Tuesdays and Thursdays 12.30-1:50pm. GFS 101
| Andrew Bacon (Professor) | office: 224 STO | in person office hours: Tuesdays 2-3 | zoom office hours: Wednesday 9-10 |
| Jin Zeng (TA) | email: jinzeng@usc.edu | office hours: TBA |
We will be working primarily from
Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time by Tim Maudlin.
Everyone will need a copy of this book. In the class we will also engage in some of the ideas explored in the more advanced book
Science without Numbers by Hartry Field,
which may be consulted for further reading. At the end of the course we may look some of the consequences of the special and general theories of relativity. Students with some mathematical background wishing to read more could consult the book
General Relativity: From A to B by Robert Geroch,
although understanding of this material is not necessary for the course.
| dropbox | guidelines for writing a paper proposal | paper prompts | exercises |
This course introduces students to philosophical issues related to space and time. Our subjective experience of space and time is often very different from the ways that scientists talk about space and time. This course aims to expose students to the latter way of thinking about space and time and familiarize them to the surrounding philosophical issues. In this course we will discuss the nature of geometry, the relationship between space, time and our mathematical representations of it, Newton’s theory of space and time, and the special and general theory of relativity.
Objectives: Students taking this course will acquire a qualitative understanding of several historically significant theories of space and time and will be familiar with the philosophical issues surrounding them.
You will be assessed on the basis of reading questions (one question set every one or two weeks, pass fail), a writing assignment, a quiz and section participation. The writing assignments will consist of a single paper, to be developed over the semester through workshops and presentations in sections.
End of semester quiz 10% . (April 25th, in class)
Participation 15%
This is a preliminary schedule – the topics listed here are subject to change (some of these topics will extend over more than one week).
I will be out of town Feb 22nd.
Introduction to geometry. Representations of space-time: coordinates and space-time diagrams. (Reading: selection from Euclid’s Elements)
Relationism and Substantivalism: Handedness (Reading: Immanuel Kant, On the first ground of the distinction of regions of space, Jim Van Cleve, Left, Right, and the Fourth Dimension. )
Relationism and Substantivalism: Newton’s theory of space and time. (Reading: Historical background: selections from the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence: for the principle of sufficient reason, Leibniz’s second letter to Clark section 1, Clark’s second reply, section 1. Leibniz’s third letter to Clark section 1-section 7, paying special attention to section 5 and section 6 . Maudlin chapter 1. )
Relationism and Substantivalism: Relationism and the Bucket argument. (Reading: Maudlin chapter 2.)
Relationism and Substantivalism: Absolute velocity and Gallilean space-time. (Reading: Maudlin chapter 3.)
Space-time geometry: types of geometric structure.
Space-time geometry: Geometry without numbers. (Reading: Hartry Field Science without Numbers, chapters 5-7. Tarski: Foundations of the Geometry of Solids.)
Space-time geometry: Relationism and space-time geometry. (Readings. Field: Can we dispense with space-time?, Bacon Relative locations
Special relativity: Geometry. (Reading: Maudlin chapter 4 and 5.)
If we have time: General relativity: Curved space-time (Maudlin chapter 6.)
Plagiarism - presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your own words - is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Part B, Section 11, Behavior Violating University Standards. Other forms of academic dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university policies on scientific misconduct.
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