Thursday, February 24, 2022, 16:00
online only
(for the zoom link contact michael.spira@psi.ch, johannes.schlenk@psi.ch or
antonio.coutinho@psi.ch)
Claus Beisbart, University of Bern
Abstract:
In a recent book, physicist Sabine Hossenfelder has argued that
fundamental physics has been led astray by its quest for beauty. Her
main objection is that much theoretical physics in this area has reached
an impasse because the development of theories is guided by
considerations of symmetry or naturalness alone. Hossenfelder's claims
raise a number of philosophical issues about beauty and its role in
science. In this talk, I take her book as an opportunity to offer
reflections on these issues. Against the backdrop of quotations in which
scientists praise the beauty of their findings, I raise two questions:
What is meant by beauty? And what role can beauty legitimately play in
science? The second question is a tricky one because, as suggested by
Hossenfelder, beauty may conflict with those standards that are
constitutive of science, in particular truth and empirical adequacy. I
explore several strategies that allow considerations of beauty to play a
role in scientific inquiry. For instance, beauty may be claimed to be
indicative of truth, it may qualify as a tie breaker in cases of
underdetermination, or it may be connected to pragmatic virtues. I
conclude that appeal to reasons of beauty can be legitimate in
scientific inquiry, but that we face an uphill struggle if we want to
claim that beauty is a reason for taking a hypothesis true.