Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-twqc4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-21T18:09:58.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Modal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

Gary M. Hardegree
Gary M. Hardegree*
Affiliation:
Indiana University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the present paper I describe a general formal semantic scheme for the interpretation of quantum mechanics (QM) , and on the basis of this scheme I examine the modal interpretation of QM — both the Copenhagen and the anti-Copenhagen variants — proposed by van Fraassen [19, 20, 21], This is intended to be a fragment of a larger work [12] which additionally investigates a number of closely related interpretations, including ones proposed by Bub and Demopoulos [1, 2, 3, 4], Fine [5, 6], and Krips [16, 17].

Formal semantically speaking (see, e.g., Thomason [18]), a logic L may be characterized as an ordered pair <SYN,SEM>, where SYN is the underlying syntax (language) of L, and SEM is the semantics of L, which consists of a class of semantic assignments on SYN.

Type
Part III. Philosophy of Physics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1976 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1976 , 1976 , pp. 82 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © 1976 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bub, J. “On the Completeness of Quantum Mechanics.” In Contemporary Research In the Foundations and Philosophy of Quantum Theory. Edited by Hooker, C.A.. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1973. Pages 1-65.Google Scholar
Bub, J. The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bub, J. and Demopoulos, W. “The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.” In Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. XIII. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1974. Pages 92-122.Google Scholar
Demopoulos, W. “The Possibility Structure of Physical Systems.” In Foundations of Probability Theory, Statistical Inference, and Statistical Theories of Science, vol. III. Edited by Harper, W. and Hooker, C.A. . Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1976. Pages 55-80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, A. “Probability and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 24(1973): 1-37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, A. “On the Completeness of Quantum Mechanics.” Synthese 29(1974): 257-289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foulis, D.J., and Randall, C.H. “Empirical Logic and Quantum Mechanics.” Synthese 29(1974) : 81-111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foulis, D.J.. “Operational Statistics. I. Basic Concepts.” Journal of Mathematical Physics 13(1972): 1667-75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleason, A.M. “Measures on Closed Subspaces of Hilbert Space.” Journal of Mathematics and Mechanics 6(1957): 885-93.Google Scholar
Hardegree, G.M. “Relative Compatibility in Conventional Quantum Mechanics.” Foundations of Physics, in press.Google Scholar
Hardegree, G.M. “Semantic Analysis of Hans Reichenbach's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.” To appear in Synthese.Google Scholar
Hardegree, G.M. “Semantics and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.” To appear.Google Scholar
Jauch, J.M. Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. New York: Addison-Wesley, 1968.Google Scholar
Jauch, J.M. “The Quantum Probability Calculus.” Synthese 29(1974); 131-154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kochen, S., and Specker, E.P. “The Problem of Hidden Variables in Quantum Mechanics.” Journal of Mathematics and Mechanics 17(1967): 59-87.Google Scholar
Krips, H. “Two Paradoxes in Quantum Mechanics.” Philosophy of Science 36(1969): 145-152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krips, H. “Foundations of Quantum Theory, Part 3.” Foundations of Physics, in press.Google Scholar
Thomason, R.H. “Philosophy and Formal Semantics.” In Truth, Syntax and Modality. Edited by Leblanc, H.. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1973. Pages 294-307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Fraassen, B.C.. “A Formal Approach to the Philosophy of Science.” In Paradigms and Paradoxes. Edited by Colodny, R.G. . Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1972. Pages 303-366.Google Scholar
Van Fraassen, B.C.. “Semantic Analysis of Quantum Logic.” In Comtemporary Research in the Foundations and Philosophy of Quantum Theory. Edited by C.A. Hooker. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1973. Pages.80-113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Fraassen, B.C.. “The Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky Paradox.” Synthese 29(1974): 291-309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Fraassen, B.C.. “Hidden Variables in Conditional Logic.” Theoria 49(1974) : 176-190.Google Scholar