Research

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My primary long term research interests are in the foundations of quantum field theory. I’d like to know, How does quantum field theory work, and how do we get something like particle physics out of it? I’m also interested in the history of physics and its relation to intellectual history more broadly. I’ve written on the history of quantum mechanics, and the implications of that history for the current debates in the foundation of quantum theory, in my paper “Whence the eigenstate-eigenvalue link?” available here.

In addition, I maintain research interests in philosophical logic applied to moral philosophy. I work on Chisholm’s Ethics of Requirement, a semi-formal system of a logic for moral reasoning. This system is especially interesting as a locus for Chisholm’s thought on the notion of defeat, used extensively in his work in both epistemology and in moral philosophy.  I’m also interested in exploring similar non-standard deontic logics.

I have secondary research interests in the historical interplay between physics and metaphysics, especially in the work of Newton.  I am also interested in the historical contributions to both science and philosophy by women such as Laura Bassi and Émilie Du Châtelet. Both eighteenth century natural philosophers, these women made original contributions to physics and philosophy, achieving significant public recognition in their own day. Their works have been under appreciated and deserve further study. I am particularly interested in the ways in which both Bassi and Du Châtelet contributed to the development and widespread acceptance of Newtonian physics. The first full English translation of  Du Châtelet’s Institutions de Physique has recently been completed by Kathrine Brading and collaborators.

Publications

  • Whence the eigenstate-eigenvalue link?“, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Volume 55, August 2016, Pages 92-100.

Working Papers

  • “Modeling Chisholm’s Logic of Obligation, Requirement, and Defeat.” (under review)
  • “Could Charge and Mass be Universals?” (under review)
  • “Color Charge is not Like Electric Charge.”
  • “On the Newtonian and Aristotelian Notions of Substance: a Surprising Kinship.”
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