Philosophy of Physics

PHL 356, Winter 2018



Course Information

time: Wednesdays, 9:00am-12:00pm
room: OISE 8170
instructor: Michael Miller

email: mike.miller@utoronto.ca
office: JHB 514
office hours: TBD

Course Documents

Syllabus

Midterm Exam

Final Exam

Schedule*

*Subject to revision.

DateTopicReadingHW Due
Jan 10IntroductionAlbert, Krauss
Jan 17Why Philosophy of Science?Weinberg, Against Philosophy
Redhead, Isms and Schisms
Jan 24Special Relativity I
Realism I		Norton, The Principles, Clocks & Rods, Relativity of simultaneity
Weinberg, Ch. 1, Ch. 2
Jan 31Special Relativity II
Realism II		Norton, E=mc^2, Spacetime, Spacetime & Relativity of Simultaneity
Hacking, Introduction, Ch. 1, Ch. 2
Feb 7Quantum Mechanics I
Realism III		Albert Ch. 1
Hacking Ch. 5-6, 8		HW1 due
Feb 14Quantum Mechanics II
Anti-realism I		Albert Ch. 2
Laudan
Feb 21Reading WeekNo Class
Feb 28Quantum Mechanics III
Anti-realism II		Albert Ch.3
Van Fraassen		HW2 due
Mar 7Quantum Mechanics IV
Experiment I		Albert Ch. 4
Franklin, The Neglect of Experiment
Mar 14Quantum Field Theory I
Experiment II		 Feynman Ch. 3-4
Hacking, Ch. 9, Ch. 10		HW3 due
Mar 21Quantum Field Theory II
Experiment III		Randall
Hacking Ch. 13, Ch. 16
Mar 28Quantum Field Theory III
Experiment IV		Videos
Pickering Ch. 1, Ch. 14		HW4 due
Apr 4Beyond the Standard Model
Where we have been		Ellis
Ellis and Silk