[PhilPhys] CFP: Virtual entities in science: a virtual workshop

[Adrian Wüthrich]

/Call for Papers/

*Virtual entities in science: a virtual workshop
*

/5, 12 and 19 March 2021, online /

/Organized by the Project //“Virtual Particles” (A1) 
<https://www.lhc-epistemologie.uni-wuppertal.de/projects/cluster-a-change-in-the-theoretical-foundations-of-physics/a1-virtual-particles/>//of 
the Research Unit //“The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider” 
<https://www.lhc-epistemologie.uni-wuppertal.de/>/

Not only since the sudden increase of online communication due to the 
COVID-19 situation has the concept of the “virtual” made its way into 
everyday language. In this context, it mostly denotes a digital 
substitute of a real object or process. “Virtual reality” is perhaps the 
best known term in this respect.

With these digital connotations, “virtuality” has been used also in 
science and research: Chemists use virtual laboratories, biologists do 
virtual scanning of molecular structures, and geologists engage in 
virtual field trips.

But the concept of the “virtual” has a much longer tradition, dating 
back to long before the dawn of the digital age. Virtual displacements 
and virtual images were introduced in classical physics already in the 
18th century. They represented auxiliary objects or processes without 
instantiation, with the purpose of efficiently describing specific 
physical systems. Through Heisenberg’s use of “potentia” in his late 
attempts to interpret quantum mechanics, the term “virtual” may even 
relate back to Aristotle.

In today’s physics, the term virtual is mostly associated with the 
quantum world, first and foremost with the “virtual particle” of quantum 
field theory. It has become such an integral part of modern high energy 
physics that its ontological character may be considered to go beyond 
the purely auxiliary, which is typically associated with the virtual. 
The various possibilities for a virtual particle to manifest itself in a 
measurement highlights, furthermore, how “potentiality” continues to be 
a characteristic feature of virtual entities.

In other disciplines, however, use of the term “virtual” without a 
digital connotation is much rarer. While concepts like “virtual 
adrenaline” in medicine and biochemistry arise in the 1940s, and the 
“virtual moon” figures quite prominently in some (English translations 
of) Babylonian calendar texts, these examples seem to be rather singular 
occurrences of entities that were explicitly called “virtual”. The basic 
idea behind the terminology of the virtual, however, could be much more 
common, even outside of physics. The “invisible hand” in economics, or 
the “vital force” in biology, for instance, do carry aspects of a 
virtual entity, even if they have not been called that way.

For this workshop we invite contributions that address the historical 
formation and philosophical interpretation of concepts of virtual 
entities in physics and other disciplines – in whatever terms they may 
come. The main goal of the workshop is to bring to the fore similarities 
and differences in the meanings and functions of these concepts so as to 
be able to precisely characterize why certain entities are considered 
virtual in specific contexts, why a different terminology was often used 
in each individual case and in what sense the virtual entities relate to 
the real world.

We are looking for contributions that address the role of these concepts 
in theoretical as well as experimental activities, and for 
investigations into the origins of the terminology of the virtual as it 
was applied to the various disciplines of natural science. Work that 
integrates philosophical and historical approaches is particularly welcome.

Among other things, contributions may focus on one of the following 
aspects which are usually associated with virtual entities, in 
particular if we think of the virtual particle of modern quantum field 
theory:

  * The /terminology/ of virtuality, including its etymology, and why it
    was applied to the entities in question: Why not other terms like
    “substitute” or “auxiliary”?
  * The /potentiality/ inherent in virtual entities to bring about
    certain effects, which may eventually be realized or not: How is
    this to be understood exactly?
  * The /ontology/ of virtual entities: How is it different from /real/
    entities, and how do we get epistemic access to virtual entities?

The workshop will be held online. Apart from the contributed talks, the 
program will feature a small number of keynotes. To contribute a paper, 
please send a title and an abstract (approx. 200 words) along with your 
name, affiliation and contact details to adrian.wuethrich at tu-berlin.de 
<mailto:adrian.wuethrich at tu-berlin.de> no later than *15 November 2020*.

For further information and updates please consult the conference 
webpage <https://indico.cern.ch/event/951512/> or contact one of the 
organizers.

Robert Harlander, Jean-Philippe Martinez, Friedrich Steinle, Adrian 
Wüthrich (adrian.wuethrich at tu-berlin.de 
<mailto:adrian.wuethrich at tu-berlin.de>)

-- 
Adrian Wuethrich
Technische Universitaet Berlin
Institut fuer Philosophie, Literatur-, Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte
Raum H 2534 / Sekr. H 23
Strasse des 17. Juni 135
D-10623 Berlin
adrian.wuethrich at tu-berlin.de
+49 30 314 24069
http://www.tu-berlin.de/?id=133444

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