The Metaphysics of Science ANR project, headed by Max Kistler (Pantheon-Sorbonne University), is happy to announce a conference by Professor Tim Maudlin (New York University)
September 24, 2pm-4pm
IHPST, Paris, France
Abstract: One of the major difficulties in understanding the picture of the physical world presented by quantum theory turns on more general questions of how mathematical formalisms can be used to represent the physical world. More particularly, any comprehensible understanding of a physical theory must include an account of how claims made in the language of the theory are related to the data against which the theory is tested. In the middle of the last century, many philosophers accepted a picture of how physical theories acquire empirical content which is both intrinsically problematic and historically inaccurate. I will articulate an alternative account that ties the language of the theory to the language of the data in a more straightforward way, and argue that this casts the problem of understanding quantum theory in a very different light.
Location: Institut d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST), 13 rue du Four 75006 Paris, France.
