The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
\n\n\n\nTuesday\, September 29th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
\n\nTitle: Pragmatic Realism about Modality\, Natural and Metaphysical
\n\nAbstract:
\nModal notions&mdash\;which deal with necessity\, possibility\, and counterfactually robust conditionals&ndash\;are central to our explanatory\, predictive\, and practical decision-making activities. In this talk\, I will focus on two distinct types of modality: first\, natural modality\, the sort associated with causation\, laws of nature\, and scientific explanation\; and second\, metaphysical modality\, of the sort associated with essences\, semantic externalism\, and grounding explanation. I will present and defend a first-order realist\, higher-order pragmatist view of these modal notions. On this view\, modal notions are backed by real\, in the world relations: invariant regularities in the case of natural modals\, and identity-like relations in the case of metaphysical modals. What makes these relations modal\, however\, are facts about our inferential practices. A relation is modally robust\, on this view\, just in case (and because) it is suitable to back a pattern of truth-conducive deductive inferences. I argue that this higher-order pragmatic explanation of the modality of these relations doesn&rsquo\;t challenge the view&rsquo\;s first-order realism\, but does provide the view with the resources to solve some of realism&rsquo\;s more intractable normative and epistemic problems.
\nThis talk will also be available live streamed on:
\nZoom at https://pitt.zoom.us/j/94260602832
\nYouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
ORGANIZER;CN=Edouard Machery: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260924T223801Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261006T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261006T133000 SUMMARY:Aditya Jha - The Anatomy of Thermal Equilibrium and Fluctuation Theorems UID:20260925T152548Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:ac83:5bff:fea0:108%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh\, 4200 Fifth Avenue\, Pittsburgh\, United States\, 15260 DESCRIPTION:The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at \;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
\nLTT: Aditya Jha
\nTuesday\, October 6th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
\nTitle: \;The Anatomy of Thermal Equilibrium and Fluctuation Theorems
\nAbstract:
\nIn this talk\, I explore the relationship between various fluctuation theorems and the Second Law in statistical thermodynamics and argue against a commonly held perception\, namely that fluctuations somehow constitute a "violation" of the Second Law. I instead suggest that the Second Law restricts the statistical form of fluctuations not only in equilibrium regimes but also in far-from-equilibrium regimes. This restriction\, I show\, emerges from the anatomy of statistical (thermal) equilibrium\, which\, properly understood\, is a conjunction of three conditions: the stationarity of an ensemble\, its detailed balance\, and a compositional condition on energies and probabilities\, grounded in the operational content of the Second Law\, that forces probability to be logarithmically linear in energy. I demonstrate how fluctuation theorems exploit this anatomy: in equilibrium through the global detailed balance of the system itself\, and in far-from-equilibrium regimes through local detailed balance\, a condition that the thermal environment imposes locally on a system's coarse-grained transitions without the system itself being in equilibrium.
\nThis talk will also be available live streamed on:
\nZoom at \; \;https://pitt.zoom.us/j/98055239588
\nYouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
ORGANIZER;CN=Edouard Machery: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260924T223801Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261016T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261016T133000 SUMMARY: Jamee Elder - The Secret Lives of Mass Gap Black Holes UID:20260925T152549Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:ac83:5bff:fea0:108%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh\, 4200 Fifth Avenue\, Pittsburgh\, United States\, 15260 DESCRIPTION:The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at \;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
\nLTT: \; \;Jamee Elder
\nFriday\, October 16th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
\nTitle: \; \;The Secret Lives of Mass Gap Black Holes
\nAbstract:
\nRecent LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observations indicate black holes in the &ldquo\;mass gap&rdquo\; where pair-instability supernovae prevent black hole formation. One leading explanation is hierarchical mergers: merging black holes that are themselves products of prior mergers. I examine the evidence for this proposal and draw two methodological lessons. First\, the high spins of mass-gap black holes serve as a &ldquo\;smoking gun&rdquo\; signature of merger origin. Second\, such inferences rely on narrative models which scaffold epistemic iteration as new information is incorporated. This supports an optimistic view of astrophysical methodology and its capacity to uncover even the darkest objects&rsquo\; histories.
\nThis talk will also be available live streamed on:
\nZoom at \;https://pitt.zoom.us/j/95528498086
\nYouTube at \;https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
ORGANIZER;CN=Edouard Machery: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260924T223801Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261020T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261020T130000 SUMMARY:Caterina Sisti - Ramsey on conditionals and variable hypotheticals UID:20260925T152550Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:ac83:5bff:fea0:108%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh\, 4200 Fifth Avenue\, Pittsburgh\, United States\, 15260 DESCRIPTION:The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
\n\nLTT: Caterina Sisti
\n\nTuesday\, October 20th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
\n\nTitle: Ramsey on conditionals and variable hypotheticals
\n\nAbstract:
\nThe standard view in the contemporary literature on conditionals reads Ramsey as evaluating indicative conditionals by conditional probability\, while offering only a few remarks on counterfactuals. This interpretation is associated with the so-called &ldquo\;Ramsey Test&rdquo\;\, a procedure for evaluating conditionals developed by later authors from a short footnote in Ramsey&rsquo\;s General Propositions and Causality (1929). Drawing on his broader writings\, I argue that the picture is not quite accurate: counterfactuals occupy a much more central place in Ramsey&rsquo\;s account than is usually recognised\, and conditional probability is not meant to apply to all indicative conditionals. I present Ramsey&rsquo\;s overall view of conditionals and show how it is connected to his conception of variable hypotheticals &mdash\; a distinctive form of generalisation.
\nThis talk will also be available live streamed on:
\nZoom at https://pitt.zoom.us/j/97867934229
\nYouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
ORGANIZER;CN=Edouard Machery: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260924T223801Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261027T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261027T130000 SUMMARY:Nick Huggett - The Highs and Lows of Particle Physics (work with Mike Schneider) UID:20260925T152551Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@fe80:0:0:0:ac83:5bff:fea0:108%3 TZID:America/New_York LOCATION: University of Pittsburgh\, 4200 Fifth Avenue\, Pittsburgh\, United States\, 15260 DESCRIPTION:The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh invites you to join us for our Lunch Time Talk. Attend in person at 1117 Cathedral of Learning or visit our live stream on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
\n\nLTT: \; \;Nick Huggett
\n\nFriday\, October 27th @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST
\n\nTitle: \; \;The Highs and Lows of Particle Physics (work with Mike Schneider)
\n\nAbstract:
\nRecent work on the philosophy of high-energy physics experiments has considerably advanced our understanding of their epistemology\, for instance\, concerning measurements by the ATLAS collaboration at the large hadron collider (Beauchemin 2017). In this talk I aim to highlight and analyze complementary low energy &lsquo\;tabletop&rsquo\; experiments in particle (and other kinds of fundamental) physics. In particular\, I contrast ATLAS measurements with high precision measurements of the electron magnetic moment. We find\, for instance\, that the simplicity of the latter experiment allows for uncertainties to be minimized materially\, in the very construction of the apparatus\; it promises to probe new &lsquo\;regimes&rsquo\; of physics found in &lsquo\;increased significant figures&rsquo\; rather than higher energies. We finally suggest that a better appreciation of the capacities of such comparatively &lsquo\;frugal&rsquo\; experiments broadens our conception of &lsquo\;cutting edge&rsquo\; physics\, and ultimately helps to inform value judgments about possible research programs in the field.
\nThis talk will also be available live streamed on:
\nZoom at https://pitt.zoom.us/j/94644070927
\nYouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
ORGANIZER;CN=Edouard Machery: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR