43 found
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  1. Against Field Interpretations of Quantum Field Theory.David John Baker - 2009 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 60 (3):585-609.
    I examine some problems standing in the way of a successful `field interpretation' of quantum field theory. The most popular extant proposal depends on the Hilbert space of `wavefunctionals.' But since wavefunctional space is unitarily equivalent to many-particle Fock space, two of the most powerful arguments against particle interpretations also undermine this form of field interpretation. IntroductionField Interpretations and Field OperatorsThe Wavefunctional InterpretationFields and Inequivalent Representations 4.1. The Rindler representation 4.2. Spontaneous symmetry breaking 4.3. Coherent representations The Fate of Fields (...)
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  2. Some Consequences of Physics for the Comparative Metaphysics of Quantity.David John Baker - 2020 - In Karen Bennett & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics Volume 12. Oxford University Press. pp. 75-112.
    According to comparativist theories of quantities, their intrinsic values are not fundamental. Instead, all the quantity facts are grounded in scale-independent relations like "twice as massive as" or "more massive than." I show that this sort of scale independence is best understood as a sort of metaphysical symmetry--a principle about which transformations of the non-fundamental ontology leave the fundamental ontology unchanged. Determinism--a core scientific concept easily formulated in absolutist terms--is more difficult for the comparativist to define. After settling on the (...)
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  3. Symmetry and the Metaphysics of Physics.David John Baker - 2010 - Philosophy Compass 5 (12):1157-1166.
    The widely held picture of dynamical symmetry as surplus structure in a physical theory has many metaphysical applications. Here, I focus on its relevance to the question of which quantities in a theory represent fundamental natural properties.
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  4. On Spacetime Functionalism.David John Baker - manuscript
    Eleanor Knox has argued that our concept of spacetime applies to whichever structure plays a certain functional role in the laws (the role of determining local inertial structure). I raise two complications for this approach. First, our spacetime concept seems to have the structure of a cluster concept, which means that Knox's inertial criteria for spacetime cannot succeed with complete generality. Second, the notion of metaphysical fundamentality may feature in the spacetime concept, in which case spacetime functionalism may be uninformative (...)
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  5.  54
    (1 other version)Measurement outcomes and probability in Everettian quantum mechanics.David J. Baker - 2007 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 38 (1):153-169.
    The decision-theoretic account of probability in the Everett or many-worlds interpretation, advanced by David Deutsch and David Wallace, is shown to be circular. Talk of probability in Everett presumes the existence of a preferred basis to identify measurement outcomes for the probabilities to range over. But the existence of a preferred basis can only be established by the process of decoherence, which is itself probabilistic.
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  6. Antimatter.David John Baker & Hans Halvorson - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (1):93-121.
    The nature of antimatter is examined in the context of algebraic quantum field theory. It is shown that the notion of antimatter is more general than that of antiparticles. Properly speaking, then, antimatter is not matter made up of antiparticles—rather, antiparticles are particles made up of antimatter. We go on to discuss whether the notion of antimatter is itself completely general in quantum field theory. Does the matter–antimatter distinction apply to all field theoretic systems? The answer depends on which of (...)
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  7.  37
    Knox’s inertial spacetime functionalism.David John Baker - 2020 - Synthese 199 (S2):277-298.
    Eleanor Knox has argued that our concept of spacetime applies to whichever structure plays a certain functional role in the laws. I raise two objections to this inertial functionalism. First, it depends on a prior assumption about which coordinate systems defined in a theory are reference frames, and hence on assumptions about which geometric structures are spatiotemporal. This makes Knox’s account circular. Second, her account is vulnerable to several counterexamples, giving the wrong result when applied to topological quantum field theories (...)
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  8. Broken Symmetry and Spacetime.David John Baker - 2011 - Philosophy of Science 78 (1):128-148.
    The phenomenon of broken spacetime symmetry in the quantum theory of infinite systems forces us to adopt an unorthodox ontology. We must abandon the standard conception of the physical meaning of these symmetries, or else deny the attractive “liberal” notion of which physical quantities are significant. A third option, more attractive but less well understood, is to abandon the existing (Halvorson-Clifton) notion of intertranslatability for quantum theories.
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  9.  28
    (1 other version)1. Really Statistical Explanations and Genetic Drift Really Statistical Explanations and Genetic Drift (pp. 169-188).Marc Lange, Peter Vickers, John Michael, Miles MacLeod, Alexander R. Pruss, David John Baker, Clark Glymour & Simon Fitzpatrick - 2013 - Philosophy of Science 80 (2):169-188.
    Really statistical explanation is a hitherto neglected form of noncausal scientific explanation. Explanations in population biology that appeal to drift are RS explanations. An RS explanation supplies a kind of understanding that a causal explanation of the same result cannot supply. Roughly speaking, an RS explanation shows the result to be mere statistical fallout.
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  10. The Philosophy of Quantum Field Theory.David John Baker - unknown
    If we divide our physical theories into theories of matter and theories of spacetime, quantum field theory is our most fundamental empirically successful theory of matter. As such, it has attracted increasing attention from philosophers over the past two decades, beginning to eclipse its predecessor theory of quantum mechanics in the philosophical literature. Here I survey some central philosophical puzzles about the theory's foundations.
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  11. Does String Theory Posit Extended Simples?David John Baker - unknown
    It is sometimes claimed that string theory posits a fundamental ontology including extended mereological simples, either in the form of minimum-sized regions of space or of the strings themselves. But there is very little in the actual theory to support this claim, and much that suggests it is false. Extant string theories treat space as a continuum, and strings do not behave like simples.
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  12. Identity, Superselection Theory, and the Statistical Properties of Quantum Fields.David John Baker - 2013 - Philosophy of Science 80 (2):262-285.
    The permutation symmetry of quantum mechanics is widely thought to imply a sort of metaphysical underdetermination about the identity of particles. Despite claims to the contrary, this implication does not hold in the more fundamental quantum field theory, where an ontology of particles is not generally available. Although permutations are often defined as acting on particles, a more general account of permutation symmetry can be formulated using superselection theory. As a result, permutation symmetry applies even in field theories with no (...)
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  13. Spacetime Substantivalism and Einstein’s Cosmological Constant.David J. Baker - 2005 - Philosophy of Science 72 (5):1299-1311.
    I offer a novel argument for spacetime substantivalism: We should take the spacetime of general relativity to be a substance because of its active role in gravitational causation. As a clear example of this causal behavior I offer the cosmological constant, a term in the most general form of the Einstein field equations which causes free floating objects to accelerate apart. This acceleration cannot, I claim, be causally explained except by reference to spacetime itself.
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  14.  38
    Decoding emotions in expressive music performances: A multi-lab replication and extension study.Jessica Akkermans, Renee Schapiro, Daniel Müllensiefen, Kelly Jakubowski, Daniel Shanahan, David Baker, Veronika Busch, Kai Lothwesen, Paul Elvers, Timo Fischinger, Kathrin Schlemmer & Klaus Frieler - 2018 - Cognition and Emotion 33 (6):1099-1118.
    ABSTRACTWith over 560 citations reported on Google Scholar by April 2018, a publication by Juslin and Gabrielsson presented evidence supporting performers’ abilities to communicate, with hig...
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  15. The Conventionality of Parastatistics.David John Baker, Hans Halvorson & Noel Swanson - 2015 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (4):929-976.
    Nature seems to be such that we can describe it accurately with quantum theories of bosons and fermions alone, without resort to parastatistics. This has been seen as a deep mystery: paraparticles make perfect physical sense, so why don’t we see them in nature? We consider one potential answer: every paraparticle theory is physically equivalent to some theory of bosons or fermions, making the absence of paraparticles in our theories a matter of convention rather than a mysterious empirical discovery. We (...)
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  16. How is spontaneous symmetry breaking possible? Understanding Wigner's theorem in light of unitary inequivalence.David John Baker & Hans Halvorson - 2013 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (4):464-469.
    We pose and resolve a puzzle about spontaneous symmetry breaking in the quantum theory of infinite systems. For a symmetry to be spontaneously broken, it must not be implementable by a unitary operator in a ground state's GNS representation. But Wigner's theorem guarantees that any symmetry's action on states is given by a unitary operator. How can this unitary operator fail to implement the symmetry in the GNS representation? We show how it is possible for a unitary operator of this (...)
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  17.  40
    The Epiphenomena Argument for Symmetry-to-Reality Inference.David John Baker - unknown
    A new argument is given for the thesis that only symmetry-invariant physical quantities are real. Non-invariant quantities are dynamically epiphenomenal in that they have no effect on the evolution of invariant quantities, and it is a significant theoretical vice to posit epiphenomenal quantities.
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  18.  61
    What Are Symmetries?David John Baker - 2022 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 9.
    I advance a stipulational account of symmetry-to-reality inference, according to which symmetries are part of the content of theories. For a theory to have a certain symmetry is for the theory to stipulate that models related by the symmetry represent the same possibility. I show that the stipulational account compares positively with alternatives, including Dasgupta’s epistemic account of symmetry, Møller-Nielsen’s motivational account, and so-called formal and ontic accounts. In particular, the stipulational account avoids the problems Belot and Dasgupta have raised (...)
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  19.  21
    Comparativism with Mixed Relations.David John Baker - unknown
    Comparativism--the view that comparative relations like mass ratios are fundamental and intrinsic values of quantities are not--faces a challenge from physics. In its standard form, comparativism predicts indeterminism in physical theories that are ordinarily understood as deterministic. I explore an option for saving comparativism from this objection: the introduction of "mixed" relations that compare values of unlike quantities. Although tenable, this revised version of comparativism lacks some of the theoretical virtues of the standard version.
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  20.  95
    Interpreting Supersymmetry.David John Baker - 2020 - Erkenntnis 87 (5):2375-2396.
    Supersymmetry in quantum physics is a mathematically simple phenomenon that raises deep foundational questions. To motivate these questions, I present a toy model, the supersymmetric harmonic oscillator, and its superspace representation, which adds extra anticommuting dimensions to spacetime. I then explain and comment on three foundational questions about this superspace formalism: whether superspace is a substance, whether it should count as spatiotemporal, and whether it is a necessary postulate if one wants to use the theory to unify bosons and fermions.
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  21.  37
    Understanding the association between maternal education and use of health services in Ghana: Exploring the role of health knowledge.Emily Smith Greenaway, Juan Leon & David P. Baker - 2012 - Journal of Biosocial Science 44 (6):733-747.
    SummaryThis paper examines the role of health knowledge in the association between mothers' education and use of maternal and child health services in Ghana. The study uses data from a nationally representative sample of female respondents to the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Ordered probit regression models evaluate whether women's health knowledge helps to explain use of three specific maternal and child health services: antenatal care, giving birth with the supervision of a trained professional and complete child vaccination. The (...)
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  22.  19
    University vs. Research Institute? The Dual Pillars of German Science Production, 1950–2010.Jennifer Dusdal, Justin J. W. Powell, David P. Baker, Yuan Chih Fu, Yahya Shamekhi & Manfred Stock - 2020 - Minerva 58 (3):319-342.
    The world’s third largest producer of scientific research, Germany, is the origin of the research university and the independent, extra-university research institute. Its dual-pillar research policy differentiates these organizational forms functionally: universities specialize in advanced research-based teaching; institutes specialize intensely on research. Over the past decades this policy affected each sector differently: while universities suffered a lingering “legitimation crisis,” institutes enjoyed deepening “favored sponsorship”—financial and reputational advantages. Universities led the nation’s reestablishment of scientific prominence among the highly competitive European and (...)
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  23.  51
    Using a Faculty Survey to Kick-Start an Ethics Curriculum Upgrade.Montgomery Van Wart, David Baker & Anna Ni - 2014 - Journal of Business Ethics 122 (4):571-585.
    The article briefly reviews the external pressures for teaching business ethics. It then summarizes why teaching business ethics across the curriculum is essentially a necessity in the current environment. This leads to a discussion of six commonly adopted elements used when seeking to improve a business ethics curriculum. The case study uses these six elements to provide insights into contemporary challenges facing many business schools. The particular contribution of this article is in the area of methods to assess the status (...)
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  24. Author Meets Critics: Jill North, Physics, Structure, and Reality.David John Baker, Wayne Myrvold, Jill North & Laura Ruetsche - manuscript
    Comments and replies from the 2021 Eastern APA book symposium on Jill North's Physics, Structure, and Reality.
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  25. Sider on Determinism in Absolutist Theories of Quantity.David John Baker - manuscript
    Ted Sider has shown that my indeterminism argument for comparativist theories of quantity also applies to Mundy's absolutist theory. This is because Mundy's theory posits only "pure" relations, i.e. relations between values of the same quantity (between masses and other masses, or distances and other distances). It is straightforward to solve the problem by positing additional mixed relations.
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  26.  17
    Gender stratification in the science pipeline: A comparative analysis of seven countries.David P. Baker, Maryellen Schaub & Sandra L. Hanson - 1996 - Gender and Society 10 (3):271-290.
    This study uses a “science pipeline” model and cross-national data to examine women's participation in science education and occupations in seven countries. Gender stratification in later science education and in science occupations is found in every country examined. Young women's participation in science education decreases with each stage in the science pipeline, but there is considerable cross-national variation in the extent of gender stratification in science. Findings show greater gender stratification in science occupations than in science education, suggesting factors other (...)
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  27. Teaching & Researching Big History: Exploring a New Scholarly Field.Leonid Grinin, David Baker, Esther Quaedackers & Andrey Korotayev - 2014 - Volgograd: "Uchitel" Publishing House.
    According to the working definition of the International Big History Association, ‘Big History seeks to understand the integrated history of the Cosmos, Earth, Life and Humanity, using the best available empirical evidence and scholarly methods’. In recent years Big History has been developing very fast indeed. Big History courses are taught in the schools and universities of several dozen countries. Hundreds of researchers are involved in studying and teaching Big History. The unique approach of Big History, the interdisciplinary genre of (...)
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  28.  22
    Ea and Knowing in Hawai'i.David J. Baker - 1997 - Critical Inquiry 23 (3):640-659.
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  29.  30
    Encoding Categorical and Coordinate Spatial Relations Without Input‐Output Correlations: New Simulation Models.David P. Baker, Christopher F. Chabris & Stephen M. Kosslyn - 1999 - Cognitive Science 23 (1):33-51.
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  30.  8
    Editorial Letter.David Weil Baker - 2003 - Moreana 40 (3):2-3.
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  31.  15
    First Among Equals: The Utopian Princeps.David Baker - 1993 - Moreana 30 (Number 115-30 (3-4):33-45.
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  32.  42
    Gauging What's Real: The Conceptual Foundations of Gauge Theories, by Richard Healey.David John Baker - 2010 - Mind 119 (474):490-494.
  33.  24
    Perception of Leitmotives in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.David J. Baker & Daniel Müllensiefen - 2017 - Frontiers in Psychology 8.
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  34. Tight Fists or Open Hands: Wealth and Poverty in Old Testament Law.David L. Baker - 2009
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  35.  30
    The great antagonism that never was: unexpected affinities between religion and education in post-secular society.David Baker - 2019 - Theory and Society 48 (1):39-65.
    A persistent sociological thesis posits that the spread of formal education causes an inevitable decline in religion as a social institution and diminishes adherence to religious beliefs in postindustrial society. Now that worldwide advanced education is a central agent in developing and disseminating Western rationality emphasizing science as the ultimate truth claim about a humanly constructed society and the natural world this seems an ever more relevant thesis. Yet in the face of a robust “education revolution,” religion and spirituality endure, (...)
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  36.  32
    Understanding Musical Understanding: The Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology of the Musical Experience (review).David Baker - 2010 - Philosophy of Music Education Review 18 (2):204-208.
    In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Understanding Musical Understanding: The Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology of the Musical ExperienceDavid BakerHarold E. Fiske, Understanding Musical Understanding: The Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology of the Musical Experience. (Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008).Building on several earlier publications on music and the mind (1990, 1993, 1996, 2004), Harold Fiske offers Understanding Musical Understanding. This is a well-referenced piece that outlines the thinking of various authors (for example, Crowder, (...)
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  37.  20
    Neural Network Models as Evidence for Different Types of Visual Representations.Stephen M. Kosslyn, Christopher F. Chabris & David P. Baker - 1995 - Cognitive Science 19 (4):575-579.
    Cook (1995) criticizes the work of Jacobs and Kosslyn (1994) on spatial relations, shape representations, and receptive fields in neural network models on the grounds that first‐order correlations between input and output unit activities can explain the results. We reply briefly to Cook's arguments here (and in Kosslyn, Chabris, Marsolek, Jacobs & Koenig, 1995) and discuss how new simulations can confirm the importance of receptive field size as a crucial variable in the encoding of categorical and coordinate spatial relations and (...)
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  38.  24
    Windows into Old Testament History: Evidence Argument and the Crisis of "Biblical Israel.".Niels Peter Lemche, V. Philip Long, David W. Baker & Gordon J. Wenham - 2003 - Journal of the American Oriental Society 123 (2):386.
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  39.  36
    Frank Arntzenius, Space, Time, and Stuff. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 320 pp., $49.50. [REVIEW]David John Baker - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (1):171-174.
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  40.  27
    Abelson, Harold, and Gerald J. Sussman. The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Pro-grams. Cambridge, MA, 1985. Adams, John, and Katie Schmuecker, eds. Devolution in Practice 2006. London, 2005. Adams, John, and Peter Robinson, eds. Devolution in Practice: Public Policy Differences within the UK. London, 2002. [REVIEW]Karl-Otto Apel, Jack Ayres, David Baker & David Seawright - 2013 - In Christian Emden & David R. Midgley (eds.), Beyond Habermas: democracy, knowledge, and the public sphere. New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 205.
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  41.  72
    Review: Frank Arntzenius: Space, Time, and Stuff. [REVIEW]David John Baker - 2013 - Philosophical Explorations.
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  42.  61
    Review of David Albert, After Physics. [REVIEW]David John Baker - unknown
  43.  44
    Review of Richard Healey, gauging what's real. [REVIEW]David John Baker - unknown
    Review of Richard Healey's 2008 book. To appear in MIND.
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