Foundation of philosophy of science

Objetivos:

The advent of quantum mechanics completely changed our worldview: not only have our concepts of matter and space-time been deeply affected by the theory, but it has raised a great number of epistemological and methodological issues that contributed to shape the philosophical discussion of the twentieth century. Therefore, a certain acquaintance with the theory is essential for contemporary metaphysicians, epistemologists and philosophers of science. This course aims to provide an elementary -but rigorous- introduction to the conceptual difficulties besetting quantum theory. Our goal is to answer the question: what would the world be like, if the theory were true? As we will see, there are many answers to this question, all of them involving important revisions in our concept of nature.
The course is intended for students with philosophical interest mainly coming from humanities. It is a self-contained introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics and will include those aspects of physics that are needed in order to understand the conceptual problems raised by quantum mechanics. No mathematical background is assumed except familiarity with elementary algebra and the use of scientific formulae and notation.

Estructura y contenidos:
1. Structure and interpretation of classical mechanics.
2. Introduction to quantum mechanics.
3. Features of the quantum world: uncertainty, non-locality, contextuality.
4. The measurement problem or the problem of experience.
5. Interpretations of quantum mechanics I: Collapse theories.
6. Interpretations of quantum mechanics II: Bohmian mechanics.
7. Interpretations of quantum mechanics III: Many worlds and other no collapse interpretations.
8. Contemporary debates on the metaphysics of quantum mechanics.