Robinson’s Podcast #76 - Nora Boyd, Siska de Baerdemaeker, & Vera Matarese: The Philosophy of Astrophysics

Nora Boyd is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Siena College. Siska de Baerdemaeker is a Researcher at Stockholm University. Vera Matarese is Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Science at the University of Perugia. Both Nora and Siska received their PhDs in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh, while Vera received hers in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Hong Kong. Along with Kevin Heng, Chair Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (and guest on episode #56), they are the editors of Philosophy of Astrophysics—an anthology on the philosophy of the same and the first of its kind—which will be released open access in early June 2023 (link below). In this episode, Nora, Siska, Vera, and Robinson discuss the origins of the project, as well as many of the topics it covers, such as black holes, dark matter, and whether astrophysics should even be considered a science at all.

The Anthology: https://link.springer.com/book/9783031266171

Nora Boyd: https://facultyweb.siena.edu/~nboyd/

Siska de Baerdemaeker: https://www.siskadebaerdemaeker.com

Vera Matarese: https://sites.google.com/view/veramatarese/home

OUTLINE: 

00:00 In This Episode…

00:54 Introduction

7:10 What is Astrophysics?

14:24 What Is the Philosophy of Astrophysics?

25:26 Is Astrophysics Science?

38:29 Astrophysical Models and the Tribunal of Experience

45:33 Data and Theory

1:01:32 Astrophysical Simulations

1:14:17 Fictional Objects 

1:20:00 Black Holes and Dark Matter

1:28:01 Processes and Pseudoprocesses

1:34:08 Time

1:47:20 Ethical Issues

1:42:06 Evidence, Theory, and Cold Dark Matter

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.