Quantum Mechanics and Fundamentality: Naturalizing Quantum Theory between Scientific Realism and Ontological Indeterminacy

by Valia Allori (Editor)

Overview

This edited collection provides new perspectives on some metaphysical questions arising in quantum mechanics. These questions have been long-standing and are of continued interest to researchers and graduate students working in physics, philosophy of physics, and metaphysics. It features contributions from a diverse set of researchers, ranging from senior scholars to junior academics, working in varied fields, from physics to philosophy of physics and metaphysics. The contributors reflect on issues about fundamentality (is quantum theory fundamental? If so, what is its fundamental ontology?), ontological dependence (how do ordinary objects exist even if they are not fundamental?), realism (what kind of realism is compatible with quantum theory?), indeterminacy (can the world itself exhibit ontological indeterminacy?). 

The book contains contributions from both physicists (including Nobel Prize winner Gerard 't Hooft), science communicators and philosophers. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030996420
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/27/2022
Series:	Synthese Library , #460
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Valia Allori has studied physics and philosophy first in Italy, her home country, and then in the United States. She has worked in the foundations of quantum mechanics, with the aim of understanding how we can use our best physical theory to answer general metaphysical questions about the nature of reality. She has been a 2017-18 National Humanities Center Fellow and she is a Fellow of the John Bell Institute for the Foundation of Physics. She is currently Professor in the Philosophy Department of Northern Illinois University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Realism 1. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of DecoherenceDavide Romano
2. Quantum Fundamentalism vs. Scientific RealismMatthias Egg
3. On the Principles that Serve as Guides to the Ontology of Quantum MechanicsVera Matarese
4. The Quantum World as a Resource. A Case for the Cohabitation of Two ParadigmsLaura Felline
5. Quantum Ontology: Out of this World?Travis Norsen
6. Why Might an Instrumentalist Endorse Bohmian Mechanics?Darrell P. Rowbottom
Part II: Ontology7. Beables, Primitive Ontology and Beyond: How Theories Meet the WorldAndrea Oldofredi
8. All Flash, No Substance? (Towards a Fundamental Ontology for GRW)Elizabeth Miller 9. Does the Primitive Ontology rest on Shaky Ground?Cristian Mariani
10. Towards a Structuralist Elimination of Quantum PropertiesValia Allori
11. Quantum Ontology without the Wave FunctionCarlo Rovelli
12. The Relational Ontology of Contemporary PhysicsFrancesca Vidotto
13. Explicit Construction of Local Hidden Variables for Any Quantum Theory up to Any Desired AccuracyGerard t’Hooft
Part III: The Wave Function14. Wave Function Realism and Three DimensionsLev Vaidman
15. Reality as a Vector in Hilbert SpaceSean Carroll
16. Cat alive and cat dead are not Cats! Ontology and Statistics in ‘Realist’ Versions of Quantum MechanicsJean Bricmont
17. Ontic Random Variables, Incommensurable Probability Distributions, and the Platonic Interpretation of Quantum TheoryJacob Barandes
18. Cosmic Hylomorphism vs Bohmian Dispositionalism. Implications of the "No-successor Problem"William Simpson and John Pemberton
19. The Governing Conception of the WavefunctionNina Emery
20. Representation and the Quantum StateRichard Healey
Part IV: Indeterminacy21. Quantum Mechanics Without IndeterminacyDavid Glick
22. Derivative Metaphysical Indeterminacy and Quantum PhysicsAlessandro Torza
23. Explication Quantum IndeterminacyPeter Lewis
24. Defending the Situations-based Approach to Deep Worldly IndeterminacyGeorge Darby and Martin Pickup
25. Metaphysical Indeterminacy in the MultiverseClaudio Calosi and Jessica Wilson
26. Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum MechanicsAl Wilson