NB: You are not responsible for reading every text listed; you should choose at least one principal text and 1-2 others based on your interests.
Aim to complete your chosen readings by the date listed.
| lecture | date | topic | reading | milestones |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuesday, 29 August | General introduction: what is philosophy of physics? A taste of things to come. | Sklar, §1; Cushing, part I; Rohrlich, §§1-3 |
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| The Aristotelian-Ptolemaic Picture of the Universe & the Copernican Revolution | ||||
| 2 | Thursday, 31 August | The Aristotelian-Ptolemaic world view | Cushing, §4; Kuhn, §§1-4; Koestler, parts I-II; Geroch, §1 |
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| 3 | Tuesday, 5 September | The work of Copernicus | Cushing, §4; Kuhn, §5; Koestler, part III |
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| 4 | Thursday, 7 September | The sequel to Copernicus & the work of Kepler | Cushing, §5; Kuhn, §6; Koestler, part IV |
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| 5 | Tuesday, 12 September | Galileo and the birth of modern mechanics | Cushing, §6; Koestler, part V; Feynman, §4 |
Written Assignment 1 due |
| Electromagnetism, the Ether, & Relativity | ||||
| 6 | Thursday, 14 September | The Newtonian synthesis | Cushing, §7 & §8; Feynman §§1-4; Rohrlich, §5 |
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| 7 | Tuesday, 19 September | Philosophical problems of Newtonian mechanics | Cushing, part IV; Sklar, pp 11-25; Rohrlich, §5; Hesse, §6 |
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| 8 | Thursday, 21 September | Invariance and conservation laws. | Feynman, §3 and §4; Rohrlich, §6 | |
| 9 | Tuesday, 26 September | Waves | Rohrlich, §10a; Herbert, §5 | |
| 10 | Thursday, 28 September | Electricity, magnetism & the propagation of light | Cushing, §13 & §14; Rohrlich, §6a; Einstein, app. 5 |
Written Assignment 2 due |
| 11 | Tuesday, 3 October | Space, time & simultaneity: Foundations of special relativity |
Einstein, §§I - XI; Rohrlich, §6; Sklar, pp 25-40; Geroch, §5 & §6 |
419: term paper consultations (see Prof. Leggett) |
| 12 | Thursday, 5 October | Paradoxes of special relativity | Cushing, §17; Einstein, §§XII - XVII |
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| 13 | Tuesday, 10 October | Mechanics of special relativity: The mass-energy relation |
Cushing, §17; Rohrlich, §6f | 419: term paper topic/ abstract due |
| 14 | Thursday, 12 October | General relativity: Equivalence principle & space-time curvature |
Cushing, §18; Rohrlich, §6; Sklar, pp 40-52; Geroch, §7; Sciama | Written Assignment 3 due |
| 15 | Tuesday, 17 October | Philosophical questions raised by special & general relativity |
Sklar, pp 53-91 | |
| Quantum Mechanics | ||||
| 16 | Thursday, 19 October | "Wave-particle duality": The basic experimental facts |
Cushing, §19; Rohrlich, pp 119-144; Sklar, pp 157-164; Herbert, §§1-5 | 20 Oct: last day to drop an undergrad course |
| 17 | Tuesday, 24 October | Wave-particle duality & the 2-slit experiment: Analysis | Cushing, §20; Feynman, §6; Rohrlich, pp 144-166; Sklar, pp 164-179; d’Espagnat, §3; Albert, §§1-2 | 419: term paper outline/ partial draft due |
| 18 | Thursday, 26 October | Determinism, probability and objectivity in classical & quantum physics |
Sklar, pp 92-108; d’Espagnat, §§5-6 |
Written Assignment 4 due |
| 19 | Tuesday, 31 October | Hidden variables | Sklar, pp 202-212; Herbert, §7 | |
| 20 | Thursday, 2 November | The EPR argument and Bell's theorem | Cushing, §22; Sklar, pp 213-226; d’Espagnat, §4 & §7; Herbert, §8; Albert, §§4-5 | |
| 21 | Tuesday, 7 November | The quantum measurement paradox: The "orthodox" solution |
Sklar, pp 179-93; Herbert, §8; Albert, §§4-5 | |
| 22 | Thursday, 9 November | The quantum measurement paradox: Alternative solutions and experimental tests |
Sklar, pp 193-202; Herbert, §§9-10; Albert, §§6-8 | Written Assignment 5 due |
| 23 | Tuesday, 14 November | Quantum mechanics & "reality": Overview | d’Espagnat, §§8-12, Herbert, §13 |
419: term paper rough draft due |
| Irreversibility & the "Direction of Time": Current Problems in Cosmology | ||||
| 24 | Thursday, 16 November | The advantages of ignorance: Statistical mechanics |
Sklar, pp 109-42; Reichenbach, pp 49-108 |
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| 21 & 23 November | Thanksgiving Break | |||
| 25 | Tuesday, 28 November | The arrow of time | Sklar, pp 142-56; Hawking, §9; Reichenbach, pp 1-45 & 103-205 |
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| 26 | Thursday, 30 November | Cosmology: The standard model | Hawking, §§1-3 | |
| 27 | Tuesday, 5 December | Philosophical issues in cosmology | Hawking §§8-11 | |
| 28 | Thursday, 7 December | What have we learned? | Sklar, §5 | |
| 29 | Tuesday, 12 December | The current situation in physics: A personal overview |
419: final term paper draft due (11:59p on Compass) |
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| Thursday, 14 December | Reading Day | |||
| Wednesday, 20 December | Final Exam, 7.00p-10.00p (in 144 Loomis) | |||