Talk by Farr at MCMP (Wed. 20th)
Speaker: Matt Farr (University of Queensland) Date: Wed., Jan. 20 Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, room 021 Time: 16:15 - 17:45 Title: Causation and Time Reversal Abstract: What would it be for a process to happen ‘backwards’ in time? Would such a process involve different causal relations? On a standard interpretation of time reversal, time reversal symmetric theories radically underdetermine causal relations between events. This has led many to imply that time reversal symmetry motivates eliminativism about causation. This paper assesses the compatibility of time reversal symmetry with causation by asking whether causal relations ought to invert under the action of time reversal or remain invariant. I show that in neither case is there an incompatibility between time reversal symmetry and causation and hence time reversal symmetric theories pose no special problem for causality. I argue for a ‘non-causal’ interpretation of time reversal, whereby time reversal does not invert causal relations, and assess the consequences of this interpretation for the epistemology and metaphysics of causation.
Speaker: Margaret Morrison (University of Toronto) Date: Wed., Feb. 3 Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, room 021 Time: 18:15 - 19:45 Title: Turbulent Flows, Universality and Emergence Abstract: Turbulent flows are paradigm cases of complex systems where multi-scale modelling is required. The fundamental problems in the field are strong fluctuations and couplings – problems that are also present in condensed matter physics (CMP) and field theory. Like the latter two areas of physics, renormalization group methods have been used to treat some of the theoretical difficulties with turbulent flows. However, unlike CMP where universality and emergence is, in some sense, reasonably understood, it is less than straightforward in cases of turbulence. I examine some of these issues, in particular the relation between multi-scale modelling and emergence, in an attempt to clarify how or even whether a notion of emergence might be applicable in the context of turbulent flows.
participants (1)
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Dardashti, Radin