Course: The Theory of Everything

Announcement

Gravity, molecules, time and space. By explaining the world around us with physics, we try to get a better grip on who we are and where we come from. For decades, neither money nor effort has been spared to find a Theory of Everything that brings together the great theories of physics, but so far it has not succeeded. Does the crisis in physics show the limits of this scientific method and our scientific worldview? 

Physics and philosophy
 

During this course, you will be introduced to theoretical physics. You will learn about the principles of the theory of relativity and quantum physics and what is meant by a Theory of Everything. You will then learn about contemporary philosophical comments on this quest. This includes (science) philosophers such as Thomas Kuhn, Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl.

Join this course and think further about the main contemporary currents in theoretical physics and the philosophy of science.

Programme

1. The great theories of physics: What are the great theories of physics today and what are the physical issues involved?
2. Physics and philosophy: Where is the transition from physical questions to philosophical questions? When is something a theory of everything?
3. The theory of everything: understanding and explaining: What are we trying to understand about the world with a theory of everything? What does the theory of everything provide in terms of knowledge
4. The failure of the search for a theory of everything: What is the crisis in the search for the theory of everything and what philosophical questions does it raise? 
5. Scientific progress: What is the idea of scientific progress and how is it related to the crisis in theoretical physics?

6. Towards new frames of mind in (natural) science: Is it a problem if physics is disconnected from empiricism? How do we get out of the crisis?

Teachers

Margreet de Zeeuw is an economist and philosopher and course leader. She is doing her PhD at Radboud University on the crisis in physics. She wonders if it is time for a new philosophical foundation in physics.

Béatrice Bonga is university lecturer in High Energy Physics and does research in theoretical physics. In particular, I focus on foundational questions in general relativity and predictions for future gravitational-wave observatories such as the Einstein Telescope and LISA.

Christoph Lüthy is Professor of History of Philosophy and Science at Radboud University. He is interested in the origins of the modern sciences since the Renaissance, in the development of theories of matter and time, the imagination of scientific knowledge, and the mind-body problem in the context of Darwin's theory of evolution.

Robin Rietman studied Philosophy and Physics at Radboud University. She wrote her master's thesis philosophy ‘Theories of Everything: a Critical Analysis of the Concept as Used by Physicists’ under the supervision of Henk de Regt and Christoph Lüthy. During her masters in physics, she focused on particle physics and dark matter.

Marc Slors is professor of Cognitive Philosophy at Radboud University. Cognitive philosophy deals with the human “mind” and its relationship to the brain and behavior. His research focuses on the relationship between cognition and culture. His previous work has focused on the philosophy of neuroscience, free will, social cognition and the self.

Henk de Regt is professor of Philosophy of Natural Sciences at Radboud University. A central theme in De Regt's work is scientific understanding. His latest book, Understanding Scientific Understanding, recently won him the prestigious Lakatos Award.

Tim Miechels is a PhD candidate in Metaphysics and Philosophical Anthropology at Radboud University. As a philosopher, he is primarily interested in the relationship between philosophy and science.

Nina Poth is university lecturer in Philosophy of cognition and language at Radboud University. Her research cuts across philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of mind and epistemology. She is specifically interested in understanding learning, reasoning, and rationality in human, non-human, and artificial systems.