I am an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. I completed my Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, I completed an M.A. in the Foundations of Physics at Columbia University, and a B.A. in Physics and Philosophy at the University of Chicago. My interests are primarily in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and the history of 20th century physics. CV.
Research
My research is focused on reconceptualizing how mathematics functions as a language for describing empirical phenomena. I look to apparent mathematical deficiencies of scientific theories and construe them as hints about how the theory represents the world. Rather than obstacles to interpretation, the breakdowns of mathematical consistency that arise in the course of scientific theorizing often are the best sources of information about how mathematical structures capture physical meaning. Recognizing this motivates important modifications to standard accounts of the ontological committments warranted by a theory's empirical success. My recent work addresses these themes in the context of fundamental particle physics.
Manuscripts
Mathematical structure and empirical content. Preprint |
Fundamental, yet imprecise? Preprint |
Worldly imprecision. Preprint |
On the common structure of perturbative and axiomatic field theory for Borel summable models. |
The audacity of scope. (with Porter Williams) |
Recent Publications*
*A complete list can be found on my C.V.
Infrared cancellation and measurement. Philosophy of Science: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (forthcoming). Preprint. |
Haag's theorem, apparent inconsistency, and the empirical adequacy of quantum field theory. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (2018) 69(3):801-820. Preprint / Journal. |
What, if anything, does quantum field theory explain? Metascience (2017) 26:455-457. Review of Jonathan Bain: CPT invariance and the spin-statistics connection . Preprint / Journal. |
The origins of Schwinger's Euclidean Green's functions, Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (2015) 50:5-12. Preprint / Journal. |
Recent and Upcoming Talks*
*A complete list can be found on my C.V.
Laws and Precision
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Commentary on ``On the Ostrogradski Instability; or, Why Physics Really Uses Second Derivatives'' (Noel Swanson)
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Infrared Cancellation and Measurement
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Worldly imprecision
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Quantum field theory, finitely
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Empirical adequacy debugged
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One weird thing about fundamentality
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Fundamental, yet imprecise?
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Indeterminacy at large-order.
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Not all failures of empirical adequacy are created equal.
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Why philosophy of quantum field theory?
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Current Courses
PHL 198: Philosophy of Time F20, T 4-6pm. |
PHL 356: Philosophy of Physics F20, M 3-6pm. |
Upcoming Courses
PHL 355: Philosophy of Science W21, M 3-6pm. |
PHL 2105: Quantum Metaphysics (with Trevor Teitel) W21, T 6-9pm. |
Past Courses*
*A complete list can be found on my C.V.
PHL 355: Philosophy of Science W20. |
PHL 198: Philosophy of Time F19. |
PHL 356: Philosophy of Physics F19. |
PHL 2169: Laws of Nature (with Jessica Wilson) W19. |
HPS 1000: Proseminar (with Rebecca Woods) F18. |
PHL 356: Philosophy of Physics F18. |
PHL 356: Philosophy of Physics W17. |
HPS 3005: Varieties of Structuralism W17. |
HPS 200: Science and Values F17. |
PHL 345: Intermediate Logic F17. |
Logic and Philosophy of Science
I am the organizer of the University of Toronto Logic and Philosophy of Science interest group. Notice of our events will be made available on the events calendar.
Specialist Programs
The University of Toronto has undergraduate specialist programs in Physics and Philosophy as well as in Mathematics and Philosophy. If you have questions about the philosophy components of either of these programs do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
Philsci-Archive
I am member of the Board of Philsci-Archive, an online repository for preprints in the Philosophy of Science. I previously served three terms as the manager of the archive and I developed the archive's conference volume software which generates a digital conference volume from all of the preprints uploaded to a conference heading. If you are organizing a conference and you are interested in this service, please get in touch.
Conference Organization
*A complete list can be found on my C.V.
Foundations of Physics Conference (with Alison Fernandes and Porter Williams). Columbia University, November 15-16 2019. |
Society for the Metaphysics of Science, Local Arrangements Co-chair (with Marissa Bennett and Jessica Wilson). University of Toronto, November 7-9 2019. |
Quantum Field Theory Then and Now (with Casey McCoy, Kerry McKenzie, Laura Ruetsche, Jennifer Whyte, and Porter Williams). University of Pittsburgh, April 12-13 2019. |
Early Career History and Philosophy of Physics Workshop (with Casey McCoy, Kerry McKenzie, Laura Ruetsche, Jennifer Whyte, and Porter Williams). University of Pittsburgh, April 11-12 2019. |
Contact
Email: mike.miller@utoronto.ca Primary Office: 514 Jackman Humanities Building Office Hours (W19): Thursday 2-3pm
Mailing Address: University of Toronto Department of Philosophy Jackman Humanities Building, 4th Floor 170 St. George Street Toronto, ON M5R 2M8 CANADA
orcid.org/0000-0003-1144-9711