The Uses of Infinity: A Philosopher Looks at Emergent Phenomena in Physics

Synopsis: Audio recording of the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Prize Lecture given by philosopher Dr Jeremy Butterfield on emergent phenomena at the Royal Society on 7/11/2007. Emergence, and its contrary reduction, are buzz-words in both physics and philosophy. Both physicists and philosophers disagree about the extent to which we can understand large-scale or complex phenomena in terms of their microscopic parts. Examples include both everyday phenomena like the freezing and boiling of liquids, and fancy ideas like fractals. In this talk, Jeremy Butterfield pours some oil on these troubled waters. First, he adopts the philosopher’s usual tactic of distinguishing different senses of the contentious terms. Then he uses examples such as freezing and fractals to describe how we understand emergent phenomena by appealing to various kinds of infinity.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2007
Year of production: 2007
Subjects: Philosophy; Physics; Science
Keywords: infinity; philosophy of science

URI: http://royalsociety.tv/dpx_royalsociety/dpx.php?dpxuser=dpx_v12&pres=37&cmd=autoplay&type=autofocus&sstart=&tstart=
Price: free
Delivery: Streamed

Name: Royal Society: Royalsociety.tv
Email: http://royalsociety.org/contact-us/?from=header
Web: http://royalsociety.org/ External site opens in new window
Phone: 020 7451 2500
Address: 6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London
SW1Y 5AG
Notes: Royalsociety.tv offers live webcasts as well as podcasts and free, on-demand streaming of video and audio recordings of events held at the Royal Society. Lectures and discussions feature leading scientists and cover history of science as well as exploring cutting-edge science and culture.

This record has been viewed 511 times.