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73Mechanistic Explanation in PhysicsIn Eleanor Knox & Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics, Routledge. 2022.The idea at the core of the New Mechanical account of explanation can be summarized in the claim that explaining means showing ‘how things work’. This simple motto hints at three basic features of Mechanistic Explanation (ME): ME is an explanation-how, that implies the description of the processes underlying the phenomenon to be explained and of the entities that engage in such processes. These three elements trace a fundamental contrast with the view inherited from Hume and later from strict lo…Read more
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1397On Explaining Non-dynamically the Quantum Correlations Via Quantum Information Theory: What It TakesIn Sven Ove Hansson (ed.), Technology and Mathematics: Philosophical and Historical Investigations, Springer Verlag. 2018.Within the current mainstream research in the foundations of physics, much attention has been turned to the program of Axiomatic Reconstruction of Quantum Theory in terms of Information-Theoretic principles (ARQIT). ARQIT aims at finding a few general information-theoretic principles from which, once translated into mathematical terms, one can formally derive the structure of quantum theory. This chapter explores the role of mechanistic explanations and mathematical explanations (in particular, …Read more
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52Quantum theory is not only about informationStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 72 256-265. 2020.In his recent book Bananaworld. Quantum mechanics for primates, Jeff Bub revives and provides a mature version of his influential information-theoretic interpretation of Quantum Theory (QT). In this paper, I test Bub’s conjecture that QT should be interpreted as a theory about information, by examining whether his information-theoretic interpretation has the resources to explain (or explain away) quantum conundrums. The discussion of Bub’s theses will also serve to investigate, more in general, …Read more
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New Directions in Logic and the Philosophy of Science (SILFS proceedings, vol. 3) (edited book)College Publications. 2016.
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110Scientific explanation and scientific structuralismIn Alisa Bokulich & Peter Bokulich (eds.), Scientific Structuralism, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of science, Springer. pp. 161--176. 2009.In this paper we argue that quantum mechanics provides a genuine kind of structural explanations of quantum phenomena. Since structural explanations only rely on the formal properties of the theory, they have the advantage of being independent of interpretative questions. As such, they can be used to claim that, even in the current absence of one agreed-upon interpretation, quantum mechanics is capable of providing satisfactory explanations of physical phenomena. While our proposal clearly canno…Read more
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41Locality and Mentality in Everett Interpretations: Albert and Loewer’s Many MindsMind and Matter 11 (2). 2013.This is the first of two papers reviewing and analysing the approach to locality and to mind-body dualism proposed in Everett interpreta- tions of quantum mechanics. The planned companion paper will focus on the contemporary decoherence-based approaches to Everett. This paper instead treats the explicitly mentalistic Many Minds Interpreta- tion proposed by David Albert and Barry Loewer (Albert and Loewer 1988). In particular, we investigate what kind of supervenience of the mind on the body is i…Read more
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52Quantum Information Theory and the Foundations of Quantum MechanicsInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 28 (3): 349-352. 2014.
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49Remarks on a Structural Account of Scientific ExplanationIn M. Suarez, M. Dorato & M. Redei (eds.), Launch of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Springer. pp. 43--53. 2010.The problems that exist in relating quantum mechanical phenomena to classical concepts like properties, causes, or entities like particles or waves are well-known and still open to question, so that there is not yet an agreement on what kind of metaphysics lies at the foundations of quantum mechanics. However, physicists constantly use the formal resources of quantum mechanics in order to explain quantum phenomena. The structural account of explanation, therefore, tries to account for this kind …Read more
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148Structural explanations in Minkowski spacetime: Which account of models?In V. Petkov (ed.), Space, Time, and Spacetime, Springer. pp. 193-207. 2010.In this paper we argue that structural explanations are an effective way of explaining well known relativistic phenomena like length contraction and time dilation, and then try to understand how this can be possible by looking at the literature on scientific models. In particular, we ask whether and how a model like that provided by Minkowski spacetime can be said to represent the physical world, in such a way that it can successfully explain physical phenomena structurally. We conclude by claim…Read more
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2The so-called bottoming-out problem is considered one of the most serious problems in Stuart Glennan's mechanistic theory of causality. It is usually argued that such a problem cannot be overcome with the acknowledgement of the non-causal character of fundamental phenomena. According to such a widespread view, in the mechanistic account causation must go all the way down to the bottom level; a solution to the bottoming-out problem, therefore, requires an appeal to an ancillary account of causati…Read more
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Review of R. Batterman: The Devil in the Details: Asymptotic Reasoning in Explanation, Reduction and Emergence. (review)APhEx – Portale Italiano di Filosofia Analitica 2 99-109. 2010.
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229Mechanisms meet structural explanationSynthese 195 (1): 99-114. 2018.This paper investigates the relationship between structural explanation and the New Mechanistic account of explanation. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to argue that some phenomena in the domain of fundamental physics, although mechanically brute, are structurally explained; and secondly, by elaborating on the contrast between SE and mechanistic explanation to better clarify some features of SE. Finally, this paper will argue that, notwithstanding their apparently antithetical charact…Read more
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131Scientific Explanation between Principle and Constructive TheoriesPhilosophy of Science 78 (5): 989-1000. 2011.The aim of this paper is to analyse the role that the distinction between principle and constructive theories have in the question of the explanatory power of Special Relativity. We show how the distinction breaks down at the explanatory level. We assess Harvey Brown’s (2005) claim that, as a principle theory, Special Relativity lacks of explanatory power and criticize it, as, we argue, based upon an unrealistic picture of the kind of explanations provided by principle (and constructive) theorie…Read more
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1Structural explanation from Special Relativity to Quantum Information TheoryIn M. D'Agostino, G. Giorello & F. Laudisa (eds.), SILFS New Essays in Logic and Philosophy of Science, College Pubblications. 2010.
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81It's a Matter of Principle: Scientific Explanation in Information‐Theoretic Reconstructions of Quantum TheoryDialectica 70 (4): 549-575. 2016.The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which Axiomatic Reconstructions of Quantum Theory in terms of Information-Theoretic principles can contribute to explaining and understanding quantum phenomena, as well as to study their explanatory limitations. This is achieved in part by offering an account of the kind of explanation that axiomatic reconstructions of Quantum Theory provide, and re-evaluating the epistemic status of the program in light of this explanation. As illustrative case st…Read more
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Nonlocality in Everettian Accounts of Quantum MechanicsIsonomía. Revista de Teoría y Filosofía Del Derecho. 2007.