Periodic Reporting for period 3 - FraMEPhys (A Framework for Metaphysical Explanation in Physics) Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-06-30 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project The aim of FraMEPhys is to explore the varieties of explanation that are involved in our best physical theories and in particular to understand the role in physics of metaphysical explanation, understood as any dependence between aspects of reality that goes beyond classical cause and effect. Explanations involving the geometry of spacetime, quantum entanglement, and closed timelike curves will be the focus of project case studies during 2020-2022. The approach taken is to integrate recent progress in metaphysics, philosophy of science and philosophy of physics.The FraMEPhys project team is investigating the features that are had in common by the forms of explanation that feature in our most abstract and fundamental physical theories and by the ‘grounding’ explanations more usually studied in contemporary metaphysics. These distinctive metaphysical explanations include the way in which the temperature of a gas depends on the motion of its molecules, the way in which the solidity of a table depends on the chemical bonding forces holding it together, and the way in which life depends on organised self-sustaining metabolic processes.The new general framework developed by FraMEPhys will enable greater understanding of such explanations in physics, generalising approaches that have been employed successfully in recent empirical science for modelling more familiar causal explanations. The new framework will then be applied to three challenging cases of explanation in the philosophy of physics – entanglement between quantum particles, the geometry of spacetime, and time travel around causal loops. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far FraMEPhys has made highly successful progress, with all key research goals on track for successful delivery and a number of unexpected research opportunities identified and capitalized upon. The project research group has been established with an exceptionally strong team of Research Fellows (Dr Katie Robertson and Dr Michael Townsen Hicks) and PhD Researchers (Ms Noelia Iranzo Ribera and Mr Nicholas Emmerson) as well as a research-active Project Administrator (Dr Francis Longworth). The second PhD researcher was able to be added to the initial project team thanks to favourable budgetary circumstances, and the project benefits from a number of experienced Research Associates, so the project research group has grown to be significantly larger and more active than originally anticipated.An intensive series of research events – reading groups, work in progress meetings, workshops and a major international conference – have been organized in Birmingham and elsewhere. Collaborations have been established with European research groups in metaphysics of science and with individual researchers from around the world, resulting in a FraMEPhys/Gothenburg Conference on Metaphysical Explanation in Science, a CPT/FraMEPhys Workshop on Time and Explanation in Milan, a FraMEPhys/MetaScience Workshop in Oxford, and a CFUL/FraMEPhys/MetaScience workshop in Lisbon. The project research has achieved a high international profile through these events, through a Presidential Address by the PI at the Society for the Metaphysics of Science Conference in Milan, through a public lecture on ‘Quantum Metaphysics’ by the PI at the Institute of Physics hosted by the University of Oxford, through over 100 presentations at research events by the project team, through a popular article by the PI which has been read by over one million members of the public, and through the wide-ranging published academic outputs.The primary outputs of the project have been peer-reviewed research articles in leading journals and in edited volumes in general philosophy and philosophy of science. Over the first 4.5 years of the project, a total of 19 peer-reviewed aarticles have been published or accepted for publication by the project team. These articles address a broad range of questions, including:- What different sorts of objective dependencies are there in nature, and how should they be distinguished? - Does doing physics, or understanding the results of doing physics, require us to reason about scenarios which are genuinely impossible?- What sorts of explanation can we give of the emergence of spacetime from a non-spatiotemporal fundamental reality in quantum gravity?- How can the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics help to explain the apparent fine-tuning of parameters in our best physical theories?- How does statistical mechanics explain the arrow of time?- Can we apply concepts from thermal physics to understand the dynamics of galaxies?- What is the real explanation of why entropy never decreases in closed systems?- Does the project of accounting for laws of nature as efficient summaries of events run into an explanatory circularity?- Must causation always occur locally rather than at a distance if science is to be possible?During the second half of the project, the team will continue to research in these areas and to disseminate this research. The main themes of the project will be tied together in the summative monograph authored by the PI, Metaphysical Explanation in Physics, which is currently in progress, and in an edited volume, Levels of Explanation, edited by the PI and by Katie Robertson. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) A number of new ideas are expected to come to fruition by the end of the FraMEPhys project. These include the development of:- New approaches to understanding non-causal dependence relations using structural-equations modelling.- New approaches to understanding the nature of metaphysical ground through analogy with interventionist theories of causation.- A new account of the relationship between chance, causal explanation and metaphysical explanation.- A new notion of interactive common ground, with application to the project case study of quantum entanglement explanations.- Progress in understanding causality and locality in the Everett interpretation of quantum theory.- Improved understanding of the explanatory structure of spacetime theories.- Improved understanding of explanations in closed-timelike-curve scenarios.The wider social implications of FraMEPhys are indirect, flowing from an improvement in our understanding of the role of philosophy – particularly metaphysics – in understanding our best physical theories and how they can explain the world around us. The results of the project will continue to be adapted and disseminated for wider audiences through the project blog, podcast and social media channels, through contributions by the project team to popular media and science communication, and through an artistic project in collaboration with artist Jean Baynham. FraMEPhys logo
