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On the Plurality of Quantum Theories: Quantum theory as a framework, and its implications for the quantum measurement problem

Wallace, David (2018) On the Plurality of Quantum Theories: Quantum theory as a framework, and its implications for the quantum measurement problem. [Preprint]

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Abstract

`Quantum theory' is not a single physical theory but a framework in which many different concrete theories fit. As such, a solution to the quantum measurement problem ought to provide a recipe to interpret each such concrete theory, in a mutually consistent way. But with the exception of the Everett interpretation, the mainextant solutions either try to make sense of the abstract framework as if it were concrete, or else interpret one particular quantum theory under the fiction that it is fundamental and exact. In either case, these approaches are unable to help themselves to the very theory-laden, level-relative ways in which quantum theory makes contact with experiment in mainstream physics, and so are committed to major revisionary projects which have not been carried out even in outline. As such, only the Everett interpretation is currently suited to make sense of quantum physics as we find it.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Wallace, Daviddmwallac@usc.edu
Additional Information: This is a draft of a chapter that has been accepted for publication by Oxford University Press in the forthcoming book 'Realism and the Quantum' edited by S. French and J. Saatsi, due for publication in 2019.
Keywords: quantum theory realism quantum field theory Everett interpretation pragmatism operationalism measurement problem
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User: Professor David Wallace
Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2018 15:00
Last Modified: 11 Nov 2018 15:00
Item ID: 15292
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date: 2018
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15292

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