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On Witness-Discernibility of Elementary Particles

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Abstract

In the context of discussions about the nature of ‘identical particles’ and the status of Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles in Quantum Mechanics, a novel kind of physical discernibility has recently been proposed, which we call witness-discernibility. We inquire into how witness-discernibility relates to known kinds of discernibility. Our conclusion will be that for a wide variety of cases, including the intended quantum-mechanical ones, witness-discernibility collapses extensionally to absolute discernibility, that is, to discernibility by properties.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank two anonymous referees for some helpful remarks, and J. Ladyman, T. Bigaj and the members of the Bristol Structuralism Seminar for conversations on the subject-matter. Øystein Linnebo was supported by an ERC Starting Grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burg. Oudlaan 50, H5-10, 3062 PA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    F. A. Muller

  2. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    F. A. Muller

  3. Department of Philosophy, 12-14 Gower Street, London, WC1E 6DP, UK

    Øystein Linnebo

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  1. Øystein Linnebo
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  2. F. A. Muller
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Correspondence to F. A. Muller.

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Linnebo, Ø., Muller, F.A. On Witness-Discernibility of Elementary Particles. Erkenn 78, 1133–1142 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-012-9385-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-012-9385-4

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