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20Karel Lambert and Gordon G. Brittan Jr. An introduction to the philosophy of science. Second, revised and expanded edition. Ridgeview Publishing Company, Reseda, Calif., 1979, x + 164 pp (review)Journal of Symbolic Logic 47 (2): 476-477. 1982.
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117Algebraic constraints on hidden variablesFoundations of Physics 8 (7-8): 629-636. 1978.In the contemporary discussion of hidden variable interpretations of quantum mechanics, much attention has been paid to the “no hidden variable” proof contained in an important paper of Kochen and Specker. It is a little noticed fact that Bell published a proof of the same result the preceding year, in his well-known 1966 article, where it is modestly described as a corollary to Gleason's theorem. We want to bring out the great simplicity of Bell's formulation of this result and to show how it c…Read more
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Fictions, Fictionalization and Truth in ScienceIn Mauricio Suárez (ed.), Fictions in Science: Philosophical Essays on Modeling and Idealization, Routledge. pp. 235--247. 2008.
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34Ronald Yoshida's Reduction in the Physical SciencesReduction in the Physical SciencesNoûs 14 (1): 136. 1980.
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30Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Ronald N. Giere (review)Philosophy of Science 57 (4): 729-731. 1990.
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42The Shaky Game: Einstein, Realism, and the Quantum Theory. Arthur Fine (review)Philosophy of Science 55 (1): 155-156. 1988.
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148Referential and Perspectival RealismSpontaneous Generations 9 (1): 151-164. 2018.Ronald Giere has argued that at its best science gives us knowledge only from different “perspectives,” but that this knowledge still counts as scientific realism. Others have noted that his “perspectival realism” is in tension with scientific realism as traditionally understood: How can different, even conflicting, perspectives give us what there is really? This essay outlines a program that makes good on Giere’s idea with a fresh understanding of “realism” that eases this tension.
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An Interpretative Introduction to Quantum Field TheoryBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (1): 152-153. 1996.
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27Robots, Action, and the “Essential Indexical”Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 82 (3): 763-771. 2011.
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123Relational Holism and Quantum Mechanics1British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 37 (1): 71-81. 1986.One can give a strong sense to the idea that a relation does not 'reduce' to non-relational properties by saying that a relation does not supervene upon the non-relational properties of its relata. That there are such inherent relations I call the doctrine of relational holism, a doctrine which seems to conflict with traditional ideas about physicalism. At least parts of classical physics seem to be free of relational holism, but quantum mechanics, on at least some interpretations, incorporates …Read more
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12Some Discussion and Extension of Manfred Bierwisch's Work on German AdjectivalsFoundations of Language 5 (2): 185-217. 1969.
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7Review: Karel Lambert, Gordon G. Brittan, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (review)Journal of Symbolic Logic 47 (2): 476-477. 1982.
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5Comments on Niiniluoto and UchiiPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1976. 1976.
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322Goodman's theory of projectionBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 20 (3): 219-238. 1969.
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1Subjectivity and knowing what it's likeIn Ansgar Beckermann, Hans Flohr & Jaegwon Kim (eds.), Emergence or Reduction?: Prospects for Nonreductive Physicalism, De Gruyter. 1992.
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1A contemporary look at emergenceIn Ansgar Beckermann, Hans Flohr & Jaegwon Kim (eds.), Emergence or Reduction?: Prospects for Nonreductive Physicalism, De Gruyter. 1992.
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82Quantum mechanics and the nature of continuous physical quantitiesJournal of Philosophy 76 (7): 345-361. 1979.
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74Modeling TruthPhilosophia 45 (1): 143-161. 2017.Many in philosophy understand truth in terms of precise semantic values, true propositions. Following Braun and Sider, I say that in this sense almost nothing we say is, literally, true. I take the stand that this account of truth nonetheless constitutes a vitally useful idealization in understanding many features of the structure of language. The Fregean problem discussed by Braun and Sider concerns issues about application of language to the world. In understanding these issues I propose an al…Read more
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57From Physics to MetaphysicsPhilosophical Review 106 (2): 272. 1997.The book is drawn from the Tarner lectures, delivered in Cambridge in 1993. It is concerned with the ultimate nature of reality, and how this is revealed by modern physical theories such as relativity and quantum theory. The objectivity and rationality of science are defended against the views of relativists and social constructionists. It is claimed that modern physics gives us a tentative and fallible, but nevertheless rational, approach to the nature of physical reality. The role of subjectiv…Read more
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42The projection postulate: A new perspectivePhilosophy of Science 51 (3): 369-395. 1984.Previous work has shown that the problem of measurement in quantum mechanics is not correctly seen as one of understanding some allegedly univocal process of measurement in nature which corresponds to the projection postulate. The present paper introduces a new perspective by showing that how we are to understand the nature of the change of quantum mechanical state on measurement depends very sensitively on the interpretation of the state function, and by showing how attention to this dependence…Read more
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208Substance, relations, and arguments about the nature of space-timePhilosophical Review 100 (3): 363-397. 1991.
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19Particle Labels and the Theory of Indistinguishable Particles in Quantum MechanicsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 43 (2): 201-218. 1992.We extend the work of French and Redhead [1988] further examining the relation of quantum statistics to the assumption that quantum entities have the sort of identity generally assumed for physical objects, more specifically an identity which makes them susceptible to being thought of as conceptually individuatable and labelable even though they cannot be experimentally distinguished. We also further examine the relation of such hypothesized identity of quantum entities to the Principle of the I…Read more