Symmetry as an Epistemic Notion (Twice Over)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8399487 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shamik Dasgupta (0000-0001-5803-8982, Princeton University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 837-878 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/axu049 |
| OpenAlex | W2101848344 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 56 |
| References cited | 19 |
Symmetries in physics are a guide to reality. That much is well known. But what is less well known is why symmetry is a guide to reality. What justifies inferences that draw conclusions about reality from premises about symmetries? I argue that answering this question reveals that symmetry is an epistemic notion twice over. First, these inferences must proceed via epistemic lemmas: premises about symmetries in the first instance justify epistemic lemmas about our powers of detection, and only from those epistemic lemmas can we draw conclusions about reality. Second, in order to justify those epistemic lemmas, the notion of symmetry must be defined partly in epistemic terms. 1 Symmetry-to-Reality Reasoning 1.1 A rough introduction to symmetry 1.2 The symmetry-to-reality inference 1.3 Two questions 1.4 Two answers 1.5 Preliminary clarifications2 Against Redundancy 2.1 Redundancy 2.2 Is absolute velocity redundant? 2.3 Some redundancies3 Against Objectivity4 From Symmetry to Detection 4.1 The epistemic approach 4.2 The Occamist norm 4.3 From symmetry to detection5 The Meaning of ‘Symmetry’ 5.1 A framework 5.2 Formal definitions 5.3 Ontic definitions6 Epistemic Definitions 6.1 Taking observation seriously 6.2 How things look 6.3 Observation sentences 6.4 Observational equivalence7 Symmetry as an Epistemic Notion (Twice Over) 7.1 Observational equivalence and metaphysics 7.2 The Occamist norm revisted 7.3 Consequences8 Conclusion
Epistemology · Geometry · Inference · Metaphysics · Norm (philosophy) · Ontic · Physics · Symmetry (geometry) · Theoretical physics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Quantum Mechanics and Applications · Relativity and Gravitational Theory
Substantivalism vs Relationalism About Space in Classical Physics
What spacetime does
Inexpressible Ignorance
What a Powers-BSA Theorist Should Say About Symmetries
Identifying Primitive Individuals
What Are Symmetries
Skepticism and Ontological Parsimony
Against Symmetry Fundamentalism
Galileo's ship and the relativity principle
How to count structure
Measuring Absolute Velocity
Absolute Velocities Are Unmeasurable
Lawful Persistence
Susy, Spin-Statistics, and all that… On the contrast between Spin-Statistics and Wigner’s Theorem
Redundant epistemic symmetries
Background independence
Symmetries and the philosophy of language
Spacetime structure
The Momentum of the Medium
Good Vibes only
When scale is surplus
On automorphism criteria for comparing amounts of mathematical structure
On the ontology of particle mass and energy in special relativity
Missing the point in noncommutative geometry
Motivating dualities
Invariance, intrinsicality and perspicuity
Perceptual variation and ignorance
Invariance or equivalence
The (un)detectability of absolute Newtonian masses
Are models our tools not our masters
Wavefunction realism does not ‘privilege position’
Getting tense about relativity
Sophistry about symmetries
Interpretation and equivalence; or, equivalence and interpretation
Humean time-reversal symmetry
Theory (In-)Equivalence and conventionalism in f(R) gravity
The curvature argument
Isolated systems and their symmetries, part I
What Do Symmetries Tell Us about Structure
Invariance, Interpretation, and Motivation
The Nature of a Constant of Nature
What Everyone Should Say about Symmetries (and How Humeans Get to Say It)
The Representational Role of Sophisticated Theories
On Symmetries and Springs
Maxwell Gravitation
What’s in a name? Qualitativism and parsimony
The growing block’s dubious past
The Non-equivalence of Einstein and Lorentz
Machian Comparativism about Mass
Symmetries as Isomorphisms
Reviving Reduction
Sophistication about Symmetries
On Absolute Units
Symmetries and Measurements
Symmetry Fundamentalism
Symmetries and Representation
The “Structure” of Physics
Objectivity, invariance, and convention
Laws and meta-laws of nature
The Bare Necessities
Monism
World Enough and Space-Time
What Price Spacetime Substantivalism? The Hole Story
Empirical Consequences of Symmetries
The Empirical Status of Symmetries in Physics
Are Gauge Symmetry Transformations Observable
Perfect Symmetries
A Puzzle about Laws, Symmetries and Measurability
Symmetry and the Metaphysics of Physics
| Unique citing works | 56 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,09 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 53 |