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238 - Barry Loewer: What Is The Philosophy of Science?

238 - Barry Loewer: What Is The Philosophy of Science?

Robinson's Podcast vor 1 Jahr

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Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers.
Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford. Barry works
largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science,
and metaphysics. This is Barry’s third appearance on the show. He
was last on episode 189 with David Albert, in which Robinson,
David, and Barry discussed David and Barry’s joint program known
as “The Mentaculus”, which they use to solve many problems in the
foundations of physics, from probability to the direction of
time. In this episode, Barry and Robinson discuss the
philosophical foundations of science, touching on the
relationship between science and pseudoscience, Karl Popper,
string theory, scientific realism, and many other important
debates and figures. If you’re interested in the foundations of
physics, then please check out the the John Bell Institute for
the Foundations of Physics, which is devoted to providing a home
for research and education in this important area. Any donations
are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s
life.

The Probability Map of the Universe: https://a.co/d/4XoYTMY

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

7:53 On Pseudoscience and Astrology

11:40 Falsification as a Criterion of Science

16:40 Is String Theory Pseudoscience?

20:14 On Marxism

24:45 What Is Scientific Realism?

34:35 On Hilary Putnam

42:16 Science Vs Metaphysics

48:32 Time in Science and Metaphysics

52:38 On Fundamentalia

56:01 On Reductionism

1:00:04 On Consciousness and Emergence

1:04:56 On Causation

1:25:52 On Time Travel

1:28:29 On Explanation and Thermodynamics

1:39:23 On Free Will

1:47:00 The Laws of Nature

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of
mathematics at Stanford University.