Project

interpretation of quantum physics; Natural philosophy; Philosophy of physics; philosophy of time; Metaphysics of science; naturalized metaphysics

Lead
Die Metaphysik der Physik: Naturphilosophie
Lay summary
Das Projekt gehört zur Grundlagenforschung in der Philosophie. Es setzt sich ein für eine Naturphilosophie, die – wie zur Zeit von Descartes, Leibniz und Newton – Physik und Philosophie als untrennbar betrachtet, im Gegensatz sowohl zu einer positivistischen Metaphysik, die metaphysische Aussagen direkt aus den Formalismen physikalischer Theorien abzuleiten versucht, als auch einer rationalistischen Metaphysik, die metaphysische Aussagen a priori allein durch Reflexion zu begründen versucht. Wie eine solche Naturphilosophie heute konkret aussehen kann, soll anhand von drei Fallstudien gezeigt werden: (1) dem Verhältnis von Relativitätsphysik, Quanten-Nicht-Lokalität und der Metaphysik des Blockuniversums, (2) der Ontologie der Quantenphysik, (3) methodologischen Richtlinien für eine Ontologie der Quantengravitation.

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Last update: 26.09.2013

Self-organised

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

The present research project belongs to foundational work in philosophy. Its aim is to establish a methodology in the metaphysics of science that treats physics and metaphysics as inseparable, in contrast to both a neo-positivist naturalized metaphysics that seeks to read metaphysical consequences directly off from the formalism of a physical theory and a neo-rationalist a priori metaphysics based on conceptual analysis. The project thereby intends to reanimate natural philosophy as it was practised in the 17th and the 18th centuries, when the physical enquiry into nature and the metaphysics of nature were considered to constitute a seamless whole.This general aim shall be achieved by means of three concrete case studies, involving one postdoctoral researcher and two PhD students respectively. The first PhD thesis critically assesses what is widely considered to be a paradigmatic example of a physical theory directly having a metaphysical consequence, namely the inference from the special theory of relativity to the metaphysics of the block universe. Our main argument will be that the fact of quantum non-locality (Bell’s theorem and the subsequent experiences) calls this inference into question, since it is by no means evident how quantum non-locality can be accommodated within the framework of the block universe metaphysics. More precisely, we shall show how the options for integrating quantum non-locality into the space-time of relativity physics involve metaphysical considerations up to and including the metaphysical stance that one takes with respect to objective modality (Humeanism or anti-Humeanism).The second PhD thesis consists in developing a detailed argument leading to the conclusion that the very mathematical formulation of a consistent quantum theory (that is, a quantum theory which avoids the measurement problem) implies metaphysical considerations, depending among other things on how one assesses the relationship between scientific realism and common sense realism including experimental realism. We will examine the main proposals for an ontology of quantum mechanics, focus on what is known as primitive ontology approaches and show how each of them engages both physics and metaphysics.The third, postdoctoral, investigation shall illustrate that metaphysics comes not only into play once the work in physics is done (that is, once there is an established physical theory), but can also proceed in tandem with the physical research itself. We aim at setting out guidelines for an ontology of quantum gravity, concentrating on non-perturbative approaches in general and loop quantum gravity in particular. These guidelines will constrain, in the first place, acceptable answers to the questions of what the referent of the formalism is and how this referent is related to observable phenomena. We will explain how metaphysical considerations, up to and including in particular the stance that one takes with respect to objective modality, on the one hand shape the options for an ontology of quantum gravity and how on the other hand the physics of quantum gravity has an impact on the assessment of these metaphysical stances.