3rd International Summer School in Philosophy of Physics: The Ontology of Physics
Saig (Black Forest), Germany, 20-25 July 2015
Organized by the Department of Philosophy of the University of Lausanne, the Department of Mathematics of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy
Supported by the Volkswagen Stiftung
Physics is the science of physis, the Greek word for nature. But what does today’s physics tell us about nature? To answer this question, the summer school will enquire into the ontology of physics. The need for an ontology is particularly evident in the ongoing debate about the interpretation of quantum physics. We will approach the problem of ontology both from a general philosophical perspective as well as by going into concrete proposals with respect to the most advanced physical theories. The topics covered include:
• Philosophical introduction to ontology
• The ontology of classical and quantum physics
• The ontology of quantum field theory
• Entanglement and the quantum measurement problem
• The ontology of space and time
• The ontological status of laws of nature
Speakers:
Jeff Barrett (Philosophy, Irvine)
Claus Beisbart (Philosophy, Bern)
Dirk Deckert (Mathematics, Munich)
Detlef Dürr (Mathematics, Munich)
Michael Esfeld (Philosophy, Lausanne)
Shelly Goldstein (Mathematics, Rutgers)
Anna Marmodoro (Philosophy, Oxford)
Tim Maudlin (Philosophy, New York University)
Christian Wüthrich (Philosophy, San Diego / Geneva)
Nino Zanghì (Physics, Genova)
There will be lectures in the morning and the evening. In the afternoon, several working groups lead by postdocs or advanced PhD students will be proposed. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work in short talks.
Audience: PhD students in physics or philosophy, master students who envisage doing a PhD in physics or the philosophy of physics, general public being acquainted with the subject at least at master level
Venue: Saig / Titisee, Black Forest, Germany, Hotel Sonnhalde
http://www.hotel-sonnhalde.de/index-en.html
Nearest airports: Basel, Frankfurt, Zurich; train station: Titisee
Fee: EUR 650 includes accommodation in single room with private bathroom, full board and tuition; a reduced fee of EUR 180 is available for graduate students without the possibility of financial support from their institutions. Furthermore, a very limited number of travel grants may be available.
To apply for the Summer School, students should submit the following material by 15 March 2015:
A cover letter describing your current research interest and its relevance to the topic of the Summer School.
A CV.
Optional: Students wishing to present their own work need to submit a title and a 500-word abstract.
To submit, please prepare your cover letter and CV in one PDF file. Then follow the link to our EasyChair page: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=isspp2015
Decisions will be made by 1 April 2015.
For further information, see https://sites.google.com/site/isspp2015/, follow https://takingupspacetime.wordpress.com, or contact [email protected]
