Wayne Myrvold
“Probabilities in Statistical Mechanics”
University of Western Ontario, Canada
Spring Term 2015

Wayne Myrvold is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.  He is co-editor of Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, and Subject Editor for Quantum Mechanics for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and serves on the editorial board of Philosophy of Science.  He is also a member of the Rotman Institute for Philosophy, and affiliate member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

His research interests are primarily in the philosophy of physics; his current focus is on the role of probability in physics, with particular attention to statistical mechanics and to quantum mechanics. He has also done work on confirmation theory.  He has published articles in a number of journals, including Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, and Synthese.  For a complete list of publications, see
 http://philpapers.org/s/Wayne%20C.%20Myrvold

While at the Center he will be working on a book, Chance and Credence, on the role of probability of physics.  The main themes of the book will to be argue for the centrality of probabilistic thinking in physics, and that the familiar dichotomy of senses of the word “probability,” epistemic v ontic, is too restrictive; in order to do justice to our uses of probability in physics, we require a concept that combines epistemic and physical considerations.