Saunders, Simon and Wallace, David (2008) Branching and Uncertainty. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Following Lewis, it is widely held that branching worlds differ in important ways from diverging worlds. There is, however, a simple and natural semantics under which ordinary sentences uttered in branching worlds have much the same truth values as they conventionally have in diverging worlds. Under this semantics, whether branching or diverging, speakers cannot say in advance which branch or world is theirs. They are uncertain as to the outcome. This same semantics ensures the truth of utterances typically made about quantum mechanical contingencies, including statements of uncertainty, if the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics is true. The `incoherence problem' of the Everett interpretation, that it can give no meaning to the notion of uncertainty, is thereby solved.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Saunders, Simon Wallace, David
Additional Information:	This is a revised version of the paper of the same name deposited on 12 June 2007, as it will appear in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
Keywords:	Everett, many worlds, Branching, Probability, quantum mechanics
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	simon saunders
Date Deposited:	10 Jan 2008
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:16
Item ID:	3811
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Probability/Statistics General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	January 2008
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/3811

Available Versions of this Item

• Branching and Uncertainty. (deposited 12 Jun 2007)
  • Branching and Uncertainty. (deposited 10 Jan 2008) [Currently Displayed]

Commentary/Response Threads

• Saunders, Simon and Wallace, David Branching and Uncertainty. (deposited 10 Jan 2008) [Currently Displayed]
  • Tappenden, Paul Varieties of Divergence: A Response to Saunders and Wallace. (deposited 01 Jun 2010)
  • Tappenden, Paul Saunders and Wallace on Everett and Lewis. (deposited 25 Jan 2008)

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