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 andphilosophers.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction. - Part I: Realism. 1. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Decoherence (Davide Romano). - 2. Quantum Fundamentalism vs. Scientific Realism (Matthias Egg). - 3. On the Principles that Serve as Guides to the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics (Vera Matarese). - 4. The Quantum World as a Resource. A Case for the Cohabitation of Two Paradigms (Laura Felline). - 5. Quantum Ontology: Out of this World? (Travis Norsen). - 6. Why Might an Instrumentalist Endorse Bohmian Mechanics? (Darrell P. Rowbottom). - Part II: Ontology. 7. Beables, Primitive Ontology and Beyond: How Theories Meet the World (Andrea 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 Properties (Valia Allori). - 11. Quantum Ontology without the Wave Function (Carlo Rovelli). - 12. The Relational Ontology of Contemporary Physics (Francesca Vidotto). - 13. Explicit Construction of Local Hidden Variables for Any Quantum Theory up to Any Desired Accuracy(Gerard t Hooft). - Part III: The Wave Function. 14. Wave Function Realism and Three Dimensions (Lev Vaidman). - 15. Reality as a Vector in Hilbert Space (Sean Carroll). - 16. Cat alive and cat dead are not Cats! Ontology and Statistics in `Realist Versions of Quantum Mechanics(Jean Bricmont). - 17. Ontic Random Variables, Incommensurable Probability Distributions, and the Platonic Interpretation of Quantum Theoryn (Jacob Barandes). - 18. Cosmic Hylomorphism vs Bohmian Dispositionalism. Implications of the "No-successor Problem" (William Simpson and John Pemberton). - 19. The Governing Conception of the Wavefunctionn (Nina Emery). - 20. Representation and the Quantum State (Richard Healey). - Part IV: Indeterminacy. 21. Quantum Mechanics Without Indeterminacy (David Glick). - 22. Derivative Metaphysical Indeterminacy and Quantum Physics (Alessandro Torza). - 23. Explication Quantum Indeterminacy (Peter Lewis). - 24. Defending the Situations-based Approach to Deep Worldly Indeterminacy (George Darby and Martin Pickup). - 25. Metaphysical Indeterminacy in the Multiversen (Claudio Calosi and Jessica Wilson). - 26. Fundamentality and Levels in Everettian Quantum Mechanics (Al Wilson).
