The Completeness of Physics

Workshop: The Completeness of Physics
15th-17th December 2014
Senate Suite, Castle, Durham University

Opposition to the existence of strong emergence is closely associated with support for principles of the causal closure, or completeness of the physical. If the physical is causally closed, or complete, then downward causation (and therefore strong emergence) is precluded. But how should such principles be formulated, and what evidence is there for them? Defenders and opponents typically disagree on whether science itself supports completeness. This workshop will review the arguments, aiming to identify the unstated assumptions that underlie current disagreements. The aim is to cut through the current impasse in the debate.

Speakers:
Sophie Gibb (Durham University): ‘The causal closure principle’
Carl Gillett (Northern Illinois University): ‘The truth of the completeness of physics is an open empirical question’ 
Robin Hendry (Durham University): ‘Emergence vs. reduction: where is the evidence?’
Andreas Hüttemann (University of Cologne): ‘Explanation and emergence’
Brian McLaughlin (Rutgers University): ‘The completeness of physics vs. the completeness of the physical’
Margaret Morrison (University of Toronto): ‘Unification and incompleteness’
David Papineau (King’s College London): ‘Macroscopic causation and the causal completeness of physics’
David Yates (University of Oxford): ‘Demystifying emergence’

Further details are available at 

http://www.durham.ac.uk/emergence/events/workshop1/ 

To register please contact Catherine Syson ([email protected]).
There will be a registration fee of £35 to cover tea, coffee and lunch during the workshop.
The registration deadline is noon, Monday 8th December.