Abstract
It is not an exaggeration to say that quantum mechanics is at odds with most of our received metaphysical notions. In particular, an alleged revision is brought about by the theory on the metaphysical notion of ‘individuality’. Certainly, this should figure as being of great interest for metaphysicians and philosophers of science alike. What makes issues even more interesting is that some of the founding fathers of the theory, with their typical philosophical inclinations, suggested that the entities dealt with by the theory had something different regarding individuality: according to them, quantum entities somehow fail individuality.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
We are not here claiming that this understanding of the statistics is not problematic or that it is the only alternative; rather, this is how the RV is typically presented, as a contrast between the classical and the quantum case.
- 3.
A small note on terminology: individuation is typically taken as synonym for individuality. Here, we distinguish both notions: individuality, as we mentioned, is a metaphysical feature of an entity, while individuation concerns an epistemic act of agents. We hope that the similarity of words won’t cause any confusion.
- 4.
There are troubles for higher-order languages too; see French and Krause (2006), chap. 6 for a general discussion.
- 5.
‘The appropriate kind’ here means that distinct versions of the principle are obtained according to the kind of properties allowed in the range of F. Three distinct versions are more prominent: (1) F ranges over every property and relation; (2) F ranges over every property and relation, except for spatio-temporal ones; (3) F ranges only over non-relational properties. See French (2015) for a discussion.
- 6.
Ctenomorpha marginipennis.
- 7.
Of course, one may try to spell the theory of substratum as a theory of individuality without being also a theory of composition.
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- 9.
We are not suggesting that Muller and Saunders see themselves as providing a theory of non-individuals; our suggestion is that their definitions may be understood as a rendering of the RV.
- 10.
We are not claiming that it was Bueno’s original goal to defend a theory of non-individuals; in fact, in Bueno (2014) he identifies the RV with the non-reflexive approach, and argues against it.
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Krause, D., Becker Arenhart, J.R. (2018). Quantum Non-individuality: Background Concepts and Possibilities. In: Wuppuluri, S., Doria, F. (eds) The Map and the Territory. The Frontiers Collection. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72478-2_15
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