Table of Contents: - PSA24 Registration
- Short Reads by Grads
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NSF Climate Intervention Workshops
- PSA @ APA Call - Deadline Extended to Sept. 15
- PSA International Syllabus Prize - Deadline extended
- PSA24 Sponsors
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PhilSci Archive - Top 5 Downloads
- Calendar of Events & Calls for Papers - Upcoming Dates
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PSA Registration - Prices Increase Oct. 1 |
Registration for the PSA24 New Orleans meeting is now open. The early bird phase of registration will end on September 30, 2024, at which point prices will increase. Please visit the event site for more details and to register for the meeting. If you have are presenting at the meeting and have already created a speaker profile, you will be able to register through that profile. As always, the most economical solution to registration is to be a member of the PSA so please make sure your membership is current!
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The PSA is pleased to share its tenth installment of Short Reads by Grads. Gino Elia (he/him/his) is a PhD candidate in the doctoral program for philosophy at Stony Brook University. He specializes in phenomenology and the philosophy of physics, with an emphasis on quantum physics and the history of physics in the early twentieth century. Gino's dissertation concerns interpreting quantum ontology using the contextuality of quantum systems. |
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Review of Steven French, A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics (OUP, 2024) By Gino Elia
Steven French’s A Phenomenological Approach to Quantum Mechanics puts the phenomenological approach on the table as a way to investigate quantum foundations. He accomplishes this by recovering the phenomenology in the book The Theory of Observation in Quantum Mechanics (1939) by physicists Fritz London and Edmond Bauer. London and Bauer’s “little book” described the measurement process in QM with an emphasis on sticking to the formalism.
French begins with a history of the so-called “measurement problem.” He argues that physicist Eugene Wigner popularized misinterpretations of London, Bauer, and John von Neumann, elevating their descriptions of quantum measurement into “the measurement problem” whose central mystery was consciousness. The misapprehension was to think these physicists were arguing that a mysterious interaction occurs between observers and quantum objects.
Given London’s background in phenomenology, his book with Bauer requires a phenomenological reading. The relevant idea in Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology is that subject and object are distinguished together in the same relation called the “correlation” (115-116). The intuition is that subjectivity and objectivity are codefined; they come and go together. However, it is not the case that every description or every experience automatically has the objective and subjective dimension explicitly predefined. In Husserl’s account, the correlation precedes the subject-object distinction, but through reflection, subject and object are identified and mutually separated. And like Husserl, French says this activity of reflection must be understood as preceding the conclusion that reflection has a subject and an object.
It is this sense of “mutual separation” that French interprets the separation of observer and observed in London and Bauer (147). London and Bauer argued that the update in our knowledge, in the form of a measurement outcome, separates observer and object from the quantum superposition. They held that the act of observation clarifies both the state of the observer and the state of the object. In this sense, their approach treats the wave function neither as representing information (“psi-epistemic”) nor as a literal object (“psi-ontic”). This shift in perspective rejects subject-object dualism, precluding any “mind-collapse” narrative where the subject supervenes on the object of experience.
French traces the historical roots of London’s phenomenological stance through phenomenologists Alexander Pfänder and Aron Gurwitsch. After studying super fluids, a macroscopic quantum phenomenon, London did not have philosophical qualms about applying QM formalism to larger objects such as an observer. French suggests that London’s interest in the measurement process arose from conversations with Erwin Schrödinger, who also arrived at the conclusion that quantum “wave functions encode the relation between subject and object” (99). Like London, Schrödinger came to think the actions of an observer distinguishes their knowledge from the superposition, but this separation is not a “physical effect that collapses the wave-function” (105).
French does not claim to have “solved” the mysteries of QM, but his analysis clarifies the role of consciousness in the history of the measurement problem. For London and Bauer, the reference to an observer was descriptive, not causal. There was never a “measurement problem” as such in their account. I found French’s book refreshing and illuminating. Many books concern either the history of QM or the philosophy, but French shows us that we need more books on the history of philosophy of QM. |
NSF Climate Intervention Workshops |
The National Science Foundation is hosting a series of workshops this fall on the ethical and social dynamics of climate intervention technologies. We’re looking for social scientists, ethicists, natural and life scientists, and engineers to join the conversation on shaping the governance framework around climate change, focusing on Solar Radiation Management and Carbon Dioxide Removal technologies. If you are interested, please visit the link to apply. Reach out to cdr-srm@nsf.gov with any questions. |
PSA @ APA Call - Deadline Extended to Sept. 15 |
The PSA invites nominations from members for an "author meets critics" book session for a special session of the APA dedicated to work by philosophers of science. We especially encourage nominations of work by early or mid-career scholars, and books of potential wide interest to philosophers with specializations other than philosophy of science. Please submit your nominations, with no more than a brief paragraph or two explaining your nomination, and a list of willing and/or potential critics (noting who among the critics has officially agreed attend) to Anya Plutynski, aplutyns@wustl.edu by September 15. The PSA Awards committee will vote on a nominees to present at the next Eastern & Central APA.
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PSA International Syllabus Prize - Call for Syllabi |
“Teaching Philosophy of Science in the World”
The Philosophy of Science Association invites submissions of course syllabi that showcase effective and creative teaching of the philosophy of science that reaches beyond the mainstream. We are seeking to build a library of new ideas and good practices from around the world that will help those who are trying to internationalize the subject and introduce it to new audiences. All submissions that meet the eligibility criteria below will be made available on the syllabus repository that can be accessed freely via the PSA website.
Any member of the PSA based anywhere in the world may make a submission. Non-members wishing to participate are encouraged to apply for membership, through the PSA’s Sponsor-a-Scholar program if they cannot afford the membership fee. We welcome not only the traditional type of syllabi specifying a schedule of lectures or discussion sessions and reading lists, but also descriptions of innovative learning activities that do not fit the usual notion of “course.” Teaching plans at any level from secondary school to PhD programs are
eligible. Entries must refer to courses or other activities that have already run at least once; revised versions of entries submitted in previous rounds are also eligible. They can be in any language (or mix of languages), but for an entry that is not in English, please submit an English translation alongside the original version. Submissions will be reviewed by the PSA International Relations Committee, consulting appropriate external experts as needed.
Innovations to the conventional philosophy of science displayed in the entries may include:
· Application of insights from various non-Anglophone or non-analytic traditions of philosophy to Anglophone analytic philosophy of science;
· Adaptation of traditional issues in the philosophy of science to the sensibilities and conditions of the countries and communities in which the course is taught;
· Selection (or creation) of teaching materials (print or online) with the same purpose;
· Comparative study or synthesis of traditions of philosophy of science from different parts of the world, or from different languages, cultures, or religions;
· Critical examination of the legacies of colonialism and other aspects of international and intercultural politics in the philosophy of science;
· Philosophical examination of interactions between European-origin science (and technology and medicine) and non-European traditions of knowledge;
· Productive combination of sources in multiple languages.
In addition to the syllabus, please submit a brief description of up to 500 words, explaining the nature of the course or other learning activity and highlighting the innovations made in it.
All entries will be considered for an annual prize to be awarded at the biennial PSA conference or at a separate online event, where the prize-winner(s) will be invited to discuss the content of the winning entry. The prize will also carry a cash award of USD 500.
Entries may be submitted at any time to the Chair of the PSA International Relations Committee, Prof. Hasok Chang, University of Cambridge, by e-mail to hc372@cam.ac.uk. The deadline for submission of syllabi to be considered for the 2024 prize is 1 October 2024. Entries submitted after that date will be considered for the 2025 competition. |
The PSA is pleased to announce its first round of PSA24 sponsors for the upcoming biennial meeting in New Orleans: Emerald Sponsors: University of California Irvine, Logic & Philosophy of Science Platinum Sponsors: Ann Johnson Institute
The National Science Foundation Gold Sponsors:
Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Philosophy Arizona State University, Centre for Biology and Society, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science Silver Sponsors:
The Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh The Institute for Practical Ethics, University of California San Diego Simon Fraser University, Department of Philosophy Bronze Sponsors:
The Center for Public Engagement with Science, University of Cincinnati
Supporting Sponsors:
The Charles Phelps Taft Research Center
University of Cincinnati
Our sponsors help make the PSA biennial meeting possible. Thanks to them, not only are we able to have a high quality meeting but we are also able to keep conference registration more accessible for students. If you are interested in becoming a PSA24 sponsor, please reach out to director@philsci.org for a list of opportunities. |
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PhilSci Archive - Top 5 Downloads |
PhilSci-Archive is the official preprint repository for the PSA and the best place to host your philosophy of science preprints. It offers a free, stable, and openly accessible archive for scholarly articles and monographs. With PhilSci-Archive, researchers can search the open-access repository and get curated alerts about new work delivered to their inboxes. Many journals encourage authors to post preprints on archives like the PhilSci-Archive in order to increase readership, and historical data suggests that posting to the archive increases a published paper's citation rates (see https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/20778/). Visit philsci-archive.pitt.edu today to create a free account and post your preprints.
The most downloaded preprints for the last 6 months of articles deposited in the previous 2 years are:
Chen, Eddy Keming (2023) Laws of Physics
Andrews, Mel (2023) The Devil in the Data: Machine Learning & the Theory-Free Ideal
Cobb, David (2022) Empiricism in the Philosophy of Science
Erfanifar, T (2023) Existential Quantifiers and Contemporary Logic
Wiggleton-Little, Jada and Callender, Craig (2022) Screening Out Neurodiversity |
Calendar of Events & Calls for Papers - Upcoming Dates |
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