Please visit the new homepage, maintained by Chris Wüthrich at UCSD.

The reading group is a forum for philosophers (faculty members and graduate students) in Southern California to meet and discuss their own research and other recent articles in philosophy of physics. We intend to meet 2-3 times per quarter, with topics determined by the interests of the group.

Unless otherwise noted, meetings will be hosted by the LPS department at UC Irvine, in the LPS seminar room (777 Social Science Tower) [directions]. For instructions regarding parking and to reserve a permit, contact Brenda Fitzjarrald, LPS Department Manager.

Go to the listserv homepage to subscribe to a listserv with announcements related to the reading group. Feel free to contact me (smeenk [-at-] humnet.ucla.edu) with questions or comments.

Topic: Chris Smeenk, Time's Arrow in Electromagnetism

Readings: Earman, ``Sharpening the Electromagnetic Arrow(s) of Time'' [640 kb .pdf].

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; June 16, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Malament and Callender, Foundations of Statistical Mechanics

Readings:
1. Ergodic Theory and the Success of Statistical Mechanics: Malament and Zabell, ``Why Gibbs Phase Averages Work -- The Role of Ergodic Theory,'' [1 Mb .pdf]; Earman and Redei, ``Why Ergodic Theory Does Not Explain the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics,'' [340 kb .pdf], Vranas, ``Epsilon-Ergodicity and the Success of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics'' [481 kb .pdf]
2. Typicality and Equilibrium in neo-Boltzmannian Accounts: Frigg, ``Typicality and the Approach to Equilibrium in Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics'' [198 kb .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; March 19, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Bob Geroch, Computation and Physics

Readings: Section 15 of Computation, Quantum and Otherwise on the Grover Construction (lecture notes by Geroch [588 kb .pdf]), also section 16 (time permitting)

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; April 7, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Tilman Sauer and Ioan Muntean, Unified Field Theory

Readings: To be circulated.

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; March 10, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Chris Wüthrich, Loop Quantum Cosmology

Readings: Chris Wüthrich, PhD Thesis, Chapters 7-8 [680 kb .pdf]; Martin Bojowald, “Loop Quantum Cosmology,” Living Reviews in Relativity [1.4 Mb .pdf]; Ashtekar, Bojowald, and Lewandowski, “Mathematical Structure of Loop Quantum Cosmology” Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics 2003 [340 kb .pdf].

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Jan. 28, 3:00 p.m

Topic: John Manchak, Gödel Spacetime

Readings: David Malament, “Time Travel in the Gödel Universe,” PSA 1984 [link]; “Minimal Acceleration Requirements for Time Travel in Gödel Spacetime,” JMP 1985 [link]; “A Note about CTCs in Gödel Spacetime,” JMP 1987 [link].

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Dec. 2, 3:00 p.m

Topic:
Batterman's Devil in the Details

Readings:
Batterman, The Devil in the Details (Chapter 4 [7.2 MB .pdf], Chapter 6 [6.1 MB .pdf]); Gordon Belot, “Whose Devil? Which Details?” [ Phil-Sci archive]; Batterman, “Response to Belot” [Phil-Sci Archive]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Oct. 21, 3:00 p.m

Topics:
1. Matt Brown, Rovelli's Relational Interpretation of QM
2. Katherine Peters, Harvey Brown's Physical Relativity

Readings:
1. Rovelli, “Relational Quantum Mechanics,” [lanl archive]; Matt Brown, “Relational Quantum Mechanics and the Determinacy Problem,” [Phil-Sci archive], Laudisa and Rovelli, “Relational Quantum Mechanics,” [ Stanford Encyclopedia]
2. Selections from Physical Relativity (pp. 1-10, 119-134, 139-143) [6 MB .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, September 30, 1:00 p.m

Topic: Tilman Sauer, Einstein's Method in the Discovery of General Relativity

Readings: “Pathways out of Classical Physics. Einstein's Double Strategy in his Search for the Gravitational Field Equation,” by Tilman Sauer and Jürgen Renn [Link to Tilman's homepage]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, June 3, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Caro Brighouse, “Determinism in Modern Physics”

Readings: “Aspects of Determinism in Modern Physics,” by John Earman [476 Kb .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, May 7, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Stephan Hartmann, “Probability and Decoherence.”

Readings: “Inequalities for Dealing with Detector Efficiencies in GHZ experiments” [link]; “Probabilistic Results for Six Detectors in a Three-Particle GHZ Experiment ” [link]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, March 26, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Chris Smeenk, Philosophy of Cosmology.

Readings: “Issues in the Philosophy of Cosmology”, by G.F.R. Ellis [link 411 Kb .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Feb. 26, 3:00 p.m.

Topic: Sheldon Smith, Non-Locality in Classical Electrodynamics.

Readings: Chapters 3-4 from Inconsistency, Asymmetry, and Non-Locality, by Matthias Frisch [link 20 MB .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Jan. 29, 2:00 p.m.

Topic: Jeff Barrett, Dualism and the Preferred Basis Problem.

Readings: “A quantum mechanical argument for mind-body dualism,” [link 105 Kb .doc] “The preferred-basis problem and the quantum mechanics of everything” [link 125 Kb .pdf]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Saturday, Dec. 3 starting at 10:00 a.m.

Topic: Craig Callender, Time Reversal Invariance
Reading: Earman, “What TRI is and why it matters”, International Studies in Philosophy of Science 16 (2002): 245-264.[link]

Spacetime coordinates: LPS seminar room; Sunday, Nov. 6 starting at 3:00 p.m.

Topic: David Malament, “Classical General Relativity” [link (4.9 MB .pdf)]

Spacetime coordinates: 10:00 a.m. at UC Irvine, LPS seminar room (777 Social Science Tower)