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Maudlin’s Challenge Refuted: A Reply to Lewis

Kastner, Ruth (2014) Maudlin’s Challenge Refuted: A Reply to Lewis. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Lewis has recently argued that Maudlin’s contingent absorber experiment remains a significant problem for the Transactional Interpretation (TI). He argues that the only straightforward way to resolve the challenge is by describing the absorbers as offer waves, and asserts that this is a previously unnoticed aspect of the challenge for TI. This argument is refuted in two basic ways: (i) it is noted that the Maudlin experiment cannot be meaningfully recast with absorbers described by quantum states and (ii) the extant rebuttals to the Maudlin challenge in its original form are not in fact subject to the alleged flaws that Lewis ascribes to them. This paper further seeks to clarify the issues raised in Lewis’ presentation concerning the distinction between quantum systems and macroscopic objects in TI. It is concluded that the Maudlin challenge poses no significant problem for the transactional interpretation.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Kastner, Ruthrkastner@umd.edu
Keywords: Transactional Interpretation, Contingent Absorber Experiment, Maudlin Experiment
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User: Ruth E. Kastner
Date Deposited: 07 Jan 2014 14:04
Last Modified: 11 Feb 2014 12:02
Item ID: 10165
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date: 7 January 2014
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10165

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