Interview by Philippos Papayannopoulos Michael Cuffaro is a philosopher of science who thinks about philosophical issues in quantum mechanics, about the nature of computing, about the interplay between them, about the notion of explanation in science, about complexity of algorithms, about Solomonoff Induction (I don’t know what this is either, but we’ll soon find [...]
Rotman Institute of Philosophy Postdoc Lucas Dunlap was recently featured on the Blog of the APA in the Course Spotlight Series for his Philosophy and Time Travel course. Lucas teaches an online class called "Philosophy & Time Travel", which focuses on the philosophical issues raised by the physics of time travel. We asked him to [...]
Kaća Bradonjić, currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at Hampshire College, describes herself as a theoretical physicist who "walk[s] the Möbius strip of science and art". She was recently featured on the Daily Nous for artwork she has created titled, Projections -- a series of drawings, sketches and paintings inspired by research talks she [...]
Lucas Dunlap is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy in London, Ontario. He completed his doctorate in 2015 at the University of Maryland College Park. His research addresses fundamental questions in the philosophy of science and in the philosophy of physics. Specifically, he studies the foundations of quantum mechanics, Quantum Information [...]
Wayne Myrvold Here's the latest in our series of physicists writing about the value of philosophy: Ivette Fuentes on the interplay between science and philosophy (and also science and the arts!) Science and philosophy share common goals. They aim at developing and deepening our understanding of reality, at uncovering the basic constituents of the Universe [...]
Wayne Myrvold Continuing our series of physicists writing about what they find vaulable in philosophy and in talking to philosophers, here's Lee Smolin. My knowledge of the history and philosophy of physics helps me understand the challenges, frustrations and puzzles I encounter in my research, by putting them in the context of the long history [...]
Wayne Myrvold Continuing our series of physicists talking about why they find philosophy valuable (Part I here), here's Carlo Rovelli. The recent dismissive remarks about philosophy by Neil deGrasse Tyson reopen a debate which I think is worthwhile reopening. Neil deGrasse Tyson is not the only one to consider philosophy useless for science. Many of my [...]
Wayne Myrvold About a month ago, I did a guest post over at New APPS that was prompted by philosophers’ responses to Neil de Grasse Tyson’s dismissive remarks about philosophy. Unsurprisingly, attitudes towards philosophy vary widely among physicists, and there are plenty of physicists who have a much more positive attitude towards philosophy. Some of [...]
by Yann Benétreau-Dupin and Chris Smeenk Contemporary cosmology raises a number of philosophical questions, such as the limits of scientific explanations of the origin of the universe and the status of “dark energy” or the “multiverse.” Philosophers have recently turned to these topics, due to their intrinsic interest and the influx of new ideas [...]
As part of the Rotman Institute Speaker Series, each year one speaker is chosen as the Rotman Institute Lecturer in Philosophy and Science. This year, the Rotman Institute had the pleasure of hearing from Professor John D. Norton as the 2012/2013 Rotman Lecturer. Norton is currently the Director for the Center for Philosophy of Science, [...]
