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26Six Measurement Problems of Quantum MechanicsIn Jonas R. B. Arenhart & Raoni W. Arroyo (eds.), Non-Reflexive Logics, Non-Individuals, and the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics: Essays in Honour of the Philosophy of Décio Krause, Springer Verlag. pp. 225-259. 2023.The notorious ‘measurement problem’ has been roving around quantum mechanics for nearly a century since its inception, and has given rise to a variety of ‘interpretations’ of quantum mechanics, which are meant to evade it. We argue that no less than six problems need to be distinguished, and that several of them classify as different types of problems. One of them is what traditionally is called ‘the measurement problem’. Another of them has nothing to do with measurements but is a profound meta…Read more
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170Modal-Logical Reconstructions of Thought ExperimentsErkenntnis 2023. 2023.Sorensen (1992) has provided two modal-logical schemas to reconstruct the logical structure of two types of destructive thought experiments: the Necessity Refuter and the Possibility Refuter. The schemas consist of five propositions which Sorensen claims but does not prove to be inconsistent.We show that the five propositions, as presented by Sorensen, are not inconsistent, but by adding a premise (and a logical truth), we prove that the resulting sextet of premises is inconsistent. Häggqvist (2…Read more
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20The Paradox of the Arche-fossilDialectica 999 (1). 2022.In his influential After Finitude. An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency (2008), Quentin Meillassoux argues that *Correlationism* (an umbrella-term encompassing most varieties of Idealism) gives rise to an irresolvable paradox, called "the Paradox of the Arche-fossil", which is essentially a clash between philosophical principles and scientific findings. This irresolvable paradox of Correlationism then paves the way for the "Speculative Turn" and the ensuing rise of burgeoning "speculative re…Read more
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11The Case Against Factorism: On the Labels of ⊗\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\otimes$$\end{document}-Factor Hilbert-Spaces of Similar Particles in Quantum Mechanics (review)Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3): 291-306. 2020.We discuss the case against Factorism, which is the standard assumption in quantum mechanics that the labels of the ⊗\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\otimes$$\end{document}-factor Hilbert-spaces in direct-product Hilbert-spaces of composite physical systems of similar particles refer to particles, eit…Read more
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Een hoofdstedelijk dwaallichtAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 108 (4): 515-519. 2016.Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.
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42The Influence of Quantum Physics on PhilosophyFoundations of Science 28 (1): 477-488. 2021.We ponder the question whether quantum physics has had any influence on philosophy, and if not, whether it ought to have had any. Answers to these questions are provided, and they turn out to depend on which branch of the tree of philosophy we sweep, sway and swing, and even which twig of the branch we touch when we sweep, sway and swing.
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27The Case Against Factorism: On the Labels of $$\otimes$$-Factor Hilbert-Spaces of Similar Particles in Quantum MechanicsJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 53 (3): 291-306. 2022.We discuss the case against Factorism, which is the standard assumption in quantum mechanics that the labels of the $$\otimes$$ ⊗ -factor Hilbert-spaces in direct-product Hilbert-spaces of composite physical systems of similar particles refer to particles, either directly or descriptively. We distinguish different versions of Factorism and argue for their truth or falsehood. In particular, by introducing the concepts of snapshot Hilbert-space and Schrödinger-movie, we demonstrate that there are …Read more
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25Het cognibolistische KeijzerrijkAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 108 (2): 183-187. 2016.Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.
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213On Witness-Discernibility of Elementary ParticlesErkenntnis 78 (5): 1133-1142. 2013.In the context of discussions about the nature of ‘identical particles’ and the status of Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles in Quantum Mechanics, a novel kind of physical discernibility has recently been proposed, which we call witness-discernibility. We inquire into how witness-discernibility relates to known kinds of discernibility. Our conclusion will be that for a wide variety of cases, including the intended quantum-mechanical ones, witness-discernibility collapses exten…Read more
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89Bound states and the Special Composition QuestionIn Michela Massimi, Jan-Willem Romeijn & Gerhard Schurz (eds.), EPSA15 Selected Papers: The 5th conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association in Düsseldorf, Springer. 2017.The Special Composition Question asks under what conditions a plurality of objects form another, composite object. We propose a condition grounded in our scientific knowledge of physical reality, the essence of which is that objects form a composite object when and only when they are in a bound state – whence our Bound State Proposal. We provide a variety of reasons in favour of a mereological theory that accommodates our Proposal. We consider but reject another proposal, which is quantum-physic…Read more
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120In Defence of Constructive Empiricism: Maxwell’s Master Argument and Aberrant TheoriesJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 39 (1): 131-156. 2008.Over the past years, in books and journals (this journal included), N. Maxwell launched a ferocious attack on B. C. van Fraassen’s view of science called Constructive Empiricism (CE). This attack has been totally ignored. Must we conclude from this silence that no defence is possible and that a fortiori Maxwell has buried CE once and for all? Or is the attack too obviously flawed as not to merit exposure? A careful dissection of Maxwell’s reasoning will make it clear that neither is the case. Th…Read more
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104Refutability revamped: How quantum mechanics saves the phenomenaErkenntnis 58 (2). 2003.On the basis of the Suppes–Sneed structuralview of scientific theories, we take a freshlook at the concept of refutability,which was famously proposed by K.R. Popper in 1934 as a criterion for the demarcation of scientific theories from non-scientific ones, e.g., pseudo-scientificand metaphysical theories. By way of an introduction we argue that a clash between Popper and his critics on whether scientific theories are, in fact, refutablecan be partly explained by the fact Popper and his criticsa…Read more
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19Sets, classes, and categories (review)Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 9 (1): 43-43. 2001.Critique of set-theory as a founding theory of category-theory. Proposal of a theory of sets and classes as an adequate founding theory of mathematics and by implication of category-theory. This theory is a slight extension of Ackermann's theory of 1956.
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21De denkbewegingen van Harry MulischAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 98 33-56. 2006.
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225Discerning FermionsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (3). 2008.We demonstrate that the quantum-mechanical description of composite physical systems of an arbitrary number of similar fermions in all their admissible states, mixed or pure, for all finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, is not in conflict with Leibniz's Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles (PII). We discern the fermions by means of physically meaningful, permutation-invariant categorical relations, i.e. relations independent of the quantum-mechanical probabilities. If, indeed, probabilistic…Read more
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206Intentionality Versus Constructive EmpiricismErkenntnis 76 (1): 91-100. 2012.By focussing on the intentional character of observation in science, we argue that Constructive Empiricism—B.C. van Fraassen’s much debated and explored view of science—is inconsistent. We then argue there are at least two ways out of our Inconsistency Argument, one of which is more easily to square with Constructive Empiricism than the other
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188The insidiously enchanted forrest. Essay review of 'Scientific Representation' by Bas C. van FraassenStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 40 (3): 268-272. 2009.
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224The deep Black sea: Observability and modality afloatBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 56 (1): 61-99. 2005.In the spirit of B. C. van Fraassen's view of science called Constructive Empiricism, we propose a scientific criterion to decide whether a concrete object is observable, as well as a coextensive scientific-philosophical definition of observability, and we sketch a rigorous account of modal language occurring in science. We claim that our account of observability solves three problems to which current accounts of observability, notably van Fraassen's own accounts, give rise. We further claim tha…Read more
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1Philosphy of physics: Lawrence Sklar,(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), xi+ 246 pp. ISBN 0-19-875.138-9. Pbk.£ 11.95 (review)Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 25 (3): 505-509. 1994.
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91How to Defeat Wüthrich’s Abysmal Embarrassment Argument against Space-Time StructuralismPhilosophy of Science 78 (5): 1046-1057. 2011.In his 2009 PSA Recent Ph.D. Award winning contribution to the bi-annual PSA Conference at Pittsburgh in 2008, C. Wu ̈thrich mounted an argument against struc- turalism about space-time in the context of the General Theory of Relativity, to the effect that structuralists cannot discern space-time points. An “abysmal embarrass- ment” for the structuralist, Wu ̈thrich judged. Wu ̈thrich’s characterisation of space-time structuralism is however incorrect. We demonstrate how, on the basis of a corre…Read more
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45The quest for finding the right interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is as old as QM and still has not ended, and may never end. The question what an interpretation of QM is has hardly ever been raised explicitly, let alone answered. We raise it and answer it. Then the quest for the right interpretation can continue self-consciously, for we then know exactly what we are after. We present a list of minimal requirements that something has to meet in order to qualify as an interpretation of QM. We a…Read more
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15The slaying of the iMongersStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 48 (1): 52-55. 2014.
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9The equivalence myth of quantum mechanics —Part IStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 28 (1): 35-61. 1995.
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55Review of Paul Dicken, Constructive Empiricism. Epistemology and the Philosophy of Science (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2011 (2). 2011.
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114Is Standard Quantum Mechanics Technologically Inadequate?British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 58 (3): 595-604. 2007.In a recent issue of this journal, P.E. Vermaas ([2005]) claims to have demonstrated that standard quantum mechanics is technologically inadequate in that it violates the 'technical functions condition'. We argue that this claim is false because based on a 'narrow' interpretation of this technical functions condition that Vermaas can only accept on pain of contradiction. We also argue that if, in order to avoid this contradiction, the technical functions condition is interpreted 'widely' rather …Read more
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185Discerning elementary particlesPhilosophy of Science 76 (2): 179-200. 2009.We maximally extend the quantum‐mechanical results of Muller and Saunders ( 2008 ) establishing the ‘weak discernibility’ of an arbitrary number of similar fermions in finite‐dimensional Hilbert spaces. This confutes the currently dominant view that ( A ) the quantum‐mechanical description of similar particles conflicts with Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles (PII); and that ( B ) the only way to save PII is by adopting some heavy metaphysical notion such as Scotusian haecceit…Read more
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48Erratum: Can a Constructive Empiricist Adopt the Concept of Observability?Philosophy of Science 71 (4): 635-. 2004.
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33The locality scandal of quantum mechanicsIn Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara (ed.), Language, Quantum, Music, . pp. 241--248. 1999.
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146The equivalence myth of quantum mechanics —Part IStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 28 (1): 35-61. 1997.The author endeavours to show two things: first, that Schrödingers (and Eckarts) demonstration in March (September) 1926 of the equivalence of matrix mechanics, as created by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan and Dirac in 1925, and wave mechanics, as created by Schrödinger in 1926, is not foolproof; and second, that it could not have been foolproof, because at the time matrix mechanics and wave mechanics were neither mathematically nor empirically equivalent. That they were is the Equivalence Myth. In or…Read more