“Interpreting Toy Theories, With an Application to Symmetries”
David Baker – University of Michigan
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
1:00pm–3:00pm (East Coast time)
[Registration Form] (Abstract and Video Below)
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Abstract
I define ‘toy theories’ as theories whose laws do not permit the existence of observers. In scientific practice, such theories are often treated as if they have a clear physical interpretation, but on standard philosophical accounts of the methodology of interpretation, it isn't obvious how this is possible. I discern three different senses in which a toy theory could possess a meaningful interpretation, and apply this taxonomy to resolve a disagreement between Gordon Belot and David Wallace on the interpretation of symmetries in toy theories.