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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 2: Space, Time and Symmetry I

AGPhil 2.4: Vortrag

Dienstag, 31. März 2020, 12:30–13:00, H-HS IV

Symmetry and the equivalence of models — •Joanna Luc — Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

In my talk I will defend the thesis that symmetry-related models of the same physical theory should be regarded as representing one and the same physical state (this thesis will be called SYM-ONE). I will start from listing potential counterexamples to this interpretative principle present in the literature (Belot 2013, Belot 2018, Fletcher 2018, Roberts 2015). Then, the conceptual framework will be proposed that enables one to analyse these examples in a way that avoids abandoning SYM-ONE. The crucial ingredient of this framework is the distinction between theoretical and applied models. The latter include elements that are needed to relate theoretical models to the actual measurements, such as the choice of reference frame and the choice of units. The fact that symmetry-related models are often treated as representing physically distinct states in scientific practice can be explained by the fact that scientists use implicitly applied models, not their theoretical counterparts. Therefore, the arguments from scientific practice against SYM-ONE do not work and arguments of other types are claimed to be less forceful in this context.