Against fields

Lazarovici, Dustin

doi:10.1007/s13194-017-0179-z

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(46 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This received view notwithstanding, it is interesting to explore the issue with a little more depth, as has been done recently e.g. in Lazarovici (2016). Indeed, one could argue that the notion of a field is secondary, ontologically speaking, to the notion of a charged particle.…”

Section: Classical Field Theorymentioning

confidence: 97%

Selective Realism and the Framework/Interaction Distinction: A Taxonomy of Fundamental Physical Theories

Benitez

2019

Found Phys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Following the proposal of a new kind of selective structural realism that uses as a basis the distinction between framework and interaction theories, this work discusses relevant applications in fundamental physics. An ontology for the different entities and properties of well-known theories is thus consistently built. The case of classical field theories -including General Relativity as a classical theory of gravitation-is examined in detail, as well as the implications of the classification scheme for issues of realism in Quantum Mechanics. These applications also shed light on the different range of applicability of the ontic and epistemic versions of structural realism.

show abstract

Section: Classical Field Theorymentioning

confidence: 97%

Selective Realism and the Framework/Interaction Distinction: A Taxonomy of Fundamental Physical Theories

Benitez

2019

Found Phys

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Detailed discussions of these problems with self-interaction can be found in many textbooks on classical electromagnetism. Philosophers of physics are aware of these issues and have considered a number of possible responses (Lange, 2002;Frisch, 2005;Lazarovici, 2018;Maudlin, 2018;Hartenstein & Hubert, forthcoming). One way out is to think of the classical electron as extended.…”

Section: Number Of Electrons =ˆDmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting positrons into classical Dirac field theory

Sebens

2020

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One way of arriving at a quantum field theory of electrons and positrons is to take a classical theory of the Dirac field and then quantize. Starting with the standard classical field theory and quantizing in the most straightforward way yields an inadequate quantum field theory. It is possible to fix this theory by making some modifications (such as redefining the operators for energy and charge).Here I argue that we ought to make these modifications earlier, revising the classical Dirac field theory that serves as the starting point for quantization (putting positrons into that theory and removing negative energies). Then, quantization becomes straightforward. Also, the physics of the Dirac field is made more similar to the physics of the electromagnetic field and we are able to better understand electron spin.

show abstract

“…Indeed, in spite of the fact that it renders the conceptual difficulties for particle ontologies even worse than in QM, 15 QFT has nonetheless also been interpreted by some authors (starting from Dirac, 1927) in terms of ‘particles’ of some sort. And while it has been argued (Fraser, 2008) that the particle interpretation ultimately turns out to be unworkable because it cannot be extended to scenarios with interactions, it has also been pointed out that analogous difficulties emerge for ontologies of fields (see Baker, 2009 and, for a discussion specifically concerned with the reality of classical fields, Lazarovici, 2018). Thus, the debate is still open—candidate ontologies for QFT including event ontologies, trope ontologies, structuralist ontologies and more (see Kuhlmann, 2010, 2018).…”

Section: Fundamentaliamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamentality in metaphysics and the philosophy of physics. Part II: The philosophy of physics

Morganti

2020

Philosophy Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This is the second part of an overview article on fundamentality in metaphysics and the philosophy of physics. Here, the notion of fundamentality is looked at from the viewpoint of the philosophical analysis of physics and physical theories. The questions are considered (1) whether physics can be regarded as fundamental with respect to other sciences, and in what sense; (2) what the label 'fundamental physics' should exactly be taken to mean; (3) on what grounds a particular physical theory should be considered fundamental; (4) what should be regarded as fundamental according to particular theories of physics; and (5) what indications come from contemporary physics concerning the fundamental structure of reality. 1 | INTRODUCTION Physics is often portrayed as the science that explores the fundamental constituents of reality and the laws that govern them. In view of this-at least if one conceives of metaphysics in a naturalistic sense and consequently aims to make one's philosophical analysis as scientifically aware as possible-it looks like philosophers dealing with fundamentality-related issues should pay close attention to what physicists have to say. 1 While this is true, however, it is not obvious to what extent, and in what precise sense, one should regard physics as a fundamental science. Indeed, an assessment of the (putative) fundamentality of physics seems both independent of and prior to the evaluation of the import of physical theories when it comes to metaphysical fundamentality. 2 Moreover, there are several aspects to be considered, and a number of elements that should be disentangled and kept separated. The present paper aims to provide a synopsis of all these aspects of fundamentality in the philosophy of physics. In Section 2 we introduce the idea that physics is the fundamental science, a view which is

show abstract

Against fields

Cited by 33 publications

References 44 publications

Selective Realism and the Framework/Interaction Distinction: A Taxonomy of Fundamental Physical Theories

Selective Realism and the Framework/Interaction Distinction: A Taxonomy of Fundamental Physical Theories

Putting positrons into classical Dirac field theory

Fundamentality in metaphysics and the philosophy of physics. Part II: The philosophy of physics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About