PhilSci Archive

Epistemological vs. Ontological Relationalism in Quantum Mechanics: Relativism or Realism?

de Ronde, Christian and Fernandez Moujan, Raimundo (2017) Epistemological vs. Ontological Relationalism in Quantum Mechanics: Relativism or Realism? [Preprint]

[img]
Preview
Text
de Ronde & Fernandez Moujan - Relationalism From the Greeks to QM.pdf

Download (500kB) | Preview

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the history of relationalism and its present use in some interpretations of quantum mechanics. In the first part of this article we will provide a conceptual analysis of the relation between substantivalism, relationalism and relativism in the history of both physics and philosophy. In the second part, we will address some relational interpretations of quantum mechanics, namely, Bohr’s relational approach, the modal interpretation by Kochen, the perspectival modal version by Bene and Dieks and the relational interpretation by Rovelli. We will argue that all these interpretations ground their understanding of relations in epistemological terms. By taking into account the analysis on the first part of our work, we intend to highlight the fact that there is a different possibility for understanding quantum mechanics in relational terms which has not been yet considered within the foundational literature. This possibility is to consider relations in (non-relativist) ontological terms. We will argue that such an understanding might be capable of providing a novel approach to the problem of representing what quantum mechanics is really talking about.


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
de Ronde, Christiancderonde@gmail.com
Fernandez Moujan, Raimundo
Keywords: relationalism, relativism, epistemic view, ontic view, quantum mechanics.
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User: Christian de Ronde
Date Deposited: 12 Dec 2017 14:36
Last Modified: 21 Dec 2017 20:15
Item ID: 14195
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date: 11 December 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14195

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item