Hi all,
I recently spoke at two great conferences, one hosted at my home IHPST at the University of Toronto and the other hosted by the stunning Institut Menorquí d’Estudis in Menorca, Spain.
The first conference was Metaphysics & the Philosophy of Science (you can spy me in some of the pictures) and my talk was about challenges for Ontic Structural Realism in the context of Quantum Field Theory. Specifically, I argued that Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking creates two equally good—but inconsistent— structures that an OSR-ist should believe in. Basically, the point is that OSR (as expressed most by Angelo Cei and Steven French) reifies structure, but that these structures as provided by physics aren’t unique, and therefore aren’t good candidates for singular, fundamental entities.
The next was the 6th European Spring School on History of Science and Popularization, and the theme was “Visual Representations in Science,” in stunning Maó, Menorca. There I got to hang out with people who gave me new perspectives on my Penrose diagram work and listen to a lot of great talks at the interface of History of Science and Art History. The School had pre-circulated papers, and it was a real privilege to have so many in-depth responses to my work. I’m reading one suggested book now, Bender and Marrinan’s The Culture of Diagram (Stanford, 2010).
Thanks to all the participants and organizers!
(Plus, I’ll be talking at 4S—joint with HSS and SHOT—in November in Cleveland.)
