The Wave Function: Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics

by Alyssa Ney, David Z Albert

Overview

This is a new volume of original essays on the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. The essays address questions such as: What fundamental metaphysics is best motivated by quantum mechanics? What is the ontological status of the wave function? Does quantum mechanics support the existence of any other fundamental entities, e.g. particles? What is the nature of the fundamental space (or space-time manifold) of quantum mechanics? What is the relationship between the fundamental ontology of quantum mechanics and ordinary, macroscopic objects like tables, chairs, and persons? This collection includes a comprehensive introduction with a history of quantum mechanics and the debate over its metaphysical interpretation focusing especially on the main realist alternatives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199790548
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/08/2013
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Alyssa Ney is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rochester. She works primarily in metaphysics.

David Z Albert is the author of Quantum Mechanics and Experience and Time and Chance and has published many articles on quantum mechanics, mostly in the Physical Review. He is Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy and Director of the M.A. Program in The Philosophical Foundations of Physics at Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Preface
David Z. Albert and Alyssa Ney

Introduction
Alyssa Ney

Chapter 1. Wave Function Realism
David Z. Albert

Chapter 2. Primitive Ontology and the Structure of Fundamental Physical Theories
Valia Allori

Chapter 3. Whither Wave-Function Realism?
Steven French

Chapter 4. Reality and the Role of the Wavefunction in Quantum Theory
Sheldon Goldstein and Nino Zanghì

Chapter 5. Dimension and Illusion
Peter J. Lewis

Chapter 6. The Nature of the Quantum State
Tim Maudlin

Chapter 7. Against 3N-Dimensional Space
Bradley Monton

Chapter 8. Ontological Reduction and the Wave Function Ontology
Alyssa Ney

Chapter 9. The Structure of a Quantum World
Jill North

Chapter 10. A Prolegomenon to the Ontology of the Everett Interpretation
David Wallace

Editorial Reviews

"This is an uncommonly good collection of essays on the metaphysical foundations of quantum mechanics. It contains work on a compelling subject from a number of the most engaging philosophers of physics, and the overall standard of clarity is exceptional."--Jeffrey A. Barrett, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"The wave function is perhaps the central representational tool that quantum physics uses to describe the world. But just what sort of physical reality does it represent? For too long, a physics too infected by instrumentalist tendencies ignored this question; but in recent decades, it has, happily, come to be viewed as absolutely central to a proper understanding of quantum physics. The Wave Function features ten commissioned essays by some of the sharpest physicists and philosophers working on this topic, framed by a masterful and comprehensive introductory essay that will make this volume readily accessible, even to the non-specialist. Wondering how to make sense of what quantum physics says about the world? Curious about the multifarious metaphysical and epistemological implications of what it says? Then this volume is for you."--Ned Hall, Department of Philosophy, Harvard University

"...the book is an excellent and enjoyable piece of philosophy, as one gets to see a single problem attacked from many distinct and compelling perspectives. If interested in the metaphysics of the quantum wavefunction, then this collection is a great choice." -- The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

From the Publisher