The Society for the Metaphysics of Science will be holding its first annual conference on September 17-18, 2015 at Rutgers University – Newark. As well as various presentations, the conference will also feature the first organizational meeting of the Society which will elect officers, begin to make various policies, plan future conferences, etc. Both those interested in presenting papers and/or participating in the Society are invited to the conference. (For more information on the society, see the Society for the Metaphysics of Science web page.)
At the conference, presentations will be 40 minutes. Submissions should be on a topic in the metaphysics of science broadly construed, of no more than 6,000 words and should include an abstract of ~150 words and a word count. All papers must employ gender-neutral language and be prepared for blind review.
Submissions must be made using the Easychair online submission system at:https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sms2015. The submission deadline is March 1, 2015. Notifications of acceptance will be delivered by May 15, 2015. The conference will have a $50 registration fee. (The fee will be waived for graduate students.)
Our keynote speaker will be Barry Loewer, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and all other sessions will comprise submitted papers.
Program Committee:
Ken Aizawa, Rutgers University, Newark, Chair
Carl Gillett, Northern Illinois University
Alyssa Ney, Rochester University
Thomas Polger, University of Cincinnati
Jessica Wilson, University of Toronto
Monism Conference
Organized by Jonathan Schaffer
for November 11-12, 2016
at Rutgers University
Friday November 11th
9:30 – 10:00 Breakfast
10:00 – 11:15 Terry Horgan, “The One is Real but the Many are Transcendentally Ideal”
11:30 – 12:45 Dean Zimmerman, “Arguments for Monism from Internal Relations”
12:45 – 3:00 Lunch
3:00 – 4:15 Ricki Bliss, “Monisms East and West”
4:30 – 5:45 Mark Johnston, “How the One Contingently Gave Rise to the Many”
Saturday November 12th
9:30 – 10:00 Breakfast
10:00 – 11:15 Kelly Trogdon, “Sparse Ontology beyond the Concrete”
11:30 – 12:45 Elizabeth Miller, “Collectivism”
12:45 – 3:00 Lunch
3:00 – 4:15 Ted Sider, “Monism, Ground, and Structuralism”
4:30 – 5:45 Michael Della Rocca, “Monism of Knowledge”
This conference is free and open. No advanced registration or anything else is needed to attend.
We are grateful to the Marc Sanders Foundation for their generous support.
Break It Down For Me Lecture Series Presents Prof. Steve Stich-“Experimental Philosophy”
Thursday 27 April 2017, 03:00pm – 05:00pm
Location Rutgers Philosophy Department, 106 Somerset St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
The Rutgers Philosophy Department, in partnership with Oxford University Press, is pleased to present the second annual Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy! This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Last year, the inaugural series featured Kit Fine on a novel approach to the problem of vagueness. This year, Rutgers is hosting Sir Richard Sorabji[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com] for three lectures on the history of free speech. Here are the details:
Lecture I – Freedom of Speech for all: the gradual discovery, East and West.
Date/Time: Monday Oct. 30th, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture II – Freedom of speech: voluntary boundaries when it stops discussion and the art of continuing discussion by other means
Date/Time: Thursday Nov. 2nd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Alexander Library, Teleconference Room (Room 403) (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/alexander-library[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
Lecture III – Freedom of Speech: Difficulties in framing and policing legal boundaries
Date/Time: Friday Nov. 3rd, 2017, 3:00-5:00pm (reception to follow)
Location: Rutgers Academic Building, Room 2125 (https://rumaps.rutgers.edu/location/rutgers-academic-building[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com])
All three lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached posters for more details. Abstracts for the talks are available here[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com].
About The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy:
In the Fall of 2016, The Rutgers Philosophy Department in partnership with Oxford University Press were pleased to announce the launch of The Rutgers Lectures in Philosophy[na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]. This annual series brings some of the world’s greatest living philosophers [na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com]to Rutgers University–New Brunswick where they present three original lectures to be published by Oxford University Press. The lecturers also hold workshops with faculty and graduate students, and meet with undergraduates. The lectures are free and open to the public.
What is the metaphysical status of quantum field theory (QFT)? How should field theories be interpreted? These questions have received considerable attention over the past few decades in various research projects in physics, mathematics, and philosophy, but there is no clear consensus on any of them. One finds a variety of different approaches to understanding QFTs — Algebraic QFT, conventional QFT, Bell-type Bohmian QFT, etc. — and different interpretations — realism, instrumentalism, and structuralism. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches? What is the status of the measurement problem in these theories? And more generally, how should QFT inform the metaphysics of science?
The two-day Rutgers workshop aims to bring together researchers who work on these different approaches. It will provide opportunities for in-depth discussions about metaphysical issues in QFT. As we have limited seating in the seminar room, RSVP is required; please send an email to sr3109@columbia.edu if you’d like to attend.
(Information about the previous workshop in 2017, on structural realism, can be found here.)
Organizers: Eddy Chen (Rutgers), Sebastien Rivat (Columbia), Isaac Wilhelm (Rutgers)
Sponsors: Marc Sanders Foundation, Rutgers University Philosophy Department, Columbia University Philosophy Department, Rutgers Graduate Student Association.
Conference Schedule:
Thursday, May 17
- 9:45 – 10:00. David Baker (Michigan), “Introduction to the Ontology of QFT”
- 10:00 – 11:30. David Baker (Michigan), “Interpreting Supersymmetry”
- 11:45 – 1:15 Ward Struyve (KULeuven), “Bohmian Quantum Field Theory”
- 1:15 – 2:30. Lunch
- 2:30 – 4:00. Tian Yu Cao (Boston), “What is a Quantum Field?”
- 4:15 – 5:45. Anna Ijjas (Columbia), “QFT on Curved Space-times and its Applications in Cosmology”
- 6:30. Conference Dinner
Friday, May 18
- 9.45 – 10:00. Michael Miller (Toronto), “Introduction to Major Approaches to QFT”
- 10:00 – 11:30. Porter Williams (Pittsburgh), “The Physics within Metaphysics”
- 11:45 – 1:15. Laura Ruetsche (Michigan), “Perturbing Realism”
- 1:15 – 2:30. Lunch
- 2:30 – 4:00. Michael Miller (Toronto), “Indeterminacy at Large Order”
- 4:15 – 5:45. David Wallace (USC), “Quantum Metaphysics from an Effective-Field-Theory Viewpoint”
- 6:30. Dinner
Invited Discussants:
Richard Healey (Arizona), Meinard Kuhlmann (Bremen), James Ladyman (Bristol), Jeremy Butterfield (Cambridge), Brian Pitts (Cambridge), Ryan Reece (CERN), David Albert (Columbia), Mario Hubert (Columbia), Elise Crull (CUNY), Noel Swanson (Delaware), Ned Hall (Harvard), David Glick (Ithaca), Ward Struyve (LMU), Gordon Belot (Michigan), Nina Emery (Mount Holyoke), Valia Allori (NIU), Jonathan Bain (NYU), Cian Dorr (NYU), Hartry Field (NYU), Tim Maudlin (NYU), Michael Strevens (NYU), Adam Elga (Princeton), Hans Halvorson (Princeton), Mark Johnston (Princeton), Gideon Rosen (Princeton), Bob Batterman (Pittsburgh), Natan Andrei (Rutgers), Sheldon Goldstein (Rutgers), Matthias Lienert (Rutgers), Barry Loewer (Rutgers), Jill North (Rutgers), Zee Perry (Rutgers), Jonathan Schaffer (Rutgers), Ted Sider (Rutgers), Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers), Alyssa Ney (UC Davis), Paul Teller (UC Davis), Marian Gilton (UCI), Nick Huggett (UIC), Kerry McKenzie (UCSD), Charles Sebens (UCSD), Elizabeth Miller (Yale).
Conference hotel: Hyatt Regency New Brunswick.
*This workshop is made possible through the generous support of the Marc Sanders Foundation, Rutgers University Philosophy Department, Columbia University Philosophy Department, and Rutgers Graduate Student Association. Special thanks to Professor Mark Johnston, Professor Dean Zimmerman, and the administrative staff at Rutgers and Columbia.