International Summer Institute in Philosophy of Physics on the PHILOSOPHY OF COSMOLOGY and the PHILOSOPHY OF QUANTUM GRAVITY

Hosted by the University of Geneva – University of Illinois Chicago Cosmology Beyond Spacetime project

Hôtel Le Crêt, Morzine, France
26 June – 1 July 2022

In recent years, the philosophy of quantum gravity and the philosophy of cosmology have emerged as new fields in their own right, with several summer schools dedicated to each. However, they remain largely unconnected, even though their intersection promises new scientific insights of great significance to philosophical question and the advancement of physics. This Summer Institute proposes to address conceptual, metaphysical, and epistemological implications of big bang, black hole, and multiverse models in quantum gravity: the fundamental nature of space and time, especially the beginning of spacetime, ‘before’ time or ‘outside’ space; the multiverse; the nature of physical law; and how we might have knowledge of such things.

Faculty:

• Karen Crowther (Oslo)
• Nick Huggett (UIC)
• Mairi Sakellariadou (King’s College London)
• Chris Smeenk (Western)
• Francesca Vidotto (Western)
• David Wallace (Pittsburgh)
• Christian Wüthrich (Geneva)

Organizing Committee:

Nick Huggett (UIC)
Mike Schneider (UIC)
Gaia Valenti (Geneva)
Christian Wüthrich (Geneva)

Participants:

• Emily Adlam
• Bruno Arderucio Costa
• Catherine Ashworth
• Ali Barzegar
• Cecilia Bejarano
• David Builes
• Eugene Chua
• Enrico Cinti
• Siska de Baerdemaeker
• Saakshi Dulani
• Cheng Foo
• Guilherme Franzmann
• David Garcia
• Luca Gasparinetti
• Daniel Grimmer
• Rasmus Jaksland
• Lucy James
• Viktoria Kabel
• Cristian López
• Joanna Luc
• Yichen Luo
• Emilia Margoni
• Paul McKarris
• Álvaro Mozota Frauca
• Mateo Pascual
• Ray Pedersen
• Marta Pedroni
• Dominic Ryder
• Farshid Soltani
• Diana Taschetto
• Charlotte Zito

The Organizing Committee thanks the John Templeton Foundation for its support of the Summer Institute.