Spring 2009 Science Teaching Center Seminar

January 26:  Luke Conlin -- The Causal Semantics of Physics

February 9:  Open

February 23:  Andy Elby

March 9:  Jason Yip

March 23:  Open

April 6:  Colleen Gillespie and Jen Richards

April 20:   TIffany Sikorski

May 4: 

Abstracts

Luke Conlin -- The Causal Semantics of Physics

January 26, 2009

Many physicists, philosophers, and educators hold the view that science is in large part about finding causal mechanisms.  Many educational researchers and practitioners therefore consider student beliefs that contrast with this stance to be epistemologically naive.  However, there is a significant portion of experts in these same fields who reject the notion that science is about finding causal mechanisms, often relying on a stance that physics is only about finding and using the right equations.  John Norton, for instance, has said that in order for causation to play a central role in physics it must place factual restrictions on our theories--but no such restrictions are forthcoming.  In this seminar, I will present an argument in support of the central role of causal mechanisms in physics, by showing how causal notions place factual restrictions on physics theorizing via the semantics of physics equations.   

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