Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Sympathy for Mechanists
Mark Wilson, Department of Philosophy
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning
Abstract: In this talk I will outline some fundamental reasons why rigid bodies and mechanisms have historically played a prominent role in the foundations of classical physics, even for those philosopher/scientists (Leibniz, Kant, Pearson) who have maintained that such things could not exist in nature. I'll also suggest a linkage between these themes and traditional relationalism about space.