1 Time in Special Relativity
Is presentism consistent with special relativity? Does it follow from presentism that there is an absolute sense of rest?Core reading
- S. Savitt, "Being and Becoming in Modern Physics", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta
(ed.),
http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/spacetime-bebecome/.
- H. Putnam, "Time and Physical Geometry", Journal of Philosophy 64 (1967): 240-7. Reprinted in his Mathematics, Matter and Method, Philosophical Papers Vol. 1 (CUP, 1975).
- H. Stein, "On Einstein-Minkowski Space-Time", Journal of Philosophy 65 (1968): 5-23.
- N. Maxwell, "Are Probabilism and Special Relativity Incompatible?", Philosophy of Science 52 (1985): 23-43.
- H. Stein, "On Relativity Theory and Openness of the Future", Philosophy of Science 58 (1991): 147-67.
- S. W. Saunders, "How Relativity Contradicts Presentism", in
C. Callender (ed.), Time, Reality & Experience (CUP,
2002),
pp. 277-92.
E-print: http://users.ox.ac.uk/ ~ lina0174/kansas5(S).pdf.
Extra reading
- M. Dickson, Quantum chance and non-locality (CUP, 1998), pp. 165-74.
- B. Dainton, Time and Space (Acumen, 2001), Chs 2, 3, 5, 6 & 17.
- R. Weingard, "Relativity and the reality of past and future events", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 23 (1972): 119-21.
- N. Maxwell, "On Relativity Theory and Openness of the Future", Philosophy of Science 60 (1993): 341-8.
- S. Savitt, "There's no time like the present (in Minkowski Spacetime)", Philosophy of Science 67 (2000): S563-74. E-print: http://scistud.umkc.edu/psa98/papers/.
- M. Hinchliff, "A Defense of Presentism in a Relativistic Setting", Philosophy of Science 67 (2000): S575-86.
- R. Clifton and M. Hogarth, "The Definability of Objective Becoming in Minkowski Spacetime", Synthese 103 (1995): 355-87.
- Y. Balashov & M. Janssen, "Presentism and Relativity", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (forthcoming). E-print: PITT-PHIL-SCI00000526.
On McTaggart's argument
- J. M. E. McTaggart, "The Unreality of Time" in Le Poidevin & MacBeath (eds) The Philosophy of Time (OUP, 1993) which is taken from Ch. 33 of McTaggart's The Nature of Existence.
- M. Dummett, "A defense of McTaggart's proof of the unreality of time", Philosophical Review 69 (1960): 497-504. Reprinted in his Truth and Other Enigmas (Duckworth, 1978).
- G. Evans, "Does tense-logic rest upon a mistake?", in his Collected Papers (OUP, 1979), pp. 343-63.
- D. H. Mellor, Real Time II (Routledge, 1998), Ch. 7.
- P. Percival, "A presentist's refutation of Mellor's McTaggart", in C. Callender (ed.) Time, Reality and Experience (CUP, 2002), pp. 91-118.
On relativity, change and persistence
- T. Sider, Four dimensionalism (OUP, 2001), esp. pp. 79-87; 198-9.
- K. Hawley, How things persist (OUP, 2001), esp. pp. 52-3.
- D. H. Mellor, Real Time II (Routledge, 1998), Ch. 8.
- Y. Balashov, "Persistence and space-time: Philosophical lessons of the pole and barn", The Monist 83 (2000): 321-40. [See, also, other articles in this issue.]
- Y. Balashov, "Enduring and Perduring Objects in Minkowski
Space-Time", Philosophical Studies 99 (2000):
129-66.
E-print available: http://www.arches.uga.edu/ ~ yuri/online.html.
- Y. Balashov, "Relativity and persistence", Philosophy
of Science 67 (2000): S549-62.
E-print available: http://www.arches.uga.edu/ ~ yuri/online.html.
- Y. Balashov, "On stages, worms and relativity", in
C. Callender (ed.) Time, Reality and Experience (CUP,
2002), pp. 223-52.
E-print available: http://www.arches.uga.edu/ ~ yuri/online.html.
2 General Covariance: the Hole Argument
Does the hole argument apply to pre-general relativistic theories, such as special relativity? Does the hole argument in general relativity have any bearing on Quine's doctrine of ontological relativity?Core reading
- J. Norton, "The Hole Argument" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/spacetime-holearg/
- J. Earman, and J. Norton, "What Price Spacetime Substantivalism? The Hole Story", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 38 (1987): 515-27.
- T. Maudlin, "The essence of space-time", in A. Fine & J. Leplin (eds) PSA 1988, Vol. 2, pp. 82–-91.
- J. Earman, World Enough and Space-Time (MIT Press, 1989), Ch. 9.
- J. Stachel, "The Meaning of General Covariance: the Hole Story", in Earman et al. (eds) Philosophical Problems of the Internal and External Worlds: Essays on the Philosophy of Adolf Grünbaum (Pittsburgh University Press/Konstanz Universitaets Verlag, 1993), pp. 129-60.
- R. Rynasiewicz, "The lessons of the hole argument", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45: 407–-36.
- C. Hoefer, "The Metaphysics of Space-Time Substantivalism", Journal of Philosophy 93 (1996): 5-27.
- G. Belot and J. Earman, "From metaphysics to physics", in From Physics to Philosophy ed. by J. Butterfield & C. Pagonis (CUP, 2000), pp. 166-86.
Extra reading
- C. Liu, "Realism and spacetime: Of arguments against metaphysical realism and manifold realism", Philosophia Naturalis 33, 243–-63.
- S. W. Saunders, "Indiscernibles, general covariance, and
other symmetries", in A. Ashtekar et al. (eds)
Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics.
Festschrift in Honour of John Stachel (Kluwer,
forthcoming).
E-print: http://users.ox.ac.uk/ ~ lina0174/stachel7(S).pdf.
- T. Maudlin, `Substances and space-time: What Aristotle would have said to Einstein', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 21 (1990): 531-61.
- J. N. Butterfield, "The hole truth", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (1989): 1-28.
On Ontological Relativity
- B. Hale, & C. Wright, C. "Putnam's model-theoretic argument against metaphysical realism", in B. Hale & C. Wright (eds), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language (Blackwell, 1997), pp. 427-–57.
- W. V. Quine, "Ontological Relativity", in his Ontological Relativity and Other Essays (Columbia University Press, 1969), pp. 26–-68.
- H. Putnam, H. Reason, Truth and History (CUP, 1981), Ch. 2.
- W. V. Quine, Pursuit of Truth, revised edn (Harvard University Press, 1990), Chs 2 & 3.
- D. Lewis, "Putnam's Paradox", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 62 (1984): 221-36. Reprinted in his Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology (CUP, 1999).
- B. van Frasssen,
"Putnam's
Paradox: Metaphysical Realism Revamped and Evaded",
Philosophical Perspectives 11 (1997): 17-42.
E-print: http://webware.princeton.edu/vanfraas/.
3 The Identity of Indiscernibles
Discuss the relationship between particle indistinguishability in modern physics and Leibniz's principle of the identity of indiscernibles.Core Reading
On the PII
- P. Forrest, "The Identity of Indiscernibles", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/identity-indiscernible/.
- Leibniz, Monadology, §9.
- M. Black, "The Identity of Indiscernibles", Mind 61 (1952): 153-64.
- I. Hacking, "The Identity of Indiscernibles", Journal of Philosophy 72 (1975): 249-56.
- R. M. Adams, "Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity", Journal of Philosophy 76 (1979): 5-26. Reprinted in and in Kim & Sosa (eds.) Metaphysics: an Anthology (Blackwell, 1999), Ch. 14.
- W. V. Quine, Philosophy of Logic, 2nd edn (Harvard University Press, 1986), pp. 61-4.
- D. Wiggins, Sameness and Substance Renewed (CUP, 2001), Ch. 6.
- S. W. Saunders, "Physics and Leibniz's Principles", in
Brading and Castellani (eds) Symmetries in Physics:
Philosophical Reflections (CUP, 2003).
E-print: http://users.ox.ac.uk/ ~ lina0174/Leibniz(S).pdf.
On the PII and quantum mechanics
- S. French, "Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory",
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta
(ed.),
http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/qt-idind/.
- H. Margenau, "The Exclusion Principle and Its Philosophical Importance", Philosophy of Science 11 (1944): 187-208.
- A. Cortes, "Leibniz's Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles: A False Principle", Philosophy of Science 43 (1976): 491-505.
- S. French & M. Redhead, "Quantum Physics and the Identity of Indiscernibles", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39 (1988): 233-46.
- M. Redhead & P. Teller, "Particle Labels and the Theory of Indistinguishable Particles in Quantum Mechanics", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 43 (1992): 201-18.
- S. W. Saunders, "Physics and Leibniz's Principles", in
Brading and Castellani (eds) Symmetries in Physics:
Philosophical Reflections (CUP, 2003).
E-print: http://users.ox.ac.uk/ ~ lina0174/Leibniz(S).pdf.
Extra reading
- H. G. Alexander (ed.), The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (Manchester University Press, 1956).
- S. French, "Hacking Away at the Identity of Indiscernibles: Possible Worlds and Einstein's Principle of Equivalence", Journal of Philosophy 92 (1995): 455-66.
- G. Belot, `The Principle of Sufficient Reason', Journal
of Philosophy 118 (2001): 55-74. E-prints:
PITT-PHIL-SCI00000448
,
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/faculty/belot/.
- D. Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds (Blackwell, 1986), Ch. 4.
- W. V. Quine, Word and Object (MIT Press, 1960), pp. 230-1.
- W. V. Quine, "Grades of Discriminability", Journal of Philosophy 73 (1976): 113-6. Reprinted in his Theories and Things.
- R. L. Barnette, "Does Quantum Mechanics Disprove the Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles?", Philosophy of Science 45 (1978): 466-70.
- A. Ginsberg, "Quantum Theory and the Identity of Indiscernibles Revisited", Philosophy of Science 48 (1981): 487-91.
- P. Teller, "Quantum Physics, the Identity of Indiscernibles, and Some Unanswered Questions", Philosophy of Science 50 (1983): 309-19.
- J. Butterfield, "Interpretation and Identity in Quantum Theory", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 24 (1993): 443-76.
- N. Huggett, "Quarticles and the Identity of Indiscernibles",
in Brading and Castellani (eds) Symmetries in Physics:
Philosophical Reflections (CUP, 2003).
E-print: PITT-PHIL-SCI00000711.
- M. Massimi, "Exclusion Principle and the Identity of Indiscernibles: a Response to Margenau's Argument", British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (2001): 303-30.
4 Incongruent Counterparts and Parity Violation
Given parity violation, but in the absence of any higher symmetries (such as PC symmetry or PCT symmetry), would it follow that left and right differ intrinsically?Core reading
- Kant, `Concerning the Ultimate Ground of the Differentiation of Directions in Space', in Theoretical Philosophy, 1755-1770 (CUP, 1992) ed. & trans. D. Walford with R. Meerbote. Alternative translation in J. Van Cleve & R.E. Frederick (eds) The Philosophy of Right and Left (Kluwer, 1991), pp. 27-33, and in N. Huggett (ed.) Space from Zeno to Einstein (MIT Press, 1999), Ch. 11.
- Kant, `On the Form and Principles of the Sensible and the Intelligible World [Inaugural Dissertation]', in Theoretical Philosophy (CUP, 1992) ed. & trans. D. Walford, § § 1-8. Alternative translation in Van Cleve and Frederick (eds).
- G. Nerlich, The Shape of Space, second edn, (CUP, 1994), Ch. 2.
- M. Curd, `Showing and Telling: Can the Difference Between Right and Left be Explained in Words?', Ratio 26 (1984): 63-9. Reprinted in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds).
- J. Earman, World Enough and Space-time (MIT press, 1989), Ch. 7. Reprinted as "On the Other Hand. A Reconsideration of Kant, Incongruent Counterparts, and Absolute Space", in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds).
- C. Hoefer, "Kant's hands and Earman's pions: chirality arguments for substantival space", International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 14 (2000): 237-56. Offprint available from the Philosophy Library.
- N. Huggett "Reflections on Parity Nonconservation", Philosophy of Science 67 (2000): 219-41. E-print: http://tigger.uic.edu/ ~ huggett/work/.
- O. Pooley, "Handedness, Parity Violation, and the Reality of
Space", in Brading and Castellani (eds) Symmetries in
Physics:
Philosophical Reflections (CUP, 2003).
E-print: http://users.ox.ac.uk/ ball0402/research/.
Extra reading
- R. E. Frederick, "Introduction to the argument of 1768", in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds), pp. 1-14.
- Van Cleve, J. (1991), "Introduction to the arguments of 1770 and 1783", in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds), pp. 15-26.
- N. Huggett, "Commentary" to Chapter 11 in Space from Zeno to Einstein.
- J. Earman, `Kant, incongruous counterparts, and the nature of space', Ratio 13 (1971): 1-18. Reprinted in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds), pp. 131-49.
- J. Bennett, `The difference between right and left', American Philosophical Quarterly 7 (1970): 175-91. Reprinted in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds), pp. 97-130.
- M. Gardner, The New Ambidextrous Universe, Chs 17-23. Extracts are reprinted in Van Cleve & Frederick (eds), see especially "The Ozma Problem and the Fall of Parity", pp. 75-96.
- N. Huggett, "Mirror Symmetry: What is it for a Relational Space to be Orientable?", in Brading and Castellani (eds) Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections (CUP, 2003). E-print: PITT-PHIL-SCI00000767.
- J. Anandan, "Global Topology and Local Violation of Discrete Symmetries", Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (1998): 1363–-6.
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On 19 Oct 2004, 22:07.