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SUMMARY:Explanatory (A)symmetries and Humean Laws - Michael Hicks (Univers
 ity of Oxford)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20170309T163000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20170309T183000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ff010202-9980-4e73-bc68-0b3907ce8bc9/
DESCRIPTION:Recently\, Lange (2009) has argued that some physical principl
 es are explanatorily prior to others. Lange's main examples are symmetry p
 rinciples\, which he argues explain both conservation laws--through Noethe
 r's Theorem--and  features of dynamic laws--for example\, the Lorentz inva
 riance of QFT. Lange calls these "meta-laws" claims that his account of la
 ws\, which is built around the counterfactual stability of groups of state
 ments\, can capture the fact that these govern or constrain first-order la
 ws\, whereas other views\, principally Humean views\, can't. After reviewi
 ng the problem Lange presents\, I'll show how the explanatory asymmetry be
 tween laws he describes follows naturally on a Humean understanding of wha
 t laws are--particularly informative summaries. The Humean should agree wi
 th Lange that symmetry principles are explanatorily prior to both conserva
 tion laws and dynamic theories like QFT\; however\, I'll argue that Lange 
 is wrong to consider these principles "meta-laws" which in some way govern
  first-order laws\, and I'll show that on the Humean view\, the explanatio
 n of these two sorts of laws from symmetry principles is importantly diffe
 rent.\nSpeakers:\nMichael Hicks (University of Oxford)
LOCATION:Radcliffe Humanities (Lecture Room\, Second Floor)\, Woodstock Ro
 ad OX2 6GG
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/ff010202-9980-4e73-bc68-0b3907ce8bc9/
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DESCRIPTION:Talk:Explanatory (A)symmetries and Humean Laws - Michael Hicks
  (University of Oxford)
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