All are welcome to the events! Please note that these events are not sponsored by the Aquinas Honors Scholars. Scholars will not receive any points for attending these events. 

Student Pizza Lunch--Free Pizza!

"Would a physical 'Theory of Everything' say everything there is to say about everything there is?"

Friday, December 2nd

Noon - 1 pm

Library Leather Room (Lib 108)

In this presentation/discussion, I would like to consider what philosophical morals we can draw from the truism that science makes progress by unifying disparate phenomena. In particular, does the construction of more and more "unified" theories show us that science provides a comprehensive and exhaustive picture of reality? The talk will be illustrated by examples from mechanics, Newtonian gravitation, and the classical theory of fluids. 

Public Lecture

"On the 'Interpretation' of Physical Theories"

Friday, December 2nd

4:00 - 5:15 pm

Owen Science Hall (OWS) 251

What kind of activity is "interpreting a physical theory"? On the one hand, there is a venerable tradition of physicists and philosophers claiming to engage in just such an activity. On the other hand, the activity -- whatever it consists in -- seems to be significantly disanalogous from more familiar context in which we speak of "interpretation", e.g. with respect to artworks. In this talk, I will canvas different views of what it might mean to "interpret a physical theory", and I will try to locate (a proper subset of) the philosophy of physics within this space, as well as to explain the relationship between the activity of "physical interpretation", on the one hand, and metaphysics and the first-order practice of physics, on the other hand. Towards the end, I will be particularly concerned to explore the question of how a Thomist might understand the activity of "interpretation."

About the Speaker

Dr. Nicholas Teh is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. Previously, he held postdoctoral research fellowships at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge and the Quantum Group at the Oxford University Comlab. He read for his Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science at Trinity College, Cambridge. He works primarily in the philosophy of physics, and is particularly engaged by the rich interplay between the conceptual puzzles of physics, and various themes in metaphysics and contemporary mathematics.  His publications include "The Metaphysics of Bosonization" and
"Understanding the Empirical Significance of Gauge Symmetry” (both forthcoming), as well as "Anscombe on Non-reductionistic Accounts of Human Action" (2012).

About the "Philosophy and the Sciences?" Series

The “Philosophy and the Sciences?” is a series of three guest speaker events cosponsored by CAS and the departments of biology, philosophy, physics, and psychology. Each event includes a Pizza Lunch Discussion with the speaker and a Public Lecture. Together the events encourage critical reflection on the nature of philosophy, the sciences, and their interrelations. The series invites students and faculty in the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences to explore ways to integrate perspectives from the sciences and the humanities creatively in order to better understand our world and ourselves.