Does probabilism solve the great quantum mystery?
Theoria 19 (3):321-336 (2004)
| Abstract | What sort of entities are electrons, photons and atoms given their wave-like and particle-like properties? Is nature fundamentally deterministic or probabilistic? Orthodox quantum theory (OQT) evades answering these two basic questions by being a theory about the results of performing measurements on quantum systems. But this evasion results in OQT being a seriously defective theory. A rival, somewhat ignored strategy is to conjecture that the quantum domain is fundamentally probabilistic. This means quantum entities, interacting with one another probabilistically, must differ radically from the entities of deterministic classical physics, the classical wave or particle. It becomes possible to conceive of quantum entities as a new kind of fundamentally probabilistic entity, the “propensiton”, neither wave nor particle. A fully micro realistic, testable rival to OQT results. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
| PhilPapers Archive |
|
| External links |
|
| Through your library | Configure |
Michael Redhead & Paul Teller (1992). Particle Labels and the Theory of Indistinguishable Particles in Quantum Mechanics. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 43 (2):201-218.
Henry P. Stapp (2005). Quantum Approaches to Consciousness. Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness.
Peter Gibbins (1987). Particles and Paradoxes: The Limits of Quantum Logic. Cambridge University Press.
John J. Fleming (1964). Sub-Quantum Entities. Philosophy of Science 31 (3):271-274.
Nicholas Maxwell (1982). Instead of Particles and Fields: A Micro Realistic Quantum "Smearon" Theory. Foundatioins of Physics 12 (6):607-631.
Nicholas Maxwell (1995). A Philosopher Struggles to Understand Quantum Theory: Particle Creation and Wavepacket Reduction. In M. Ferrero & A. van der Merwe (eds.), Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics.
Nicholas Maxwell (2011). Is the Quantum World Composed of Propensitons? In Mauricio Suarez (ed.), Probabilities, Causes and Propensities in Physics. Springer.
Nicholas Maxwell (1994). Particle Creation as the Quantum Condition for Probabilistic Events to Occur. Physics Letters A 187 (2 May 1994):351-355.
Nicholas Maxwell (1993). Beyond Fapp: Three Approaches to Improving Orthodox Quantum Theory and An Experimental Test. In F. Selleri and G. Tarozzi van der Merwe, F. Selleri & G. Tarozzi (eds.), Bell's Theorem and the Foundations of Modern Physics. World Scientific.
Nicholas Maxwell (1988). Quantum Propensiton Theory: A Testable Resolution of the Wave/Particle Dilemma. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39 (1):1-50.
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads19 ( #64,404 of 549,118 )Recent downloads (6 months)13 ( #5,039 of 549,118 )How can I increase my downloads? |

