PhD and PostDoc in Philosophy of Physics, U. Geneva (funded)

bnt

These came to my attention today: applications welcomed for both fully-funded positions by March 2023. Both are "within Dr. Baptiste Le Bihan’s SNSF Starting Grant project Space, Time and Causation in Quantum Gravity. The project will be housed at the Geneva Symmetry Group, which is part of the Department of Philosophy of the University of Geneva (https://genevasymmetrygroup.wordpress.com/)." About the project:

Does space exist over and above the objects around us? How does time differ from space? Recent scientific advances herald nothing less than a conceptual revolution regarding those questions with the stunning idea that space and time are not, fundamentally, real. This revolution comes from quantum gravity, a network of research programs in theoretical physics that aim at developing a novel and more explanatory framework for weaving together the knowledge from our current best and most fundamental physical theories: the general theory of relativity and quantum physics. Many approaches to quantum gravity imply that some properties usually considered as the hallmarks of space and time, such as spatial distances or temporal order, do not exist fundamentally and emerge from a more fundamental non-spatiotemporal structure. However, to fully understand the emergence of space and time and its philosophical implications, we must also account for the causal relations that seem to structure the natural world, and enable human beings to interact causally with their environment. Indeed, the non-fundamentality of space and time seems to stand in the way of a straightforward analysis of causal relations in terms of causes and effects, located in space and time in temporal sequences. This raises the question of how to reconceptualize causation in a non-spatiotemporal world. The project aims at articulating and evaluating various conceptions of causation compatible with a fundamentally non-spatiotemporal world.

• PhD details
• PostDoc details