Philosophy of Physics Seminar (Thursday - Week 4, HT23)
Thursday 9 February, 4:30pm
Lecture Room, Radcliffe Humanities
James Read (Philosophy, Oxford): 'An invitation to constructive axiomatics'
Following Reichenbach (1924), to constructively axiomatise a theory is to build up that theory from elementary axioms, selected not for (say) mathematical simplicity, but rather for empirical indubitability. Although a great deal of work has been undertaken on the constructive axiomatisation of general relativity in the intervening century, little has been done to synthesise this work, or to assess outstanding foundational problems. This talk seeks to achieve these tasks, with particular focus on the jewel in the crown of constructive axiomatics: viz., the 1972 approach of Ehlers, Pirani and Schild. (Based upon joint work with Emily Adlam and Niels Linnemann.)
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