•  217
    Metaphysical indeterminacy in Everettian quantum mechanics
    European Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (3): 1-22. 2024.
    The question of whether Everettian quantum mechanics (EQM) justifies the existence of metaphysical indeterminacy has recently come to the fore. Metaphysical indeterminacy has been argued to emerge from three sources: coherent superpositions, the indefinite number of branches in the quantum multiverse and the nature of these branches. This paper reviews the evidence and concludes that those arguments don’t rely on EQM alone and rest on metaphysical auxiliary assumptions that transcend the physics…Read more
  •  18
    The principle of least action (PLA) has often been cited as a counterexample to the dominant mode of causal explanation in physics. In particular, PLA seems to involve an appeal to final causes or some other teleological ideology. However, Ben-Menahem (Causation in science, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2018) argues that such implications no longer apply given that PLA can be recovered as limiting case from quantum theory. In this paper, I argue that the metaphysical implications of PLA…Read more
  •  56
    Is the Reality Criterion Analytic?
    Erkenntnis 86 (6): 1445-1451. 2021.
    Tim Maudlin has claimed that EPR’s Reality Criterion is analytically true. We argue that it is not. Moreover, one may be a subjectivist about quantum probabilities without giving up on objective physical reality. Thus, would-be detractors must reject QBism and other epistemic approaches to quantum theory on other grounds.
  •  53
    Metaphysical indeterminacy in the context of quantum mechanics is often motivated by the eigenstate-eigenvalue link. However, the sparse view of Glick illustrates why it has no such implications. Other links connecting quantum states and property ascriptions—such as those associated with the GRW theory—may introduce indeterminacy, but such indeterminacy may be viewed as merely representational and is susceptible to familiar treatments of vagueness. Thus, I contend that such links fail to provide…Read more
  •  49
    QBism and the limits of scientific realism
    European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (2): 1-19. 2021.
    QBism is an agent-centered interpretation of quantum theory. It rejects the notion that quantum theory provides a God’s eye description of reality and claims instead that it imposes constraints on agents’ subjective degrees of belief. QBism’s emphasis on subjective belief has led critics to dismiss it as antirealism or instrumentalism, or even, idealism or solipsism. The aim of this paper is to consider the relation of QBism to scientific realism. I argue that while QBism is an unhappy fit with …Read more
  •  68
    Generalism and the Metaphysics of Ontic Structural Realism
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (2): 751-772. 2020.
    Ontic structural realism claims that all there is to the world is structure. But how can this slogan be turned into a worked-out metaphysics? Here I consider one potential answer: a metaphysical framework known as ‘generalism’. According to the generalist, the most fundamental description of the world is not given in terms of individuals bearing properties, but rather, general facts about which states of affairs obtain. However, I contend that despite several apparent similarities between the po…Read more
  •  39
    The Foundation of Reality: Fundamentality, Space, and Time (edited book)
    Oxford University Press. 2020.
    Are space and time fundamental features of our world or might they emerge from something else? The Foundation of Reality brings together metaphysicians and philosophers of physics working on space, time, and fundamentality to address this timely question.
  •  67
    Pluralist structural realism: The best of both worlds?
    Synthese 198 (5): 4145-4166. 2019.
    Worrall :99–124, 1989) famously claimed that structural realism is the best of both worlds; it enables one to endorse the best arguments for scientific realism and antirealism. In this paper, I argue that structural realism also enables one to combine two other seemingly inconsistent positions: realism and pluralism. Indeed, the very features which form the basis of the structural realist’s reply to the problem of theory change may be applied synchronically to allow for a pluralist structural re…Read more
  •  671
    Desperately seeking sourcehood
    Philosophical Studies 177 (4): 953-970. 2020.
    In a recent essay, Deery and Nahmias :1255–1276, 2017) utilize interventionism about causation to develop an account of causal sourcehood in order to defend compatibilism about free will and moral responsibility from manipulation arguments. In this paper, we criticize Deery and Nahmias’s analysis of sourcehood by drawing a distinction between two forms of causal invariance that can come into conflict on their account. We conclude that any attempt to resolve this conflict will either result in co…Read more
  •  45
    Timelike entanglement for delayed-choice entanglement swapping
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 68 (C): 16-22. 2019.
    Experiments involving delayed-choice entanglement swapping seem to suggest that particles can become entangled after they’ve already been detected. This astonishing result is taken by some to undermine realism about entanglement. In this paper, I argue that one can offer a fully realist explanation of delayed-choice entanglement swapping by countenancing timelike entanglement relations. I argue that such an explanation—radical though it may be—isn’t incoherent and doesn’t invite paradox. I compa…Read more
  •  88
    In Defense of the Metaphysics of Entanglement
    In David Glick, George Darby & Anna Marmodoro (eds.), The Foundation of Reality: Fundamentality, Space, and Time, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
    Quantum entanglement has long been thought to be have deep metaphysical consequences. For example, it has been claimed to show that Humean supervenience is false or to involve a novel form of ontological holism. One way to avoid confronting the metaphysical consequences is to adopt some form of antirealism. In this paper we discuss two prominent strands in recent literature—wavefunction realism and “Super-Humeanism”—that appear quite different, but, as we see it, are instances of a more general …Read more
  •  55
    Review of The Quantum Revolution in Philosophy (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 2018.
  •  1106
    Against Quantum Indeterminacy
    Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 6 (3): 204-213. 2017.
    A growing literature is premised on the claim that quantum mechanics provides evidence for metaphysical indeterminacy. But does it? None of the currently fashionable realist interpretations involve fundamental indeterminacy and the ‘standard interpretation’, to the extent that it can be made out, doesn't require indeterminacy either.
  •  34
    Minimal Structural Essentialism: Why Physics Doesn’t Care Which is Which
    In Alexandre Guay & Thomas Pradeu (eds.), Individuals Across the Sciences, Oxford University Press. pp. 207-225. 2015.
    The ways in which space-time points and elementary particles are modeled share a curious feature: neither seems to specify which basic object has which properties. This chapter sketches the motivation for this claim and searches for an explanation for it. After reviewing several proposals, it argues for a view according to which objects occupy their place in a given relational structure essentially. This view, which is termed minimal structural essentialism, provides a metaphysical grounding for…Read more
  •  977
    The Ontology of Quantum Field Theory: Structural Realism Vindicated?
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 59 78-86. 2016.
    In this paper I elicit a prediction from structural realism and compare it, not to a historical case, but to a contemporary scientific theory. If structural realism is correct, then we should expect physics to develop theories that fail to provide an ontology of the sort sought by traditional realists. If structure alone is responsible for instrumental success, we should expect surplus ontology to be eliminated. Quantum field theory (QFT) provides the framework for some of the best confirmed the…Read more
  •  623
    Generalism and the Metaphysics of Ontic Structural Realism
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 2017.
    Ontic structural realism (OSR) claims that all there is to the world is structure. But how can this slogan be turned into a worked-out metaphysics? Here I consider one potential answer: a metaphysical framework known as generalism (Dasgupta, 2009, 2016). According to the generalist, the most fundamental description of the world is not given in terms of individuals bearing properties, but rather, general facts about which states of affairs obtain. However, I contend that despite several apparent …Read more
  •  15
    Experiments demonstrating entanglement swapping have been alleged to challenge realism about entanglement. Seevinck claims that entangle- ment “cannot be considered ontologically robust” while Healey claims that entanglement swapping “undermines the idea that ascribing an entangled state to quantum systems is a way of representing some new, non-classical, physical relation between them.” My aim in this paper is to show that realism is not threatened by the possibility of entanglement swapping, b…Read more