Tushar Menon
Biographic Data
| ID | 3874146 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tushar Menon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tushar |
| FAMILY NAME | Menon |
| SIGNATURE | MENON T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| ORCID | 0009-0004-7216-6197 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 7 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
How to be a scientific realist
On algebraic naturalism and metaphysical indeterminacy in quantum mechanics
Spacetime functionalists should be inferentialists
This paper offers a reading of spacetime functionalism as a form of inferential-role metasemantics. It argues that, on this reading, the spacetime functionalist has the resources to deal with two significant challenges in the foundations of spacetime theories: (i) how to account for the manner in which spacetime vocabulary gains purchase on the world and (ii) how to clarify the explanatory relationship between (external) dynamical symmetries and …
The limitations of inertial frame spacetime functionalism
For Knox, ‘spacetime’ is to be defined functionally, as that which picks out a structure of local inertial frames. Assuming that Knox is motivated to construct this functional definition of spacetime on the grounds that it appears to identify that structure which plays the operational role of spacetime—i.e., that structure which is actually surveyed by physical rods and clocks built from matter fields—we identify in this paper important limitatio…
Clocks and Chronogeometry
Recent work in the physics literature demonstrates that, in particular classes of rotating spacetimes, physical light rays in general do not traverse null geodesics. Having presented this result, we discuss its philosophical significance, both for the clock hypothesis (and, in particular, a recent purported proof thereof for light clocks), and for the operational meaning of the metric field. 1. Introduction 2. Fletcher's Theorem 2.1. Maudlin on t…
On the viability of the No Alternatives Argument
Algebraic Fields and the Dynamical Approach to Physical Geometry
Brown and Pooley’s ‘dynamical approach’ to physical theories asserts, in opposition to the orthodox position on physical geometry, that facts about physical geometry are grounded in, or explained by, facts about dynamical fields, not the other way round. John Norton has claimed that the proponent of the dynamical approach is illicitly committed to spatiotemporal presumptions in ‘constructing’ space-time from facts about dynamical symmetries. In t…
The limitations of inertial frame spacetime functionalism
For Knox, ‘spacetime’ is to be defined functionally, as that which picks out a structure of local inertial frames. Assuming that Knox is motivated to construct this functional definition of spacetime on the grounds that it appears to identify that structure which plays the operational role of spacetime—i.e., that structure which is actually surveyed by physical rods and clocks built from matter fields—we identify in this paper important limitatio…
On the viability of the No Alternatives Argument
Algebraic Fields and the Dynamical Approach to Physical Geometry
Brown and Pooley’s ‘dynamical approach’ to physical theories asserts, in opposition to the orthodox position on physical geometry, that facts about physical geometry are grounded in, or explained by, facts about dynamical fields, not the other way round. John Norton has claimed that the proponent of the dynamical approach is illicitly committed to spatiotemporal presumptions in ‘constructing’ space-time from facts about dynamical symmetries. In t…
Clocks and Chronogeometry
Recent work in the physics literature demonstrates that, in particular classes of rotating spacetimes, physical light rays in general do not traverse null geodesics. Having presented this result, we discuss its philosophical significance, both for the clock hypothesis (and, in particular, a recent purported proof thereof for light clocks), and for the operational meaning of the metric field. 1. Introduction 2. Fletcher's Theorem 2.1. Maudlin on t…
On the viability of the No Alternatives Argument
Algebraic Fields and the Dynamical Approach to Physical Geometry
Brown and Pooley’s ‘dynamical approach’ to physical theories asserts, in opposition to the orthodox position on physical geometry, that facts about physical geometry are grounded in, or explained by, facts about dynamical fields, not the other way round. John Norton has claimed that the proponent of the dynamical approach is illicitly committed to spatiotemporal presumptions in ‘constructing’ space-time from facts about dynamical symmetries. In t…
Clocks and Chronogeometry
Recent work in the physics literature demonstrates that, in particular classes of rotating spacetimes, physical light rays in general do not traverse null geodesics. Having presented this result, we discuss its philosophical significance, both for the clock hypothesis (and, in particular, a recent purported proof thereof for light clocks), and for the operational meaning of the metric field. 1. Introduction 2. Fletcher's Theorem 2.1. Maudlin on t…
The limitations of inertial frame spacetime functionalism
For Knox, ‘spacetime’ is to be defined functionally, as that which picks out a structure of local inertial frames. Assuming that Knox is motivated to construct this functional definition of spacetime on the grounds that it appears to identify that structure which plays the operational role of spacetime—i.e., that structure which is actually surveyed by physical rods and clocks built from matter fields—we identify in this paper important limitatio…
On algebraic naturalism and metaphysical indeterminacy in quantum mechanics
Spacetime functionalists should be inferentialists
This paper offers a reading of spacetime functionalism as a form of inferential-role metasemantics. It argues that, on this reading, the spacetime functionalist has the resources to deal with two significant challenges in the foundations of spacetime theories: (i) how to account for the manner in which spacetime vocabulary gains purchase on the world and (ii) how to clarify the explanatory relationship between (external) dynamical symmetries and …
How to be a scientific realist
Epistemology (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Physics (5 works) · Philosophy and History of Science (4 works) · Quantum mechanics (4 works) · Quantum Mechanics and Applications (4 works) · Theoretical physics (4 works) · Classical mechanics (3 works) · Mathematics (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works)