David B. Malament | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1947-12-21)21 December 1947 (age 77)[1] |
| Alma mater | Columbia College, Columbia University Rockefeller University |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Analytic philosophy |
| Thesis | Does the causal structure of space-time determine its geometry (1975) |
| Doctoral advisor | Donald A. Martin |
| Doctoral students | Jeremy Butterfield John Byron Manchak James Owen Weatherall |
Main interests | Philosophy of physics |
| Website | https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/malament/ |
David B. Malament (born 21 December 1947) is anAmericanphilosopher of science, specializing in thephilosophy of physics.
Malament attendedStuyvesant High School and received aB.A. inmathematics 1968 atColumbia College, Columbia University, and Ph.D. in philosophy 1975 atRockefeller University. After teaching for nearly a quarter-century at theUniversity of Chicago, Malament left to become Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at theUniversity of California, Irvine, where he is now emeritus. His bookTopics in the Foundations of General Relativity and Newtonian Gravitation Theory (Chicago, 2012) was awarded the 2014Lakatos Award.
Malament's work focuses the conceptual foundations of thespecial andgeneraltheories of relativity.[2][3] Regarding whethersimultaneity inspecial relativity, theEinstein synchronisation is conventional, Malament argues against conventionalism and is regarded by some as having refutedAdolf Grünbaum's argument for conventionalism.[4] Grünbaum,[5] as well asSahotra Sarkar andJohn Stachel,[6] don't agree, whereasRobert Rynasiewicz sides with Malament.[7][8]
During theVietnam War Malament was aconscientious objector to the draft, spending time in jail for refusing induction into the military.[9] He published an article on the subject of selective conscientious objection in an early issue of the journalPhilosophy and Public Affairs.[10]
David Malament, Vietnam war.
