Symmetry and Structure Workshop

Registration is open! Please register by October 20 so we have an accurate headcount.

Date: 27-28 October 2023
Place: Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Room 1321 (campus map)
Time: 9am – 5:30pm Friday; 9am-1:30pm Saturday, with refreshments beginning at 8:30 both days.
Logistics: Paid parking is available in the Social Science Parking Structure.

Précis: This one-and-a-half day workshop will return to the themes of last year’s Math-First Structural Realism Workshop. Our focus this year will be on what is distinctively mathematical about math-first structural realism. Topics will include how to characterize mathematical structure, what mathematical equivalence results tell us about structure in the world, and how symmetry can be used to probe structure.

Speakers will include David Wallace (University of Pittsburgh), Thomas Barrett (UC Santa Barbara), Neil Dewar (Cambridge University), David Baker (University of Michigan), Clara Bradley (UC Irvine), JB Manchak (UC Irvine), Toby Meadows (UC Irvine), and James Weatherall (UC Irvine). Kerry McKenzie (University of California, San Diego) and Emily Adlam (Chapman) will participate as invited discussants.

Schedule (subject to change)

Friday October 27

8:30am: Continental Breakfast

9am: Opening Remarks by Jim Weatherall

9:15am: David Wallace

10:15am: JB Manchak

11:15am: Coffee Break

11:30am: Thomas Barrett

12:30pm: Lunch

1:30pm: Toby Meadows

2:30pm: Dave Baker

3:30pm Coffee Break

3:45pm Hans Halvorson

4:45pm General Discussion

Saturday October 28

8:30am: Continental Breakfast

9am: Neil Dewar

10am: Clara Bradley

11am: Coffee Break

11:15am: James Weatherall

12:15pm: Lunch

12:30pm: Brown bag discussion over lunch

The event is co-organized by Clara Bradley and James Weatherall. It is hosted by the Southern California Philosophy of Physics Group with generous support from the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine. For further information, please contact the organizers at cbradle1@uci.edu and weatherj@uci.edu, respectively.