3.-6. Oktober 2006, Wildbad Kreuth, Germany
Organizers: Prof. Albrecht von Müller, Prof. (apl.). Thomas Filk
Is the “present” the “platform of existence” or only a “sticky illusion”? The controversy lasts from ancient Greek philosophy until today. The present has always been related to our conscious sensation of the world, but what is its role beyond subjective experience? While eliminated almost completely in the theory of relativity, the present seems to emerge again in quantum theory: the reduction of states - the transition from potentialities to facts – relates to a present. In cognitive sciences, an “extended present” is almost a paradigm, but in physics and philosophy the present has often been treated as the “infinitesimal” boundary between future and past.
Parmenides Workshop 14 brought together experts from those fields which in the past have contributed most to the discussion and our understanding of the present. The concern is not so much “time in general”, but “theories, concepts, views, and perspectives of the present”.
- Michael Drieschner, Ruhr-University Bochum
Philosophy of science - Thomas Filk, University of Freiburg, Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking, Munich
Theoretical physics - Domenico Giulini, University of Freiburg
Theory of general relativity - Erich Joos, University of Hamburg
Quantum mechanics and decoherence - Frigyes Karolyhazy, University of Budapest
Theoretical physics
- Claus Kiefer, University of Cologne
Quantum gravitation - Albrecht von Müller, Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking, Munich
Philosophy - T.P. Singh, Tata Institute, Bombay
Quantum gravitation - Eörs Szathmáry, Collegium Budapest
Evolutionary biology
- Michael Drieschner: The role of probability in quantum mechanics
- Thomas Filk: The extended present in quantum mechanics
- Domenico Giulini: Fixing an inertial system
- Erich Joos: Decoherence and the transition from quantum physics to classical physics
- Frigyes Karolyhazy: Superposition in quantum mechanics and gravity induced reduction of the wave function
- Claus Kiefer: Conceptual issues in the Wheeler-DeWitt approach to quantum gravity
- Albrecht von Müller: The extended present as part of the categorical E-scheme
- T.P. Singh: Quantum mechanics without space-time: a case for noncommutative geometry
- Eörs Szathmáry: Evolutionary Remarks
