Philosophy of Physics Seminar (Thursday - Week 1, HT26)

Abstract: ‘The word “fundamental” in basic science,’ Alvin Weinberg observed in 1963, ‘is often used as a synonym for “important”.’ His observation came as the postwar resource glut in the United States was coming to an end. Conceptions of fundamentality became crucial rhetorical tools as the subfields of physics began to compete for funding, prestige, and institutional authority.

This talk traces the family of fundamentality concepts that emerged within these disputes, examining their role mediating both intellectual and institutional tensions within the physics community, from the 1960s through the early twenty-first century. It develops a taxonomy of ‘fundamental’ physics—based on, but not constrained by, actors’ categories—demonstrates how that taxonomy maps onto the professional and conceptual interests of physical subfields, and argues that a historical perspective is valuable for informing the range of philosophical question—particularly those about reduction and emergence—that manipulate notions of physical fundamentality.

Registration: If you do not hold a university card, please contact the seminar convenor or admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk at least two working days before a seminar to register your attendance.