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Quantum ontology without speculation

Type of publication Peer-reviewed
Publikationsform Original article (peer-reviewed)
Author Egg Matthias,
Project The Limits of Scientific Metaphysics: Lessons from Quantum Mechanics
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Original article (peer-reviewed)

Journal European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Volume (Issue) 11(1)
Page(s) 32
Title of proceedings European Journal for Philosophy of Science
DOI 10.1007/s13194-020-00346-1

Open Access

URL http://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-020-00346-1
Type of Open Access Publisher (Gold Open Access)

Abstract

Existing proposals concerning the ontology of quantum mechanics (QM) either involve speculation that goes beyond the scientific evidence or abandon realism about large parts of QM. This paper proposes a way out of this dilemma, by showing that QM as it is formulated in standard textbooks allows for a much more substantive ontological commitment than is usually acknowledged. For this purpose, I defend a non-fundamentalist approach to ontology, which is then applied to various aspects of QM. In particular, I will defend realism about spin, which has been viewed as a particularly hard case for the ontology of QM.
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