3rd Chronos Workshop
16-17 February 2023 (online via Zoom)
Organizers: Giuliano Torrengo and Silvia De Bianchi
Day 1: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85073277404
14:00-15:00 Vincent Lam
“Laws of nature and time”
The theory of general relativity and several approaches in quantum gravity suggest radical implications for the notions of space and time. We explore some of these implications for the temporal aspects that are encoded in the standard conceptions of laws of nature.
15:15-16:15 Thomas Sattig
“What is the geometrical structure of experiential time?”
The geometrical structure of the spatio-temporal world we live in is a venerable topic in physics and philosophy. One would expect that, correspondingly, the geometrical structure of the spatio-temporal world we represent in our experiences is a topic in psychology and philosophy. But it isn’t. While the structure of experiential space has been discussed at length, the structure of experiential time is largely unexplored. In this talk, I will present a reason for addressing the question of the geometrical structure of experiential time and space-time. I will raise a problem about the dimensionality of geometrical shapes of objects in visual experience. And I will argue that, in order to tackle this problem, we should start thinking about the geometrical structure of visual space-time.
16:30-17:30 Claudio Calosi
“Location in an Emergent Spacetime”
The paper replies to the Argument from Intimacy on behalf of defenders of emergent spacetime in theories of quantum gravity. The key insight is that spacetime regions are nowhere, they do not have locations insofar as they are locations. It then goes on to argue that supersubstantivalists of different sorts cannot endorse such a reply and need to resort to a more general picture of location according to which spatiotemporal location is just one way of being located, and not the most basic way—based on joint work with S. Baron and C. Mariani.
Day 2: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84254046637
15:30-16:30 Alastair Wilson
“Naturalism: Modal and Temporal”
Time and modality have classically been conceived as domains to be investigated a priori, drawing on either rational insight (perhaps in its contemporary guise, philosophical intuition) or transcendental reasoning. Even contemporary philosophers of physics fall back on a priori considerations when considering e.g. the range of possible spacetimes. Scientific investigation is given a minimal role in modal discovery, typically being restricted to identifying which of the a-priori-identified possibilities we inhabit. In this talk I offer an alternative, starting with a radically naturalistic account of the metaphysics of modality, and showing how it leads to a naturalistic modal epistemology for space and time.
16:30-17:30 Alyssa Ney
“Locality and the Metaphysics of Many Worlds Quantum Mechanics”
Those who defend the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics often argue it is to be preferred over other solutions to the measurement problem because it provides a local interpretation. However, some have argued that the locality of MWI depends on the way MWI is itself interpreted metaphysically. This paper defends the locality of several metaphysical interpretations of MWI against recent criticisms.
2nd CHRONOS WORKSHOP
Friday 11 February 2022
13:00 – 14:00 Oliver Pooley “General relativity from the perspective of the Dynamical Approach to spacetime”
14:30 – 15: 30 Fabrice Correia “Temporal Persistence Without Exact Locations ”
16:00 – 17:00 Jessica Wilson “Some thoughts on the Emergence of Spacetime”
17:30 – 18:30 Jennan Ismael “Rethinking Time and Determinism”
18:30-19:00 Final Discussion
THE NATURES OF TIME
First CHRONOS workshop – Autonomous University of Barcelona
9 December 2020, 15:00-18:30 CET
Eleanor Knox – Some comments on spacetime functionalism (and a little bit of time)
Jonathan Tallant – “Dynamic change: what’s allowed?”
Andrea Iacona & Samuele Iaquinto – “Credible futures”
Organizers: Silvia De Bianchi and Giuliano Torrengo
Chronos Project 