this week's philosophy of physics in Paris

[Guido Bacciagaluppi]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

best wishes for the new year! Below are the philosophy of
physics events of this week (Gordon Belot on Friday and
on Saturday). Also, the Programme QUANTUM INFORMATION,
COMPUTATION AND COMPLEXITY at Institut Henri Poincare (IHP)
starts this week. For Details: see
http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr/IHP2006/

                  All the best,
                                 Guido Bacciagaluppi



1) Joint session of the philosophy of physics seminar
and the seminaire de philosophie des sciences de l'IHPST:

Vendredi 6 janvier 2006, 15h - 17h, grande salle de l'IHPST
(13 rue du Four, 75006 Paris, metro Mabillon, 2e etage)

Gordon Belot, University of Pittsburgh : "Time in General Relativity"

Abstract: One would hope that there is no more room in general
relativity than in special relativity for a privileged division
of spacetime into instants of. I will try to clarify the meaning
of this claim, and to say a bit about whether it is likely to be
true.

2) "Aux frontieres de la physique et de la philosophie"

Samedi 7 janvier 2006, 14h - 18h,
Ecole Normale Superieure, Salle Dussane

Annee Mondiale de la Physique
CNRS - Dpartement SHS
Socit de Philosophie des Sciences
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques (CNRS
- Unversite Paris 1 - ENS)


Programme :

14h : Introduction (Anouk Barberousse, CNRS, IHPST)

14h15 : Understanding and False Theories
(Gordon Belot, University of Pittsburgh)

In the strictest sense, theories like geometric optics, Newton's
theory of gravity, and Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism are
false. Yet these theories live on in teaching, research, and
application, yielding not only accurate models of phenomena but
also, it would seem, genuine physical understanding. This presents
a challenge to philosophers of science: to explain how false theories
can yield such understanding. I will discus the prospects of success
of three approaches that philosophers have taken to this question.

14h45 : Discussion

15h : Table ronde :
Bertrand Duplantier (Service de physique theorique, CEA)
Alexandre Guay (IHPST) : De l'utilite des parties inutiles dans les
theories physiques

15h30 : Pause cafe

16h : Suite de la table ronde :
Gilles Cohen-Tannoudji (CEA) : La notion de modele standard
Guido Bacciagaluppi (IHPST) : False theories and teleportation
Etienne Klein (CEA)

17h : Discussion generale



-- 
Guido Bacciagaluppi
Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques
(IHPST)
13, rue du Four
F-75006 Paris
France
Fax: +33 / 1 / 43 25 29 48

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