83 - Barry Loewer: Probability, Laws of Nature, and Statistical Mechanics

Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford (!). Barry works largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and metaphysics, and is a good friend of and frequent collaborator with another denizen of the Robinson’s Podcast universe, David Albert. It is their joint work on the “Mentaculus,” something approximating a “probability map of the universe,” that occupies much of the discussion in this episode. Robinson and Barry also talk about statistical mechanics and his upcoming book, What Breathes Fire into the Equations (Oxford University Press, to be released fall 2023 or early 2024), which is about laws, chances, and fundamental ontology. Check out Barry’s book on David: Essays on David Albert’s Time and Chance.

Background on Counterfactuals: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/counterfactuals/

Background on Statistical Mechanics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/statphys-statmech/

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:29 Introduction

06:21 Barry‘s Road to the Philosophy of Physics

28:37 Fire in the Equations

43:16 Conditional Probability

54:11 Non-Humean and Humean Accounts of Laws

01:06:44 Probability

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.