philosophy of physics in Paris

[Guido Bacciagaluppi]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

quite possibly, we shall have no more Friday seminars this month.
Instead, (A) Lee Smolin will talk on Wednesday 14 June.

There are also two conferences, (B) 'Models and Simulations', 12-13 June, 
and (C) the HOPOS meeting, 14-18 June.

Details below.
                   Best regards,
                                    Guido B.


(A) Mercredi 14 juin à 14h30, Amphithéâtre A, entrée par le
25 rue de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, Paris 5ème

Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada)

"Against Symmetry"

From the Leibniz-Newton debates to the present debates between string
theorists and loop quantum gravity theorists two notions of fundamental
physics have stood opposed. On the one hand is the Newtonian vision, which
is based on a belief in a fixed absolute space and time and which holds
symmetry to be fundamental and its breaking to be contingent. Leibniz's
conception of space and time is instead of an ever evolving network of
relationships in which complexity is fundamental and symmetry is unnatural
and accidental. This distinction characterizes the divide between background
dependent theories like string theory and relational, background independent
theories such as loop quantum gravity.

In this talk I analyze the present status of the two traditions and the
plausibility of their contemporary incarnations. I show that the crisis of
predictability facing string theory is a direct consequence of a conception
of unification that is opposed to the principles that underlie the
successful modern unifications such as general relativity and gauge
theories. I close by describing a new kind of unification which emerges 
from background independent theories.

Contact : Alexei Grinbaum (alexei.grinbaum at polytechnique.edu)


(B) MODELS AND SIMULATIONS

Two-day conference in Paris, 12-13 June 2006
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Robert Batterman (Western Ontario) and Paul Humphreys
(University of Virginia)
ORGANIZERS: Roman Frigg (LSE), Stephan Hartmann (LSE), and Cyrille Imbert
(IHPST/Paris I)

Full details on:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CPNSS/events/Conferences/Simulations/Default.htm




(C) The International Society for the History of Philosophy of
Science (HOPOS) will hold its sixth international congress
in Paris, in cooperation with the Societé de Philosophie
des Sciences (SPS).
Dates: June 14-18, 2006
Location:  Ecole normale superieure, Paris
Conference languages: English and French
Details: see
http://www.sps.ens.fr/activites/hopos2006/indexhopos.html


-- 
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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