Philosophy of Physics?

[Kapol-in]

I am wondering if you all already know some good philosophy of physics programs in the United States before I start my own grand research perhaps? Really appreciate it.

[SocialKonstruct]

2 minutes ago, Kapol-in said:

I am wondering if you all already know some good philosophy of physics programs in the United States before I start my own grand research perhaps? Really appreciate it.

University of Utah philosophy department is 90% focused on the philosophy of science, such as physics.

[UndergradDad]

University of Pittsburgh

[UndergradDad]

Also Carnegie Mellon, and guessing MIT although I havent checked that out.

[Kapol-in]

13 hours ago, SocialKonstruct said:

University of Utah philosophy department is 90% focused on the philosophy of science, such as physics.

Haha I actually go here already, the whole "don't do your post-graduate program in the same state you did your undergrad" is a bit offputting is all.

[Kapol-in]

3 hours ago, UndergradDad said:

University of Pittsburgh

 

3 hours ago, UndergradDad said:

Also Carnegie Mellon, and guessing MIT although I havent checked that out.

Thank you!

[wwfrd]

UC Irvine LPS, NYU, and Michigan probably have the best philosophy of physics in the US- Jeffrey Barrett is at Irvine, NYU has Tim Maudlin and others, Michigan has several philosophers working in the area. Otherwise, Columbia has David Albert, who’s awesome, and runs their phil. of physics master’s program. Pitt HPS got David Wallace from USC recently, putting them up their with best programs in the US for phil. of physics.

If one is interested in programs that might be a little less selective, I would put Minnesota and Maryland on the list. Not in the US, but the University of Western Ontario would also be a good choice.

Utah is mentioned above, but although they have tons of philosophers of science, I don’t think they have anybody doing philosophy of physics specifically.

Check out the philosophical gourmet for specific rankings, too!

[Kapol-in]

4 hours ago, wwfrd said:

UC Irvine LPS, NYU, and Michigan probably have the best philosophy of physics in the US- Jeffrey Barrett is at Irvine, NYU has Tim Maudlin and others, Michigan has several philosophers working in the area. Otherwise, Columbia has David Albert, who’s awesome, and runs their phil. of physics master’s program. Pitt HPS got David Wallace from USC recently, putting them up their with best programs in the US for phil. of physics.

If one is interested in programs that might be a little less selective, I would put Minnesota and Maryland on the list. Not in the US, but the University of Western Ontario would also be a good choice.

Utah is mentioned above, but although they have tons of philosophers of science, I don’t think they have anybody doing philosophy of physics specifically.

Check out the philosophical gourmet for specific rankings, too!

Thank you for this great info!

[Marcus_Aurelius]

Rutgers has Jill North and Barry Loewer and is generally strong in metaphysics.

[CinciGrad]

I doubt we would be a great first choice, but University of Cincinnati recently hired Melissa Jacquart (Western) who does philosophy of physics, especially astrophysics, and her partner also sometimes teaches grad courses in the department, Lucas Dunlap (Maryland) does philosophy of physics, especially quantum mechanics. We are also a pretty phil science heavy department, but mostly cog sci and biology. We do have students getting masters degrees in their science fields though, if you are interested in doing empirically-informed philosophy of science. I have not heard anyone doing physics yet, but we have had people do psychology, geology, biology, and mathematics. If that's enough, we might be a fun maybe school. Good luck!

 

[ShadyCarnot]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:03 PM, wwfrd said:

UC Irvine LPS, NYU, and Michigan probably have the best philosophy of physics in the US- Jeffrey Barrett is at Irvine, NYU has Tim Maudlin and others, Michigan has several philosophers working in the area. Otherwise, Columbia has David Albert, who’s awesome, and runs their phil. of physics master’s program. Pitt HPS got David Wallace from USC recently, putting them up their with best programs in the US for phil. of physics.

If one is interested in programs that might be a little less selective, I would put Minnesota and Maryland on the list. Not in the US, but the University of Western Ontario would also be a good choice.

Utah is mentioned above, but although they have tons of philosophers of science, I don’t think they have anybody doing philosophy of physics specifically.

Check out the philosophical gourmet for specific rankings, too!

These are great suggestions. I know most places are done accepting applications, but here are a few additional comments for posterity.

UC Irvine LPS has JB Manchak if you're into GR and Jim Weatherall if you're into cosmology or QM. Pitt HPS also has John Norton and Marion Gilton, as well as Mark Wilson and Robert Batterman over in the Phil department. Columbia has Jennan Ismael. Rutgers (Barry Loewer) could be another (very selective) place to look, as well as Princeton (Hans Halvorson), and UCSD (Craig Callendar, Kerry McKenzie, Eddie Kemming-Chen).

Less selective places I would check out include UC Davis (Alyssa Ney), Arizona (Richard Healey), and UCSB (Tom Barrett). I would not recommend Utah as they are fairly explicitly focused on Phil Bio (which they are great at). Cincinnati also seems more focused on the life/brain sciences. Somebody above mentioned MIT and CMU which I would also not recommend (at least for phil physics).

Edited January 6, 2021 by ShadyCarnot