Metaphysics Within and Without Physics: Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, Canada

18th ANNUAL PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS CONFERENCE The Rotman Institute of Philosophy will devote the 2014 International Conference in the Philosophy of Physics on the relation between science and metaphysics. More specifically, the conference will bring together scientists and philosophers to address an important question about science and its cognitive aspirations: what is the relation between [...]

Algorithms and Complexity in Mathematics, Epistemology and Science

ACMES (Algorithms and Complexity in Mathematics, Epistemology and Science) is a multidisciplinary conference that focuses on a combination of the science of reliability and uncertainty quantification with conceptual and foundational issues concerning reliability in the application of scientific theories to real phenomena. The conference integrates longer talks from six leading computational scientists and philosophers of [...]

Gravity and Geometry: Centenary Perspectives on General Relativity

2015 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference Participants will present physical, philosophical, and historical reflections on Einstein’s theory of gravity and space-time geometry, its development over the past century, and its future prospects. The conference will include speakers: Kaća Bradonjić (Wellesley College) Carla Cederbaum (University of Tuebingen) Michael Friedman (Stanford University) Marco Giovanelli (Einstein Papers Project) [...]

Computationally Assisted Mathematical Discovery and Experimental Mathematics: ACMES 2

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Computational Discovery, also called Experimental Mathematics, is the use of symbolic and numerical computation to discover patterns, to identify particular numbers and sequences, and to gather evidence in support of specific mathematical assertions that may themselves arise by computational means. In recent decades, computer-assisted mathematical discovery has profoundly transformed the strategies used to [...]

Information-Theoretic Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics: 2016 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 114 - North Campus Building 2004 Perth Drive, London, Ontario, Canada

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Information-Theoretic Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics (#ITIQM) is a two day workshop taking place June 11-12, 2016 at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. This is the 20th annual UWO philosophy of physics conference. To view the conference program and additional resources, please visit the conference page. The workshop is inspired by Jeffrey Bub’s [...]

The Social Impact of Medicalizing Psychiatry

Dr. David S.H. Chu International Student Centre International and Graduate Affairs Building, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION Psychiatry is increasingly being influenced by research in neuroscience and mainstream medicine. There is a push to reform psychiatry’s diagnostic categories to reflect increasing knowledge about the brain structures and neural mechanisms associated with psychopathology. Pharmaceutical treatments are quickly replacing talk therapies. Getting funding for psychiatric research increasingly requires a focus on cellular [...]

Thermodynamics as a Resource Theory: 2018 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 114 - North Campus Building 2004 Perth Drive, London, Ontario, Canada

EVENT DESCRIPTION The Revolution will be thermalized. Recently, there has been a shift in the way that many physicists are approaching the science of thermodynamics. Instead of regarding its laws as purely physical laws, researchers are increasingly treating the theory as a theory about how agents, such as ourselves, can use information about a physical [...]

Foundations of Quantum Field Theory: 2019 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 3000 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

This workshop on the philosophy of quantum field theory (QFT) will bring together philosophers and physicists to address a set of foundational questions significant to both fields. Almost all of modern fundamental physics is written in the mathematical language of QFT. (The exception to this proves the rule: Einstein's theory of gravity is not [...]

CANCELLED – Boundaries and Reality: 2020 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 3000 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

In light of the evolving COVID-19 situation, this year's conference has unfortunately been cancelled.  Boundaries between spacetime regions, boundaries between interacting physical systems, and relations across boundaries, play an important role in contemporary physics. Boundary degrees of freedom, in particular, have recently raised much interest in the literature on general relativity, gauge field theories and [...]

Emergence in Cosmology Workshop

Virtual (register for Zoom link)

The early universe is described extremely well by linear perturbations evolving in a simple expanding universe model, described by classical general relativity.  An approximately scale invariant spectrum of nearly Gaussian, adiabatic curvature fluctuations accounts for observed anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background as well as baryon acoustic oscillations.  But how does this familiar classical [...]

Self-locating Uncertainty in the Cosmological Multiverse Workshop

Virtual (register for Zoom link)

Several issues in cosmology have increasingly raised concerns about self-locating uncertainty.  It seems to many that to understand how the universe originated and how it is, we need to better understand how to think about where we are in it, or where we should expect ourselves to be.  On one hand, considerations of self-locating [...]

QISS 2022: Quantum Information and Quantum Gravity Conference

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION The Quantum Information Structure of Spacetime (QISS) interdisciplinary initiative in Quantum Information and Quantum Gravity is announcing its first large conference, QISS 2022, to be held at Western University, in London, Ontario, Canada, the week of 6 - 10 June 2022. The main aim of the conference will be to [...]

Foundations of Quantum Field Theory: 2023 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 1170 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, Canada

This year's workshop will explore four broad philosophical issues that are specific to QFT. QFT is the theory that combines the special theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. There is consensus that the unification of these two theories necessitates the use of a mathematical framework based on fields. One issue that this raises is [...]