Realism about the wave function
Philosophy Compass 14 (7):e12611 (2019)
Abstract
A century after the discovery of quantum mechanics, the meaning of quantum mechanics still remains elusive. This is largely due to the puzzling nature of the wave function, the central object in quantum mechanics. If we are realists about quantum mechanics, how should we understand the wave function? What does it represent? What is its physical meaning? Answering these questions would improve our understanding of what it means to be a realist about quantum mechanics. In this survey article, I review and compare several realist interpretations of the wave function. They fall into three categories: ontological interpretations, nomological interpretations, and the sui generis interpretation. For simplicity, I will focus on non-relativistic quantum mechanics.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1111/phc3.12611
My notes
Similar books and articles
Realism and instrumentalism about the wave function. How should we choose?Mauro Dorato & Federico Laudisa - 2014 - In Shao Gan (ed.), Protective Measurements and Quantum Reality: Toward a New Understanding of Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge University Press.
A New Argument for the Nomological Interpretation of the Wave Function: The Galilean Group and the Classical Limit of Nonrelativistic Quantum Mechanics.Valia Allori - 2017 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science (2):177-188.
Quantum Mechanics and the Nature of Reality.Thomas Greenlee - 2010 - In Science and Religion in Dialogue. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 97--104.
The Wave Function: Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics.Alyssa Ney & David Albert (eds.) - 2013 - Oxford University Press USA.
The Meaning of the Wave Function: In Search of the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics. [REVIEW]Mario Hubert - 2017 - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (00):00-00.
The Intrinsic Structure of Quantum Mechanics.Eddy Keming Chen - 2019 - In Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics. New Brunswick, NJ: PhD dissertation, Rutgers University. pp. Chapter 1.
Reality and the role of the wave function in quantum theory.Sheldon Goldstein & Nino Zanghi - unknown
Decoherence and Wave Function Collapse.Roland Omnès - 2011 - Foundations of Physics 41 (12):1857-1880.
Fundamental physical ontologies and the constraint of empirical coherence: a defense of wave function realism.Alyssa Ney - 2015 - Synthese 192 (10):3105-3124.
Ontological Reduction and the Wave Function Ontology.Alyssa Ney - 2013 - In Alyssa Ney & David Z. Albert (eds.), The Wave Function: Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford University Press. pp. 168-183.
Scientific Realism and Primitive Ontology Or: The Pessimistic Induction and the Nature of the Wave Function.Valia Allori - 2018 - Lato Sensu 1 (5):69-76.
Against 3N-Dimensional Space.Bradley Monton - 2013 - In David Albert Alyssa Ney (ed.), The Wave Function: Essays in the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics.
Primitive Ontology and the Structure of Fundamental Physical Theories.Valia Allori - 2013 - In Alyssa Ney & David Z. Albert (eds.), The Wave Function: Essays in the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford University Press. pp. 58-75.
The Wave Function: Essays in the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics.Alyssa Ney & David Albert (eds.) - 2013 - Oxford University Press.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-10-15
Downloads
354 (#32,819)
6 months
120 (#6,144)
2018-10-15
Downloads
354 (#32,819)
6 months
120 (#6,144)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
The Nature of Contingency: Quantum Physics as Modal Realism.Alastair Wilson - 2020 - Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State.Eddy Keming Chen - 2021 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (4):1155–1183.
References found in this work
The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum Theory According to the Everett Interpretation.David Wallace - 2012 - Oxford University Press.
Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics: Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy.John Stewart Bell - 2004 - Cambridge University Press.
The Tools of Metaphysics and the Metaphysics of Science.Theodore Sider - 2020 - Oxford, England and New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press.