I see! Yeah, I just think that if I were to genuinely believe this, I wouldnβt be able to think of myself or the world in the same way.
I see! Yeah, I just think that if I were to genuinely believe this, I wouldnβt be able to think of myself or the world in the same way.
At the very least, I would be very anxious and confusedβ¦ I wouldnβt even know how to think of my identity over time nor of my decisions and my plans for the future. I also would probably worry about the well-being of my βcopiesβ quite a bit, perhaps as much or more than a very close relative, etc
To me that sounds a bit closer to many worlds (defenders of it donβt act as if they really believed that there are multiple copies of themselves after any measurement).
The Principia is a very hard book for sure. I think this commentary is conceptually very good and makes a great effort at presenting the main arguments in their original geometrical formulation with no calculus: www.greenlion.com/books/Newton...
He also says that the proofs of Cor V and Cor VI are based on the 2nd law. Newton does say that they are (hence βcorollaryβ), but scholars of Newton usually think they donβt follow and thatβs a mistake on Newton part.
Thanks for the reference! I did a quick search and I was surprised all he said about it was that βthis shows that Newtonβs laws hold even in some accelerated framesβ. Perhaps it was obvious to him the connection to Einsteinβs equivalence principle and didnβt feel the need to elaborate.
Sorry for the Typos: ββ¦ as if they were not acted on by those forces.β In short, we have an important element of General relativity already in Newton :) But Einstein (and many others) never cited this corollary, so probably it was unknown to him.
Newton used this corollary to apply his laws of motion to Jupiterβs moons. After all, the force of gravity on Jupiter and the moons produced roughly the same acceleration on both, and so one can then neglect the Sunβs influence and pretend the Jupiter-moon system is isolated!
It reads β if bodies are moving in any way whatsoever with respect to one another, and are urged by equal accelerative forces along parallel lines, they will all continue to move with respect to one another in the same way as they would if they were not active home by those forces.β
My favorite example is Newtonβs corollary 6 to the laws in the Principia. He essentially states Einsteinβs equivalence principle more than 200 years before Einstein! This is very rarely noted in physics, and even in the history of physics tends to be neglected. 1/
Thanks. what I meant to ask is if some of the axiomatic approaches you listed seems to be making more progress, in your view, towards the interacting 4d case (by βstrugglesβ I meant there is no known construction in AQFT that gives raise to interactions or βrealistic physicsβ if that makes sense).
Thanks for clarifying. I know algebraic QFT really struggles with interactions. In your view, which of those other options has done a better job of recovering interactions and getting βcloserβ to the qft of physics classes?
My βmathematician QFTβ do you mean algebraic QFT or a different thing ? I confess I never heard of βconstructive QFTβ!
In fact, some simple classical systems are not even Galilean covariant! The symmetries for the differential equation of a simple classical wave such as a string attached to two fixed points are Lorentzβ, not Galileoβs (fixing the tension and the density is formally just like a light wave).
On the history and philosophy behind some of these discussions, I recommend several papers by Rynasiewicz including this one: βAbsolute vs. Relational Spacetime: An Outmoded Debate?β, Journal of Phi-
losophy
These things are related to the question of what exactly the relativity principle says (it is less clear than what many seem to think). I talk about its history and some philosophical aspects of it here (curious to hear your thoughts!) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/APRFMK...
Deadline for applying to a postdoc position on my projet in less than a month. Looking for candidates with a PhD in metaphysics or philosophy of physics.
spaceqg.com/visit-us/
A fantastic kickoff tonight of the Boston Network for History & Philosophy of Physics, organized by @miguelohn.bsky.social & featuring talk by Peter Galison on his work with the Black Hole Initiative. #HPS βοΈ
There is a mistake regarding the title of my paper with Nic Teh (the paper listed there is not ours). Thanks :)
I am very sorry Helen. Thanks for all the wonderful things you have done for philosophy, academia and the world more widely.
I am very happy to share this popular piece about relative motion, from Galileo to Einstein! It is roughly based on my recent research on the topic! I am thankful to @iai.tv and Dan Walker for reaching out, and for their great editorial work !
How Galileo cracked the problem of relative motion. | iai.tv/articles/gal...
@murgue.bsky.social argues that distinguishing between "internal" and "external" versions of the principle highlights Galileo's forward-thinking.
#philsky βοΈ π§ͺ
And fighting Squirrel!
Graduate Admissions season is here!
Philosofriends, encourage your students looking for programs to put Purdue on their lists. We're a big, active department on the rise, where students get broad training and good support.
Our application deadline is one month away: Jan 6, 2025
#philsky
I am very sorry to hear this β€οΈ I also wanted to share that one of the things that my students liked the most this semester (in a version of a great books class) was discussing some of the thought experiments from your βphilosophy illustratedβ book. I think some want to take philosophy classes now
This is such an interesting story!
It's nice to see that Purdue Philosophy is now recognized as one of the top departments to do philosophy of cognitive science.
Undergrad/MA mentors: get the word out to your students! Especially if they're interested in memory, AI, rationality, moral psych, norms, cultural evolution, or x-phi.
Some auroras in Lafayette!
Bright red, white and pale green northern lights fill a night sky. The black silhouettes of three cows look up at them
obsessed with this photo of cows watching the northern lights. it's the scene in a muppet movie that's so surprisingly touching you start to cry
(photographer: @ChrisReichert3 on twitter)
I am very happy that my paper on philosophical and historical aspects of the Galilean relativity principle is officially published (open access) here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...