大象传媒

Abstract: The empirical undetectability of absolute motion has proved to be a deep issue in the philosophy of physics. It lay at the heart of the debate between Newton and Leibniz over the metaphysical status of space, and went on to play a key role in motivating Einstein鈥檚 search for the theories of relativity. Remarkably, however, it has gone largely unrecognized that if space were described by one of the classical non-Euclidean geometries, absolute motion would in fact be detectable. In Euclidean space, force-free objects that are initially moving in the same direction remain the same distance apart. In a non-Euclidean space, by contrast, such objects either approach or diverge from one another. Furthermore, it is the systematic nature of this effect that leads to the possibility of detecting absolute motion.

It is highly surprising that this possibility of detecting absolute motion went unnoticed in the nineteenth century, when non-Euclidean geometry was a central object of study. It is also striking that this feature of non-Euclidean geometry remains largely unexplored today. In this talk, I will assess why the possibility of detecting absolute motion has been largely out of view, and argue that this has impacted all of the major positions in the philosophy of geometry.

Abstract: In this talk, I will develop what I take to be the teleological structure of emancipation. In contrast to accounts of emancipation that primarily take the concept to refer solely to the negation of a form of domination, I will argue that emancipation necessarily posits some practical end as a condition of its intelligibility. Taking the works of Frederick Douglass and Karl Marx as two exemplars, I will show that emancipation necessarily concerns the production of a new form of society and not just the negation of the old. To develop this insight I defend three claims: 1) social form is the highest expression of emancipation; 2) social forms have a teleological structure; and 3) this teleological structure conditions the ends of our practices and relations. Emancipation is nothing less than the invention of a new teleological structure of the social practices and social relations that comprise a form of social life.

Abstract: According to the individualistic approach to public trust in science, it is primarily individuals who trust (or mistrust) science, while communities trust science only in a derivative sense. In this talk, I argue that the individualistic approach faces several serious challenges and should be rejected in favour of a communitarian approach. On the communitarian approach, it is primarily communities, rather than individuals, that trust science, while individuals trust science only in a derivative sense. The talk distinguishes three senses in which communities can be taken to be the primary trustors, and then outlines my preferred communitarian account of public trust in science鈥攖he infrastructural account.