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Graduate
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HPS 2590 Einstein
This seminar covers Einstein's work in physics and his philosophical entanglements, with topics selected according to the interests of the seminar participants. |
Taught Fall Term 2015-2016 |
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HPS 2626/Phil 2626
Topics in Recent Philosophy of Physics
This seminar covers recent topics in philosophy of physics, drawing on suitable issues in quantum, relativistic and statistical physics, according to the interests of the participants. |
Taught Fall Term 2013-2014 |
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HPS 2523 History of Quantum Mechanics
This seminar traces the emergence in the mid 1920s of the "new quantum theory" from the "old quantum theory" that preceded it.
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Taught Fall Term 2012-2013 |
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HPS
2501/Philosophy 2600 Philosophy of Science
This seminar is our graduate program's "core" introductory, seminar in
philosophy of science for graduate students entering the department's
graduate program and for graduate students in the Department of
Philosophy. |
Taught Fall Term 2014-2015
Taught Fall Term 2011-2012
Taught Fall Term 2009-2010
Taught Fall Term 2006-2007. |
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HPS
2682 Theories of
Confirmation
Phil 2690
Science is distinguished from other investigations of nature in that
the claims of mature sciences are strongly supported by empirical
evidence. Theories of confirmation provide accounts of this relation of
inductive support. We shall review the range of theories of
confirmation, including formal and less formal approaches. The review
will be critical; none of them is entirely successful. The theories
will be tested against significant cases of the use of evidence in
science. |
Taught Fall terrm 2010-2011 |
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HPS 2675
Philosophy of Space and Time
Phil 2660
Co-taught with John Earman
This seminar is concentrated on problems of time. Topics are drawn
from the philosophy literature: tensed vs. tenseless theories of time,
presentism vs. eternalism, McTaggart’s argument for the
unreality of time; and from the philosophy of science literature:. the
problem of the direction of time, the relations amongst the so-called
‘arrows of time’). We try to bring the two literatures
into fruitful interaction.
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Taught Spring term 2008-2009 |
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GSSPP08 - Geneva Summer School in
the Philosophy of Physics 2008
This summer school is offered to doctoral students and postdoctoral
scholars in philosophy of physics and is based loosely on the topic
"What is the Nature of Space and Time?" My lectures cover causation in
physics, determinism in classical physics and Einstein's method in his
discovery of general relativity.
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Summer 2008 |
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HPS 2534 General Relativity and
Gravitation Fall 2007
Co-taught with John Earman
This seminar will survey historical and foundational issues in
classical general relativity theory. Depending on seminar interest, we
will look at Einstein's discovery of genreal relativity; the causal
structure of spacetime; the initial value problem; the "hole argument",
and the status of general covariance; and spacetime singularities.In
general relativistic cosmology, we may look at the discovery of modern,
relativistic cosmology; the "horizon problem" and the genesis of
inflationary cosmology; accelerating expansion and "dark energy"; and
the multiverse and anthropic selection.
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Taught Fall Term 2007-2008 |
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HPS 2626 Recent Topics in Philosopohy
of Physics
This graduate seminar is devoted to reading recent topics in philosophy
of physics. The choice of topics was determined by an in-seminar
ballot. |
Taught Fall Term 2004-2005. |
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HPS 2509 Einstein 1905
This graduate seminar is devoted to studying the work of Einstein's
annus mirabilis, 1905. It was the year in which he published his
investigations on the reality of atoms (Doctoral dissertation, Brownian
motion); his papers on special relativity and E=mc2; and his
light quantum paper. |
Taught Spring term 2003-2004. |
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Guest Teaching
>> Undergraduate
>> Graduate
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Phil 2677 Foundations of Quantum Field Theory
Instructor: Giovanni Valente |
Spring Term, Wednesday March 20, 2013. |
