Three arguments for wave function realism

European Journal for Philosophy of Science 13 (4):1-18 (2023)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Wave function realism is an interpretative framework for quantum theories which recommends taking the central ontology of these theories to consist of the quantum wave function, understood as a field on a high-dimensional space. This paper presents and evaluates three standard arguments for wave function realism, and clarifies the sort of ontological framework these arguments support.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

DOI

10.1007/s13194-023-00554-5

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Fundamental physical ontologies and the constraint of empirical coherence: a defense of wave function realism.Alyssa Ney - 2015 - Synthese 192 (10):3105-3124.
Scientific Realism and Primitive Ontology Or: The Pessimistic Induction and the Nature of the Wave Function.Valia Allori - 2018 - Lato Sensu 1 (5):69-76.
On The Methodological Arguments for Wave−Function Realism.Vera Matarese - 2022 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 34 (2):63-80.
Laws of nature and the reality of the wave function.Mauro Dorato - 2015 - Synthese 192 (10):3179-3201.
Realism and instrumentalism about the wave function. How should we choose?Mauro Dorato & Federico Laudisa - 2014 - In Shao Gan (ed.), Protective Measurements and Quantum Reality: Toward a New Understanding of Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge University Press.
Realism about the wave function.Eddy Keming Chen - 2019 - Philosophy Compass 14 (7):e12611.
Quantum Mechanics on Spacetime I: Spacetime State Realism.David Wallace & Christopher Gordon Timpson - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (4):697-727.
Scientific Realism without the Wave-Function: An Example of Naturalized Quantum Metaphysics.Valia Allori - 2020 - In Steven French & Juha Saatsi (eds.), Scientific Realism and the Quantum. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Review of Alyssa Ney’s 
The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum Physics. [REVIEW]Mario Hubert - 2022 - Philosophy of Science 89 (4):864-875.
Finding the world in the wave function: some strategies for solving the macro-object problem.Alyssa Ney - 2020 - Synthese 197 (10):4227-4249.
A New Ontological Interpretation of the Wave Function.Shan Gao - unknown
A New Argument for the Nomological Interpretation of the Wave Function: The Galilean Group and the Classical Limit of Nonrelativistic Quantum Mechanics.Valia Allori - 2017 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science (2):177-188.
Reality and the role of the wave function in quantum theory.Sheldon Goldstein & Nino Zanghi - unknown
About the nature of the wave function and its dimensionality: the case of quantum chemistry.Sebastian Fortin & Jesús Alberto Jaimes Arriaga - unknown
The Intrinsic Structure of Quantum Mechanics.Eddy Keming Chen - 2019 - In Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics. New Brunswick, NJ: PhD dissertation, Rutgers University. pp. Chapter 1.

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-12-06

Downloads
489 (#39,623)

6 months
41 (#97,394)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Alyssa Ney
University of California, Davis

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Two Dogmas of Empiricism.Willard V. O. Quine - 1951 - Philosophical Review 60 (1):20–43.
Causation.David Lewis - 1973 - Journal of Philosophy 70 (17):556-567.
Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalized.James Ladyman & Don Ross - 2007 - In James Ladyman & Don Ross (eds.), Every thing must go: metaphysics naturalized. New York: Oxford University Press.
What is structural realism?James Ladyman - 1998 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 29 (3):409-424.
Two Dogmas of Empiricism.W. V. Quine - 1951 - Philosophical Review 60 (1):20-43.

View all 27 references / Add more references