Monographs

Time and Again: On the Logical, Metaphysical, and Physical Possibility of Time Travel (working title)

This monograph is co-authored with J B Manchak and Chris Smeenk and is under contract with Oxford University Press. More information to follow soon.


Out of Nowhere: The Emergence of Spacetime in Quantum Theories of Gravity

This monograph is co-authored with Nick Huggett and is under contract with Oxford University Press. Go here for more information.


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Edited Volumes and Special Journal Issues

(6)
Special issue on Spacetime Functionalism (with Karen Crowther and Niels Linnemann)

Synthese 199/supplement 2 (2021). [Link to issue at journal website]


(5)
Philosophy Beyond Spacetime: Implications from Quantum Gravity (with Nick Huggett and Baptiste Le Bihan)

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2021). [Link to publisher website]


(4)
Thinking About Space and Time: 100 Years of Applying and Interpreting General Relativity (with Claus Beisbart and Tilman Sauer)

Einstein Studies. Basel: Birkhäuser (2020). [Link to publisher website]


(3)
Beyond Spacetime: the Foundations of Quantum Gravity (with Nick Huggett and Keizo Matsubara)

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2020). [Link to publisher website]


(2)
Metaphysics in Contemporary Physics (with Tomasz Bigaj)

Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities. Leiden: Brill (2016). [Link to publisher website]


(1)
Special issue on The emergence of spacetime in quantum theories of gravity (with Nick Huggett)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44/3 (2013). [Link to issue at journal website (scroll down a bit)]


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Articles

(43)
Putnam looks at quantum mechanics (again and again)

To appear in Michael Frauchiger (ed.), Themes from Putnam, (Lauener Library of Analytical Philosophy, Volume 5, edited by W. K. Essler and M. Frauchiger) Berlin: De Gruyter. [Link to paper]


(42)
The philosophy of causal set theory

To appear in Cosimo Bambi, Leonardo Modesto, and Ilya Shapiro (eds.), Handbook of Quantum Gravity. Singapore: Springer Nature (2023). [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(41)
Laws beyond spacetime (with Vincent Lam)

Synthese 202 (2023): 71. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(40)
Quantum gravity from general relativity

In Eleanor Knox and Alastair Wilson (eds.), Companion to the Philosophy of Physics. New York and Oxford: Routledge (2022), 363-373. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Publisher website]


(39)
One time, two times, or no time?

In Alessandra Campo and Simone Gozzano (eds.), Einstein vs. Bergson: An Enduring Quarrel on Time. Berlin: de Gruyter (2022), 209-230. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Publisher website]


(38)
Spacetime functionalism from a realist perspective (with Vincent Lam)

Synthese 199 (2021): 335-353. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(37)
Spacetime functionalism in general relativity and quantum gravity (with Karen Crowther and Niels Linnemann)

Synthese 199 (2021): 221-227. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [Journal website]


(36)
Determinism and general relativity (with Chris Smeenk)

Philosophy of Science 88 (2021): 638-664. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(35)
Time travelling in emergent spacetime

In Judit Madarász and Gergely Székely (eds.), Hajnal Andréka and István Németi on the Unity of Science: From Computing to Relativity Theory Through Algebraic Logic. Cham: Springer (2021), 453-474. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(34)
What we cannot learn from analogue experiments (with Karen Crowther and Niels Linnemann)

Synthese 198 (2021): S3701-S3726. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(33)
Introduction (with Claus Beisbart and Tilman Sauer)

In Claus Beisbart, Tilman Sauer, and Christian Wüthrich (eds.), Thinking About Space and Time: 100 Years of Applying and Interpreting General Relativity. Einstein Studies. Basel: Birkhäuser (2020), ix-xiv. [Link to paper] [Link to publisher website]


(32)
When the actual world is not even possible

In George Darby, David Glick, and Anna Marmodoro (eds.), The Foundation of Reality: Fundamentality, Space and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2020), 233-253. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(31)
Introduction (with Nick Huggett and Keizo Matsubara)

In Nick Huggett, Keizo Matsubara, and Christian Wüthrich (eds.), Beyond Spacetime: The Foundations of Quantum Gravity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2020), 1-22. [Link to paper]


(30)
The emergence of space and time

In Sophie Gibb, Robin Finlay Hendry, and Tom Lancaster (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Emergence, Oxford: Routledge (2019), 315-326. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(29)
The (a)temporal emergence of spacetime (with Nick Huggett)

Philosophy of Science 85 (2018): 1190-1203. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(28)
Are black holes about information?

In Richard Dawid, Karim Thébault, and Radin Dardashti (eds.), Why Trust a Theory? Epistemology of Fundamental Physics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2018), 202-223. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(27)
Spacetime is as spacetime does (with Vincent Lam)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 64 (2018): 39-51. [Link to paper][PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(26)
What becomes of a causal set (with Craig Callender)

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 68 (2017): 907-925. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(25)
Die Struktur von Raum und Zeit (in German)

In Markus Schrenk (ed.), Handbuch Metaphysik, Stuttgart/Weimar: Verlag J.B. Metzler (2017), 244-249.


(24)
Philosophie der Physik (in German)

In Simon Lohse and Thomas Reydon (eds.), Grundriss Wissenschaftsphilosophie: Die Philosophien der Einzelwissenschaften, Hamburg: Meiner (2017), 201-228. [Link to paper (penultimate version)]


(23)
Raiders of the lost spacetime

In Dennis Lehmkuhl, Gregor Schiemann, and Erhard Scholz (eds.), Towards a Theory of Spacetime Theories, Basel: Birkhäuser (2017), 297-335. [Link to paper (penultimate version)] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(22)
Introduction

In Tomasz Bigaj and Christian Wüthrich (eds.), Metaphysics in Contemporary Physics, Leiden: Brill (2016), 7-23. [Link to paper (penultimate version)]


(21)
A quantum-information-theoretic complement to a general-relativistic implementation of a beyond-Turing computer

Synthese 192 (2015): 1989-2008. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(20)
No categorial support for radical ontic structural realism (with Vincent Lam)

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (2015): 605-634. [Link to paper] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(19)
The fate of presentism in modern physics

In Roberto Ciuni, Kristie Miller, and Giuliano Torrengo (eds.), New Papers on the Present--Focus on Presentism, Munich: Philosophia Verlag (2013), 91-131. [Preprint] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(18)
Emergent spacetime and empirical (in)coherence (with Nick Huggett)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (2013): 276-285. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(17)
The emergence of spacetime in quantum theories of gravity (editorial, with Nick Huggett)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 44 (2013): 273-275. [PDF] [Journal website]


(16)
Time in quantum gravity (with Nick Huggett and Tiziana Vistarini)

In Adrian Bardon and Heather Dyke (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Time, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell (2013), 242-261. [Preprint] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org]


(15)
A la recherche de l'espace-temps perdu (in French)

In Soazig LeBihan (ed.), Précis de philosophie de la physique, Paris: Vuibert (2013), 222-241. [French version] [English version] [PhilSci Archive (English preprint)] [arXiv.org (authoritative version in both English and French)]


(14)
The structure of causal sets

Journal for General Philosophy of Science 43 (2012): 223-241. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive] [arXiv.org] [Journal website]


(13)
Die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie als Ausgangspunkt einer Quantentheorie der Gravitation (in German)

In Michael Esfeld (ed.), Philosophie der Physik, Berlin: Suhrkamp (2012), 306-324. [Preprint (in German)]


(12)
Demarcating presentism

In Henk de Regt, Samir Okasha, and Stephan Hartmann (eds.), EPSA Philosophy of Science: Amsterdam 2009, Dordrecht: Springer (2012), 439-448. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive (Penultimate draft)]


(11)
Can the world be shown to be indeterministic after all?

In Claus Beisbart and Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Probabilities in Physics, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2011), 365-389. [PhilSci Archive (Preprint)]


(10)
Time travel and time machines (with Chris Smeenk)

In Craig Callender (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2011), 577-630. [PhilSci Archive (Preprint)]


(9)
No presentism in quantum gravity

In Vesselin Petkov (ed.), Space, Time, and Spacetime: Physical and Philosophical Implications of Minkowski's Unification of Space and Time, Berlin: Springer (2010), 257-278. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive (Preprint)]


(8)
Challenging the spacetime structuralist
(Winning entry of the 2009 Philosophy of Science Association Recent Ph.D. Award)

Philosophy of Science 76 (2009): 1039-1051. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive (Preprint)]


(7)
Do the laws of physics forbid the operation of time machines? (with John Earman and Christopher Smeenk)

Synthese 169 (2009): 91-124. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive (Penultimate draft)]


(6)
A twist in the geometry of rotating black holes: seeking the cause of acausality (with Hajnal Andréka and István Németi)

General Relativity and Gravitation 40 (2008): 1809-1823. [PDF] [arXiv (earlier preprint)]


(5)
Zeitreisen und Zeitmaschinen (in German)

In Thomas Müller (ed.), Philosophie der Zeit: Neue analytische Ansätze, Frankfurt a.M.: Vittorio Klostermann (2007), 191-219. [PDF (penultimate version)]

Excerpts reprinted as:


(4)
To quantize or not to quantize: fact and folklore in quantum gravity

Philosophy of Science 72 (2005): 777-788. [PDF] [PhilSci Archive (earlier preprint)]


(3)
Time machines (with John Earman, and starting in 2016 also with JB Manchak)

In Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2004 Edition, last substantive revision 2020), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-machine/>. [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]


(2)
Generic incomparability of infinite-dimensional entangled states (with Rob Clifton and Brian Hepburn)

Physics Letters A303 (2002): 121-124. [PDF] [arXiv]


(1)
Henri Laueners offener Transzendentalismus (in German; with Philipp Keller, Stephan Leuenberger, and Nora Nussbaum)

Information Philosophie 28/5 (2000): 34-41. [PDF]


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Book Reviews

(6)
Review of Stephen Mumford and Matthew Tugby (eds.), Metaphysics and Science, Oxford: Oxford University Press (2013)

Philosophical Review 126 (2017): 136-140. [Preprint]


(5)
Review of Tian Yu Cao, From Current Algebra to Quantum Chromodynamics: A Case for Structural Realism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2010)

HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 4 (2014): 368-371. [Preprint]


(4)
Review of Nick Huggett, Everywhere and Everywhen: Adventures in Physics and Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press (2010)

Metascience 21 (2012): 485-488. [PDF] [Preprint]


(3)
Review of Katherine Brading and Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in physics: philosophical reflections, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003)

Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36 (2005): 576-582. [PDF]


(2)
Review of Nick Bostrom, Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy, New York: Routledge (2002)

Philosophy of Science 71 (2004): 230-232. [PDF]


(1)
Review of Helena Eilstein (ed.), A Collection of Polish Works on Philosophical Problems of Time and Spacetime, Dordrecht: Kluwer (2002)

Erkenntnis 60 (2004): 265-270. [PDF]


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Academic Theses

Approaching the Planck Scale From a General Relativistic Point of View: A Philosophical Appraisal of Loop Quantum Gravity

PhD Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2006, Supervision: John Earman. [Short description] [PDF]


On Time Machines in Kerr-Newman Spacetimes

MSc thesis, University of Bern, 1999, Supervision: Petr Hajicek. [PDF]


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