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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 48

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The Hole Argument
This paper reviews the hole argument as an argument against spacetime substantivalism. After a careful presentation of the argument itself I review possible responses.
Oliver PooleySep 21, 2020
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Eternalism and Perspectival Realism about the 'Now'
Eternalism is the view that all times are equally real. The relativity of simultaneity in special relativity backs this up. There is no cosmically extended, self-existing 'now'. This leads to a…
Matias SlavovSep 21, 2020
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Wilhelm Weber: On the Energy of Interaction (translated and edited by A. K. T. Assis)
Editor's Note: An English translation of Wilhelm Weber's 1878 paper "Ueber die Energie der Wechselwirkung", [Web78b]. This work is an excerpt from Weber's seventh major Memoir on Electrodynamic…
A. K. T. AssisSep 19, 2020
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Determinism and general relativity
We investigate the fate of determinism in general relativity (GR), comparing the philosopher's account with the physicist's well-posed initial value formulations. The fate of determinism is…
Chris Smeenk, Christian WuthrichSep 16, 2020
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La pol\'emica del multiverso
This paper offers a synthesis of the positions in the literature regarding controversies about the multiverse. After reviewing some simple elements of modern cosmology and its observational…
Alejandro GanguiSep 14, 2020
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Kant and Hegel in Physics
Kant and Hegel are among the philosophers who are guiding the way in which we reason these days. It is thus of interest to see how physical theories have been developed along the line of Kant and…
Y. S. KimSep 14, 2020
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David Olive: his life and work
David Olive, who died in Barton, Cambridgeshire, on 7 November 2012, aged 75, was a theoretical physicist who made seminal contributions to the development of string theory and to our understanding…
Edward Corrigan, Peter GoddardSep 12, 2020
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The Beginning of the Nuclear Age
The article below is based on lectures delivered to new students remotely in the course of orientation. It presents the quantum theory tree from its inception a century ago till today. The main focus…
M. ShifmanSep 10, 2020
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A history of the Magellanic Clouds and the European exploration of the Southern Hemisphere
The Magellanic Clouds were known before Magellan's voyage exactly 500 years ago, and were not given that name by Magellan himself or his chronicler Antonio Pigafetta. They were, of course, already…
Michel DennefeldSep 10, 2020
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Physical grounds for causal perspectivalism
We ground the asymmetry of causal relations in the internal physical states of a special kind of open and irreversible physical system, a causal agent. A causal agent is an autonomous physical…
G. J. Milburn, S. Shrapnel, P. W. EvansSep 9, 2020
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Cartography of the space of theories: an interpretational chart for fields that are both (dark) matter and spacetime
This paper pushes back against the Democritean-Newtonian tradition of assuming a strict conceptual dichotomy between spacetime and matter. Our approach proceeds via the more narrow distinction…
Niels C. M. Martens, Dennis LehmkuhlSep 8, 2020
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Dark Matter = Modified Gravity? Scrutinising the spacetime-matter distinction through the modified gravity/ dark matter lens
This paper scrutinises the tenability of a strict conceptual distinction between space(time) and matter via the lens of the debate between modified gravity and dark matter. In particular, we consider…
Niels C. M. Martens, Dennis LehmkuhlSep 8, 2020
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One time, two times, or no time?
Contemporary research programs in fundamental physics appear to suggest that there could be two (physical) times---or none at all. This essay articulates these possibilities in the context of quantum…
Christian WuthrichSep 7, 2020
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Out of Nowhere: The emergence of spacetime from causal sets
This is a chapter of the planned monograph "Out of Nowhere: The Emergence of Spacetime in Quantum Theories of Gravity", co-authored by Nick Huggett and Christian W\"uthrich and under contract with…
Christian Wüthrich, Nick HuggettSep 7, 2020
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Clusters of Solar Eclipses in the Maori Era
A dozen of high-magnitude solar eclipses accumulated near New Zealand in the 15th century AD when the Maori inhabited the two main islands. Taking today's capital Wellington as the point of…
Emil KhalisiSep 3, 2020
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A Personal History of the Hastings-Michalakis Proof of Hall Conductance Quantization
This is a personal history of the Hastings-Michalakis proof of quantum Hall conductance quantization.
M. B. HastingsSep 3, 2020
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Reconstructing William Lane Craig's Explanation of Absolute Time based on Mulla Sadra's Philosophy
After the advent of the theory of special relativity, the existence of absolute time in nature was rejected within the society of physics. In recent decades, William Lane Craig has endeavoured to…
M. S. Kavyani, H. Razmi, H. ParsaniaSep 3, 2020
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Understanding Quantum Mechanics (Beyond Metaphysical Dogmatism and Naive Empiricism)
Quantum Mechanics (QM) has faced deep controversies and debates since its origin when Werner Heisenberg proposed the first mathematical formalism capable to operationally account for what had been…
Christian de RondeSep 1, 2020
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Historical and philosophical reflections on the Einstein-de Sitter model
We present some historical and philosophical reflections on the paper "On the Relation Between the Expansion and the Mean Density of the Universe", published by Albert Einstein and Willem de Sitter…
Cormac O'Raifeartaigh, Michael O'Keeffe, Simon MittonAug 31, 2020
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Functionalism as a Species of Reduction
This is the first of four papers prompted by a recent literature about a doctrine dubbed spacetime functionalism. This paper gives our general framework for discussing functionalism. Following Lewis,…
J. Butterfield, H. GomesAug 31, 2020
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Native Skywatchers and the Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaaigan-Ojibwe Sky Star Map
The Native Skywatchers programming addresses the loss of Ojibwe and Dakota star knowledge. The goal is to help preserve indigenous astronomy and pass it on to future generations. The star knowledge…
Annette S. LeeAug 30, 2020
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The Personalized A-Theory of Time and Perspective
A-theorists and B-theorists debate whether the "Now" is metaphysically distinguished from other time slices. Analogously, one may ask whether the "I" is metaphysically distinguished from other…
Vincent ConitzerAug 30, 2020
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Physics, Determinism, and the Brain
This paper responds to claims that causal closure of the underlying microphysics determines brain outcomes as a matter of principle, even if we cannot hope to ever carry out the needed calculations…
George F R EllisAug 28, 2020
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Classical Tests of General Relativity Part II: Looking to the Past to Understand the Present
The objective of this second part of the work is to present heuristic derivations of the three classical tests of general relativity. These derivations are based on the Einstein equivalence principle…
Jorge PinochetAug 25, 2020
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Divine Emanation as Cosmic Origin: Ibn Sina and His Critics
The question of cosmic beginning has always attracted considerable attention from serious thinkers past and present. This article examines Ibn Sina's proposed solution to the vexed problem that given…
Syamsuddin ArifAug 25, 2020
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