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Supererogatory Superluminality

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Abstract

We argue that any superluminal theory Tis empirically equivalent to a non-superluminaltheory T★ , with thefollowing constraints onT★ : T★ preservesthe spacetime intervals between events as entailedby T, T★ is naturalistic (as longas T is), and all the events which have causesaccording to T also have causes according toT★. Tim Maudlin (1996) definesstandard interpretations of quantum mechanicsas interpretations `according to which there wasa unique set of outcomes in Aspect's laboratory,which outcomes occurred at spacelike separation’, andMaudlin claims that standard interpretations must benon-local in the sense that there are superluminalinfluences. We show (even assuming Aspect's experimentis ideal) that Maudlin's claim is false.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA

    Bradley Monton

  2. Department of Philosophy, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    Brian Kierland

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  1. Bradley Monton
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  2. Brian Kierland
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Monton, B., Kierland, B. Supererogatory Superluminality. Synthese 127, 347–357 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010399110654

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010399110654

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