Muller, F. A. (2009) Withering Away,Weakly. In: UNSPECIFIED.

Preview

PDF MullerStrRandQM2009.pdf Download (150kB)

Abstract

One of the reasons provided for the shift away from an ontology for physical reality of material objects & properties towards one of physical structures & relations (Ontological Structural Realism: OntSR) is that the quantum-mechanical description of composite physical systems of similar elementary particles entails they are indiscernible. As material objects, they ‘whither away’, and when they wither away, structures emerge in their stead. We inquire into the question whether recent results establishing the weak discernibility of elementary particles pose a threat for this quantum mechanical reason for OntSR, because precisely their newly discovered discernibility prevents them from ‘whithering away’. We argue there is a straightforward manner to consider the recent results as a reason in favour of OntSR rather than against it.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Muller, F. A.
Keywords:	ontic structural realism, ontology, (in)discernibility of elementary particles.
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Dr Ioannis Votsis
Date Deposited:	28 May 2009
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:18
Item ID:	4660
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	2009
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4660

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item