Juan Cole on the recent events in Egypt

A very sensible overview of the Embassy attack and its aftermath, HERE. I think Cole sizes up the situation correctly.

And of course Obama’s “Egypt is not an ally” statement was not a “gaffe.” I can’t imagine anyone thought that, though Cole says some people did, so I guess they did. It was quite obviously Obama firing a shot across Morsi’s bow, and it seemed to work. Even the Salafis and the former terrorist outfit Gama’ah Islamiya made more sensible statements than Morsi, which is pretty embarrassing.

“Ironically, the Salafi fundamentalists who are to the right of the Muslim Brotherhood had already said that any demonstrations should be held far from the US embassy. Its spokesman said, that it ‘strongly condemns using violence and vandalism to express our objections to this offensive work, especially if protesting involves attacking embassies and terrorising diplomatic missions.’ When the Salafis are the adults in the room, the Brotherhood is looking pretty bad. Even worse, the former terrorist organization, now a civil society association, the al-Gama’ah al-Islamiya or Islamic Bloc, called the tearing down of the American flag on Tuesday ‘illegal and against Islamic Law.’ That is still more than Morsi has said.”

It was also a bit pathetic to hear Morsi mention tourists in his pressured later response. Either care about tourism to Egypt or don’t care about it. But if you do care about it, then don’t let your Party incite embassy attacks. It really isn’t going to help. Really.

sample photo from Basel conference book display

This is maybe just a quarter of the table, but it gives some indication of how thorough a job the bookseller had done. (Great guy, too. Really enjoyed him.) The photo is by Paul Boshears, whom you might know as one of the editors of continent.

Luzern

Back from a nice evening in Luzern, where I was joined by two other conference attendees. We arrived at Wagner’s house about a half hour past closing time, as expected. (Though we did all see one of Nietzsche’s Basel residences earlier in the day.)

It was a very successful conference on the whole. There were quite a number of very good papers today, and I thought the Shaviro keynote was a masterpiece.

Gabriel Catren calls for postdocs

Call for postdoctoral positions for working on the
ERC (European Research Project) project
Philosophy of Canonical Quantum Gravity
Principal Investigator: Gabriel Catren

The European Research Council (ERC) project Philosophy of Canonical Quantum Gravity announces one-year post-doctoral positions, with the possibility of an extension depending on the final evaluation. The profile of the searched candidate is that of a candidate with a strong background in pure mathematics and mathematical physics interested in the conceptual and mathematical foundations of theoretical physics.

Project description. This research proposal addresses from a philosophical perspective one of the most important unsolved problem of theoretical physics, namely the formulation of a quantum theory of gravity. Quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity—i.e. general relativity—are the two main revolutions of 20th century physics. These theories have radically challenged and modified our epistemological and ontological conceptions about time, space, motion, matter, causality, physical objectivity, and the global structure of the universe. However, the formulation of an unanimously accepted and experimentally tested quantum theory of gravity capable of harmonizing these new insights in a consistent synthesis remains—since 1930s—an open problem. The absence of an experimental guidance for the quantization of gravity, the conceptual nature of some of the obstructions encountered by the different research programs, and the philosophical origin and scope of the problems to which both general relativity and quantum mechanics provided a provisional solution explain why philosophy can play a fundamental role in helping to accomplish this “unfinished revolution” (Rovelli). The general objective of the present research proposal in philosophy of physics is to address the main (interrelated) foundational issues raised by canonical quantum gravity. To do so, this project depends on two intermediate subprojects. The first subproject addresses some foundational problems concerning space-time theories and gauge theories in light of both the so-called gauge theories of gravity and the generalized theories of gravity with torsion and/or non-metricity. The second subproject addresses the philosophy of canonical quantization. To do so, we analyze from a foundational perspective one of the most elegant mathematical formalizations of canonical quantization, namely the formalism, mainly developed by B. Kostant and J.-M. Souriau, named geometric quantization.

Profile of the position. The chosen candidate is expected to work on one of the following subjects:

.Theory of gravitation of Einstein-Cartan and theory of Cartan’s connections.
.Construction of an interpretation of quantum mechanics in the light of geometric quantization and gauge theories.
.Geometric and algebraic foundations of the notion of spinor.

Scientific environement: Laboratoire SPHERE (UMR 7219), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) – Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France.

Eligibility requirements: Eligible candidates must hold a PhD or equivalent in philosophy, physics or mathematics.

Application Procedure: Applicants are invited to submit a dossier by email (in English or French) including:

· a cover letter explaining the candidate’s research interests and her/his skills for contributing to an interdisciplinary project at the intersection between philosophy, physics, and mathematics.
· a curriculum vitae including a publication list;
· university certification of the last candidates’ degree.
· a copy of PhD thesis and a sample of other relevant writings, published or not;
· the name and electronic address of one knowledgeable scholar who could provide a recommendation letter if necessary.

Scholars of all nationalities are welcome to apply. For further information, please contact Gabriel Catren: gabrielcatren@gmail.com. The dossier must be addressed to the following electronic address: gabrielcatren@gmail.com.

Application deadline: Open until filled.