Nick Huggett
Biographic Data
| ID | 1058975 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nick Huggett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nick |
| FAMILY NAME | Huggett |
| SIGNATURE | HUGGETT N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Chicago |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5699-5479 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 73 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
On the Quantum Theory of Molecules: Rigour, Idealization, and Uncertainty
Philosophers have claimed that: (a) Born–Oppenheimer approximation methods for solving molecular Schrödinger equations violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relations; therefore, (b) ‘quantum chemistry’ is not fully quantum; and (c) therefore chemistry does not reduce to physics. This paper analyses the reasoning behind Born–Oppenheimer methods and shows that they are internally consistent and fully quantum mechanical, contrary to (a)–(c). Our analy…
Chapter Nine. Reading the Past in the Present
Missing the point in noncommutative geometry
Noncommutative geometries generalize standard smooth geometries, parametrizing the noncommutativity of dimensions with a fundamental quantity with the dimensions of area. The question arises then of whether the concept of a region smaller than the scale—and ultimately the concept of a point—makes sense in such a theory. We argue that it does not, in two interrelated ways. In the context of Connes’ spectral triple approach, we show that arbitraril…
The (A)temporal Emergence of Spacetime
This article examines two cosmological models of quantum gravity (from string theory and loop quantum gravity) to investigate the foundational and conceptual issues arising from quantum treatments of the big bang. While the classical singularity is erased, the quantum evolution that replaces it may not correspond to classical spacetime: it may instead be a nonspatiotemporal region that somehow transitions to a spatiotemporal state. The different …
Target space ≠ space
Deriving General Relativity from String Theory
Weyl symmetry of the classical bosonic string Lagrangian is broken by quantization, with profound consequences described here (along with a review of string theory for philosophers of physics). Reimposing symmetry requires that the background space-time satisfy the equations of general relativity: general relativity, hence classical space-time as we know it, arises from string theory. We investigate the logical role of Weyl symmetry in this expla…
Weak Discernibility for Quanta, the Right Way
Muller and Saunders ([2008]) purport to demonstrate that, surprisingly, bosons and fermions are discernible; this article disputes their arguments, then derives a similar conclusion in a more satisfactory fashion. After briefly explicating their proof and indicating how it escapes earlier indiscernibility results, we note that the observables which Muller and Saunders argue discern particles are (i) non-symmetric in the case of bosons and (ii) tr…
Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence
The emergence of spacetime in quantum theories of gravity
Essay Review: Physical Relativity and Understanding Space-Time
The two books discussed here make important contributions to our understanding of the role of spacetime concepts in physical theories and how that understanding has changed during the evolution of physics. Both emphasize what can be called a ‘dynamical’ account, according to which geometric structures should be understood in terms of their roles in the laws governing matter and force. I explore how the books contribute to such a project; while ge…
Why the Parts of Absolute Space are Immobile
Newton's arguments for the immobility of the parts of absolute space have been claimed to licence several proposals concerning his metaphysics. This paper clarifies Newton, first distinguishing two distinct arguments. Then, it demonstrates, contrary to Nerlich ([2005]), that Newton does not appeal to the identity of indiscernibles, but rather to a view about de re representation. Additionally, DiSalle ([1994]) claims that one argument shows Newto…
Groups in Mind
Both Henri Poincaré and (more recently) Roger Shepard have argued that the geometry and topology of physical space are internalized by the mind in the form, not (or not only) of a Euclidean manifold, but in terms of the group of rigid Euclidean transformations. Since this issue can have bearing on various metaphysical and epistemological questions, we explore the different reasons they offer for holding this view. In this context, we show how mos…
Renormalization and the Disunity of Science
Why Quantize Gravity (or Any Other Field for That Matter)
The quantum gravity program seeks a theory that handles quantum matter fields and gravity consistently. But is such a theory really required and must it involve quantizing the gravitational field? We give reasons for a positive answer to the first question, but dispute a widespread contention that it is inconsistent for the gravitational field to be classical while matter is quantum. In particular, we show how a popular argument (Eppley and Hanna…
Reflections on Parity Nonconservation
This paper considers the implications for the relational-substantival debate of observations of parity nonconservation in weak interactions, a much neglected topic. It is argued that ‘geometric proofs’ of absolute space, first proposed by Kant (1768), fail, but that parity violating laws allow ‘mechanical proofs’, like Newton's laws. Parity violating laws are explained and arguments analogous to those of Newton's Scholium are constructed to show …
Local Philosophies of Science
Since the collapse of the ‘received view’ consensus in the late 1960s, the question of scientific realism has been a major preoccupation of philosophers of science. This paper sketches the history of this debate, which grew from developments in the philosophy of language, but eventually took on an autonomous existence. More recently, the debate has tended towards more ‘local’ considerations of particular scientific episodes as a way of getting pu…
Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory
Much attention has been directed to the philosophical implications of quantum field theory (QFT) in recent years; this paper attempts a survey in low-technical terms. First the relations of QFT to other kinds of theory, classical and quantum, particle and field, are discussed. Then various formulations of QFT are introduced, along with related interpretations. Finally a review is made of some of the most interesting foundational problems.
Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time
The View from Nowhen More Apt to Be Lost than Got: The Lessons of the Second Law New light on The Arrow of Radiation Arrows and Error in Contemporary Cosmology Innocence and Symmetry in Microphysics In Search of the Third Arrow Convention Objectified and the Past Unlocked Einstein's Issue: The Puzzle of Contemporary Quantum Theory The Case for Advanced Action Overview
On the Significance of Permutation Symmetry
There has been considerable recent philosophical debate over the implications of many particle quantum mechanics for the metaphysics of individuality (cf. Huggett [1997]). In this paper I look at things from a rather different perspective: by investigating the significance of permutation symmetry. I consider how various philosophical positions link up to the physical postulate of the indistinguishability of permuted states-permutation invariance-…
Critical Review: Paul Teller's Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
Paul Teller's (1995) new book, “An Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory”, is a pioneering work. To the best of our knowledge it is the first book by a philosopher devoted not only to explaining what quantum field theory (QFT) is, but to clarifying the conceptual issues and puzzles to which the theory gives rise (though Auyung 1995 treats some different issues in QFT). As such it is an important book, which we hope will greatly stimul…
Exposing The Machinery of Infinite Renormalization
We explicate recent results that shed light on the obscure and troubling problem of renormalization in Quantum Field Theory (QFT). We review how divergent predictions arise in perturbative QFT, and how they are renormalized into finite quantities. Commentators have worried that there is no foundation for renormalization, and hence that QFTs are not logically coherent. We dispute this by describing the physics behind liquid diffusion, in which exa…
The renormalisation group and effective field theories
Interpretations of Quantum Field Theory
In this paper we critically review the various attempts that have been made to understand quantum field theory. We focus on Teller's (1990) harmonic oscillator interpretation, and Bohm et al.'s (1987) causal interpretation. The former unabashedly aims to be a purely heuristic account, but we show that it is only interestingly applicable to the free bosonic field. Along the way we suggest alternative models. Bohm's interpretation provides an ontol…
Deriving General Relativity from String Theory
Weyl symmetry of the classical bosonic string Lagrangian is broken by quantization, with profound consequences described here (along with a review of string theory for philosophers of physics). Reimposing symmetry requires that the background space-time satisfy the equations of general relativity: general relativity, hence classical space-time as we know it, arises from string theory. We investigate the logical role of Weyl symmetry in this expla…
The renormalisation group and effective field theories
The (A)temporal Emergence of Spacetime
This article examines two cosmological models of quantum gravity (from string theory and loop quantum gravity) to investigate the foundational and conceptual issues arising from quantum treatments of the big bang. While the classical singularity is erased, the quantum evolution that replaces it may not correspond to classical spacetime: it may instead be a nonspatiotemporal region that somehow transitions to a spatiotemporal state. The different …
Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory
Much attention has been directed to the philosophical implications of quantum field theory (QFT) in recent years; this paper attempts a survey in low-technical terms. First the relations of QFT to other kinds of theory, classical and quantum, particle and field, are discussed. Then various formulations of QFT are introduced, along with related interpretations. Finally a review is made of some of the most interesting foundational problems.
Reflections on Parity Nonconservation
This paper considers the implications for the relational-substantival debate of observations of parity nonconservation in weak interactions, a much neglected topic. It is argued that ‘geometric proofs’ of absolute space, first proposed by Kant (1768), fail, but that parity violating laws allow ‘mechanical proofs’, like Newton's laws. Parity violating laws are explained and arguments analogous to those of Newton's Scholium are constructed to show …
Weak Discernibility for Quanta, the Right Way
Muller and Saunders ([2008]) purport to demonstrate that, surprisingly, bosons and fermions are discernible; this article disputes their arguments, then derives a similar conclusion in a more satisfactory fashion. After briefly explicating their proof and indicating how it escapes earlier indiscernibility results, we note that the observables which Muller and Saunders argue discern particles are (i) non-symmetric in the case of bosons and (ii) tr…
Why Quantize Gravity (or Any Other Field for That Matter)
The quantum gravity program seeks a theory that handles quantum matter fields and gravity consistently. But is such a theory really required and must it involve quantizing the gravitational field? We give reasons for a positive answer to the first question, but dispute a widespread contention that it is inconsistent for the gravitational field to be classical while matter is quantum. In particular, we show how a popular argument (Eppley and Hanna…
On the Significance of Permutation Symmetry
There has been considerable recent philosophical debate over the implications of many particle quantum mechanics for the metaphysics of individuality (cf. Huggett [1997]). In this paper I look at things from a rather different perspective: by investigating the significance of permutation symmetry. I consider how various philosophical positions link up to the physical postulate of the indistinguishability of permuted states-permutation invariance-…
Missing the point in noncommutative geometry
Noncommutative geometries generalize standard smooth geometries, parametrizing the noncommutativity of dimensions with a fundamental quantity with the dimensions of area. The question arises then of whether the concept of a region smaller than the scale—and ultimately the concept of a point—makes sense in such a theory. We argue that it does not, in two interrelated ways. In the context of Connes’ spectral triple approach, we show that arbitraril…
Local Philosophies of Science
Since the collapse of the ‘received view’ consensus in the late 1960s, the question of scientific realism has been a major preoccupation of philosophers of science. This paper sketches the history of this debate, which grew from developments in the philosophy of language, but eventually took on an autonomous existence. More recently, the debate has tended towards more ‘local’ considerations of particular scientific episodes as a way of getting pu…
Why the Parts of Absolute Space are Immobile
Newton's arguments for the immobility of the parts of absolute space have been claimed to licence several proposals concerning his metaphysics. This paper clarifies Newton, first distinguishing two distinct arguments. Then, it demonstrates, contrary to Nerlich ([2005]), that Newton does not appeal to the identity of indiscernibles, but rather to a view about de re representation. Additionally, DiSalle ([1994]) claims that one argument shows Newto…
Interpretations of Quantum Field Theory
In this paper we critically review the various attempts that have been made to understand quantum field theory. We focus on Teller's (1990) harmonic oscillator interpretation, and Bohm et al.'s (1987) causal interpretation. The former unabashedly aims to be a purely heuristic account, but we show that it is only interestingly applicable to the free bosonic field. Along the way we suggest alternative models. Bohm's interpretation provides an ontol…
Interpretations of Quantum Field Theory
In this paper we critically review the various attempts that have been made to understand quantum field theory. We focus on Teller's (1990) harmonic oscillator interpretation, and Bohm et al.'s (1987) causal interpretation. The former unabashedly aims to be a purely heuristic account, but we show that it is only interestingly applicable to the free bosonic field. Along the way we suggest alternative models. Bohm's interpretation provides an ontol…
The renormalisation group and effective field theories
Critical Review: Paul Teller's Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
Paul Teller's (1995) new book, “An Interpretive Introduction to Quantum Field Theory”, is a pioneering work. To the best of our knowledge it is the first book by a philosopher devoted not only to explaining what quantum field theory (QFT) is, but to clarifying the conceptual issues and puzzles to which the theory gives rise (though Auyung 1995 treats some different issues in QFT). As such it is an important book, which we hope will greatly stimul…
Exposing The Machinery of Infinite Renormalization
We explicate recent results that shed light on the obscure and troubling problem of renormalization in Quantum Field Theory (QFT). We review how divergent predictions arise in perturbative QFT, and how they are renormalized into finite quantities. Commentators have worried that there is no foundation for renormalization, and hence that QFTs are not logically coherent. We dispute this by describing the physics behind liquid diffusion, in which exa…
Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time
The View from Nowhen More Apt to Be Lost than Got: The Lessons of the Second Law New light on The Arrow of Radiation Arrows and Error in Contemporary Cosmology Innocence and Symmetry in Microphysics In Search of the Third Arrow Convention Objectified and the Past Unlocked Einstein's Issue: The Puzzle of Contemporary Quantum Theory The Case for Advanced Action Overview
On the Significance of Permutation Symmetry
There has been considerable recent philosophical debate over the implications of many particle quantum mechanics for the metaphysics of individuality (cf. Huggett [1997]). In this paper I look at things from a rather different perspective: by investigating the significance of permutation symmetry. I consider how various philosophical positions link up to the physical postulate of the indistinguishability of permuted states-permutation invariance-…
Reflections on Parity Nonconservation
This paper considers the implications for the relational-substantival debate of observations of parity nonconservation in weak interactions, a much neglected topic. It is argued that ‘geometric proofs’ of absolute space, first proposed by Kant (1768), fail, but that parity violating laws allow ‘mechanical proofs’, like Newton's laws. Parity violating laws are explained and arguments analogous to those of Newton's Scholium are constructed to show …
Local Philosophies of Science
Since the collapse of the ‘received view’ consensus in the late 1960s, the question of scientific realism has been a major preoccupation of philosophers of science. This paper sketches the history of this debate, which grew from developments in the philosophy of language, but eventually took on an autonomous existence. More recently, the debate has tended towards more ‘local’ considerations of particular scientific episodes as a way of getting pu…
Philosophical foundations of quantum field theory
Much attention has been directed to the philosophical implications of quantum field theory (QFT) in recent years; this paper attempts a survey in low-technical terms. First the relations of QFT to other kinds of theory, classical and quantum, particle and field, are discussed. Then various formulations of QFT are introduced, along with related interpretations. Finally a review is made of some of the most interesting foundational problems.
Why Quantize Gravity (or Any Other Field for That Matter)
The quantum gravity program seeks a theory that handles quantum matter fields and gravity consistently. But is such a theory really required and must it involve quantizing the gravitational field? We give reasons for a positive answer to the first question, but dispute a widespread contention that it is inconsistent for the gravitational field to be classical while matter is quantum. In particular, we show how a popular argument (Eppley and Hanna…
Renormalization and the Disunity of Science
Groups in Mind
Both Henri Poincaré and (more recently) Roger Shepard have argued that the geometry and topology of physical space are internalized by the mind in the form, not (or not only) of a Euclidean manifold, but in terms of the group of rigid Euclidean transformations. Since this issue can have bearing on various metaphysical and epistemological questions, we explore the different reasons they offer for holding this view. In this context, we show how mos…
Why the Parts of Absolute Space are Immobile
Newton's arguments for the immobility of the parts of absolute space have been claimed to licence several proposals concerning his metaphysics. This paper clarifies Newton, first distinguishing two distinct arguments. Then, it demonstrates, contrary to Nerlich ([2005]), that Newton does not appeal to the identity of indiscernibles, but rather to a view about de re representation. Additionally, DiSalle ([1994]) claims that one argument shows Newto…
Essay Review: Physical Relativity and Understanding Space-Time
The two books discussed here make important contributions to our understanding of the role of spacetime concepts in physical theories and how that understanding has changed during the evolution of physics. Both emphasize what can be called a ‘dynamical’ account, according to which geometric structures should be understood in terms of their roles in the laws governing matter and force. I explore how the books contribute to such a project; while ge…
Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence
The emergence of spacetime in quantum theories of gravity
Weak Discernibility for Quanta, the Right Way
Muller and Saunders ([2008]) purport to demonstrate that, surprisingly, bosons and fermions are discernible; this article disputes their arguments, then derives a similar conclusion in a more satisfactory fashion. After briefly explicating their proof and indicating how it escapes earlier indiscernibility results, we note that the observables which Muller and Saunders argue discern particles are (i) non-symmetric in the case of bosons and (ii) tr…
Deriving General Relativity from String Theory
Weyl symmetry of the classical bosonic string Lagrangian is broken by quantization, with profound consequences described here (along with a review of string theory for philosophers of physics). Reimposing symmetry requires that the background space-time satisfy the equations of general relativity: general relativity, hence classical space-time as we know it, arises from string theory. We investigate the logical role of Weyl symmetry in this expla…
Target space ≠ space
The (A)temporal Emergence of Spacetime
This article examines two cosmological models of quantum gravity (from string theory and loop quantum gravity) to investigate the foundational and conceptual issues arising from quantum treatments of the big bang. While the classical singularity is erased, the quantum evolution that replaces it may not correspond to classical spacetime: it may instead be a nonspatiotemporal region that somehow transitions to a spatiotemporal state. The different …
Missing the point in noncommutative geometry
Noncommutative geometries generalize standard smooth geometries, parametrizing the noncommutativity of dimensions with a fundamental quantity with the dimensions of area. The question arises then of whether the concept of a region smaller than the scale—and ultimately the concept of a point—makes sense in such a theory. We argue that it does not, in two interrelated ways. In the context of Connes’ spectral triple approach, we show that arbitraril…
Chapter Nine. Reading the Past in the Present
On the Quantum Theory of Molecules: Rigour, Idealization, and Uncertainty
Philosophers have claimed that: (a) Born–Oppenheimer approximation methods for solving molecular Schrödinger equations violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relations; therefore, (b) ‘quantum chemistry’ is not fully quantum; and (c) therefore chemistry does not reduce to physics. This paper analyses the reasoning behind Born–Oppenheimer methods and shows that they are internally consistent and fully quantum mechanical, contrary to (a)–(c). Our analy…
Philosophy (17 works) · Physics (17 works) · Epistemology (16 works) · Theoretical physics (16 works) · Quantum mechanics (14 works) · Mathematics (13 works) · Quantum Mechanics and Applications (11 works) · Quantum (10 works) · Relativity and Gravitational Theory (9 works) · Field (mathematics) (6 works)