Seminario del Mind, Experience, Language, and Time (MELT) 2022-2023

Sam Baron (ACU)

Causation and spacetime

23 settembre 2022, h. 15:00-17:00.

Sala Martinetti, Cortile Ghiacciaia, Via Festa del Perdono, 7, Milano.

Abstract
In the mid 20th century, a group of theorems showed that much of the metric structure of general relativity could be recovered from causal structure. This led a number of philosophers to defend a causal theory of spacetime, in which spatiotemporal relations were reduced to causal relations. The causal theory met with fierce opposition by the likes of Earman and Smart, and was largely abandoned within philosophy. In physics, however, the story is different: the theorems that motivated the causal theory of spacetime were developed into an approach to quantum gravity. Philosophy, it seems, abandoned the causal theory of spacetime too early. In this talk, I will thus return to the causal theory of spacetime and show that there is at least one version of the view that endures philosophical scrutiny.

La conferenza si terrà in inglese.

La partecipazione è fortemente raccomandata agli allievi della Scuola di Dottorato in Filosofia e Scienze dell’Uomo e della Scuola di Dottorato "The Human Mind and its Explanations: Language, Brain, and Reasoning."

Tutti gli interessati sono invitati a partecipare.