The Existence of a Possible Compact Statement of Regularity

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

There's no sense in which one is the right one, one provides better explanations or anything like that. But I think it's up to us. I don't think explanations are spooky things out there in the world either. The existence of a possible compact statement of regularity is very, very useful,. And so any time two theories are mathematically equivalent, whether or not one is true or the other is false, those mean the same thing.

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 Or is it a relic of an outdated, pre-empirical way of thinking about the world?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/

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

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.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.