Would Schwarzschild have predicted black holes?

Background For people interested in physics, astronomy and/or science fiction K. Schwarzschild is a revered name: it is the name of the mathematical physicist who first published (in January 1916) a static solution in vacuum and in spherical symmetry to Einstein's equations of General Relativity (GR), which had just been published in late 1915. Ok. …

Is hypothesis testing logically fallacious?

Edit: Un updated version of the manuscript is available at the following link https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.13241.pdf In a paper just published in Philosophies Dr Matthew Booth and myself discuss in what sense traditional (i.e. frequentist) hypothesis testing leads to fallacious conclusions. By identifying the logical skeleton of the argument as an instance of Modus Tollens (e.g. "If …

Is Quantum Mechanics “Crazy enough”?

A bit of context Quantum Mechanics alongside the General theory of Relativity are theories developed in the first half of the 20th century that have shattered both common sense conceptions of the world and more technical "laws of Nature" that scientists of the time (and to some extent of today) were holding as unquestionable truths. …

Why I like to prepare and deliver public lectures

There is something particular with public lectures: they are meant to convey, in an hour or so, some --- allegedly technical --- message to a wilfully listening non-expert audience by precisely avoiding as much as possible any reference to esoteric concepts and jargon. Such an undertaking appears at first sight to be quite impossible. After …

Does philosophy contribute to the physical sciences?

Disclaimer: this is a short reflexion that I have tried to put under 1000 words. The subject is vast and this post should be understood as a synopsis introducing more detailed future reflexions on important sub-questions involving the intricate relationship between science and philosophy. I was asked recently to tell in which way philosophy contributed …