Tim Maudlin (NYU): 'Law, Fact, or Mathematical Consequence? Metaphysical Options in Mathematical Physics'
The technical heart of mathematical physics is equations. But one and the same mathematical equation can be understood to have quite different ontological implications. I will use an example from Maxwell’s electro-magnetic theory— Div B = 0 —and discuss how that equation can be understood in three quite different ways with different metaphysical contents. This illustrates how much more than just the mathematics one needs in order to draw ontological consequences from mathematical physics.