Phil 485: Philosophy of Physics

Spring 2010

Instructor: Kevin deLaplante

Office: 453 Catt Hall
Office Phone: 294-2480
Email: kdelapla@iastate.edu
Office Hours: M (1-3 PM), T (1-4 PM), W (1-3 PM), TH (1-4 PM) (unless meetings
preclude these times); and by appointment

Location: Ross 127

Meeting Times: Monday, Wednesday 4:10-5:30 PM

Description:

This course introduces students to a variety of conceptual issues and debates that
relate to various theories in the physical sciences. Topics may vary from year to year.
This year weʼll be looking at the following themes:

1. Conceptual Issues in Newtonian Physics

a. the nature of space and time
i. Newton vs. Leibniz, Berkeley and Mach
b. gravity and action-at-a-distance
c. determinism and predictability:
i. Laplaceʼs demon
ii. Is classical mechanics really deterministic?

2. Conceptual Issues in Relativistic Physics

a. motivations for Special Relativity
b. the relativity of space and time in Special Relativity
c. spacetime as physical geometry
d. the metaphysics of time
e. the challenge to temporal becoming from Special Relativity
f. freedom of the will in a “block universe”?
g. motivations for General Relativity
h. what does it mean to say that space is curved?
i. logical and causal “paradoxes” of time travel
j. does relativistic physics allow backward time travel?

3. God and Big Bang Cosmology

a. evidence for the Big Bang
b. did the Big Bang have a cause? did it have a beginning in time?
c. cosmology and the fine-tuning argument for theism (pro and con)
d. cosmology and the cosmological argument for theism (pro and con)
e. the Hawking-Hartle “no boundary” model of quantum cosmology: no room for a
creator? (pro and con)

1
Evaluation:

See below for details.

Reading assignments 15%

In-class Test 1 (midterm) 25%

In-class Test 2 (Final) 25%

Essay 20%

Online Participation 10%

Attendance 5%

100%

Details:

Reading assignments:
Roughly every week there will be a reading assignment due that must be handed in.
Each assignment will have a set of questions relating to a reading, and the student must
hand in a copy of the reading assignment on the date specified. 2 marks are assigned
for each assignment, one for handing it in on time, another for showing some effort in
the answers.

I will not be returning individual assignments to students, but I will circulate a set of
comments on the assignment questions that addresses issues I pick up from the
student answers.

Midterm Test and Final Test:

Both tests will have a variety of question types, some drawn from the reading
assignment questions. The final test is not cumulative, it will focus on material covered
since the midterm test.

Essay:
Each student is required to write an essay on a topic related to the themes of the
course. Minimum page length is 7 pages (double-spaced), no maximum page length.
More extensive instructions and guidelines will be given in class. The essay will be due
during “dead week”, the week before finals. Late penalty is 1 mark per day late (out of
20).

2
Online Participation:
Our class has a discussion forum on the course website, where students are
encouraged to post topics and replies. There is a minimal participation mark associated
with the discussion forum. To receive this mark:
• you must make at least two posts each month of the course (2 in January, 2 in
February, 2 in March and 2 in April)
• one of the posts must be a “new topic” post, where you set the thread topic,
and one must be a reply to a post (note: the reply can be a reply within your
own discussion thread)
• the “new topic” post must be posted before the middle of the month (to give
other students time to have a conversation about the issue -- otherwise thereʼs
a flurry of posts at the end of the month, with many that go unanswered...), with
the exception of January and April, which are short months; for these months,
the new topic post and the reply must come before the end of the month
• to receive credit for a post, there must be some substantive content in the post,
i.e. reasons must be given in support of a claim or position. In other words, a
reply like “hell yeah” wonʼt count toward the participation grade.
• you can use the forum to discuss anything you like, but only discussions that
relate in some way to physics, philosophy or other themes of the course will
count toward the participation grade
• you can use the forum to discuss reading assignment questions

Attendance:
Attendance is worth 5% of your grade. You get two “freebies”, free, unexcused
absences that will not impact your attendance grade. An “excused absence” is an
absence due to illness or participation in an ISU academic or athletic event (as a player,
not a viewer!). Excused absences must be documented (doctorʼs note relating to illness,
etc.), otherwise they will be treated as unexcused absences. Each unexcused absence
beyond the two freebies will remove 1% from your attendance grade. Thus, if you have
seven unexcused absences your attendance grade will be 0.

You cannot lose any more points due to attendance, but regular attendance is a
necessary condition for receiving a passing grade in this class. Thus, if you miss more
than half the classes, you will automatically receive an F.

A note about disability accommodations:

Please address any special needs or special accommodations with me at the beginning
of the semester or as soon as you become aware of your needs. Those seeking
accommodations based on disabilities should obtain a Student Academic
Accommodation Request (SAAR) form from the Student Disability Resource (SDR)
office (phone 515-294-7220). SDR is located on the main floor of the Student Services
Building, Room 1076.