The Different Theories of Hamiltonian Mechanics

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I think that it is impossible to imagine a case where tomorrow we will do an experiment that says one is right and the other one is wrong. I mean, in the case of Hamiltonian mechanics versus Lagrangian mechanics, you can literally start from the equations of one and derive the equations of the other. There's no improvement of one over the other. The reason why you think there's an improvement is because you often have incomplete information. One way of thinking about those skeptical scenarios is that they're trying to describe a way things could be observationally equivalent for us but the underpinnings of reality be radically different.

Is metaphysics like physics, but cooler? Or is it a relic of an outdated, pre-empirical way of thinking about the world? Closer to the former than the latter. Rather than building specific quantitative theories about the world, metaphysics aims to get a handle on the basic logical structures that help us think about it. I talk with philosopher Katie Elliott on how metaphysics helps us think about questions like counterfactuals, possible worlds, time travel, mathematical equivalence, and whether everything happens for a reason.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/24/244-katie-elliott-on-metaphysics-chance-and-time/

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Katrina (Katie) Elliott received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After being an assistant professor of philosophy at UCLA, she is now on the faculty at Brandeis. Her research covers topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of science, including explanation, chances, and the logic of time travel.

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