[Revised entry by Katherine Brading, Elena Castellani, and Nicholas Teh on August 1, 2023.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Symmetry considerations dominate modern fundamental physics, both in quantum theory and in relativity. Philosophers are now beginning to devote increasing attention to such issues as the significance of gauge symmetry, quantum particle identity in the light of permutation symmetry, how to make sense of parity violation, the role of symmetry breaking, the empirical status of symmetry principles, and so forth. These issues relate directly to traditional problems in the philosophy of science, including the status of the laws of nature, the…
Originally appeared on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Read More
