Ellis (Cape Town) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Limits in testing the Multiverse". Abstract: Our ability to test cosmological models is severely constrained by visual horizons on the one hand, and physical horizons (limits on testing physical theories) on the other. Various arguments have been given to get round these limitations. I will argue that these amount to philosophical choices, which may or may not correspond to physical rea...
Theory in Fundamental Physics: The View from the Outside
March 13, 2018 12:08 - 34 minutes - 518 MB VideoMassimo Pigliucci (City College of New York) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Theory in Fundamental Physics: The View from the Outside". Abstract: Trouble, as explicitly hinted at in the title of a recent book by Lee Smolin, has been brewing for a while within the fundamental physics community. Ideas such as string theory and the multiverse have been both vehemently defended as sound science and widely criticized for being “not even wrong,” in...
Secret Quantum Lives of Black Holes and Dark Energy
March 13, 2018 12:07 - 36 minutes - 12.7 MB VideoGeorgi Dvali (LMU) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Secret Quantum Lives of Black Holes and Dark Energy".
Non-empirical Confirmation
March 13, 2018 12:07 - 33 minutes - 508 MB VideoRichard Dawid (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Non-empirical Confirmation". Abstract: The talk will analyse reasons for the high degree of trust many physicists have developed in empirically unconfirmed theories. An extension of the concept of theory confirmation (to be called “non-empirical confirmation”) will be suggested that allows for confirmation by observations that are not predicted by the theory in question. The last part o...