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Interview with physicist Christopher Fuchs

Continental Philosophy Review volume 54, pages 541–561 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

QBism is an interpretation of quantum mechanics, proposed by certain physicists that interprets quantum probabilities as subjective Bayesian probabilities, whence its name. By attempting to avoid experientially unfulfilled speculations about what exists prior to measurement, QBism seems to make a close encounter with the phenomenological method. What follows is an interview with QBism’s founder and principal champion, the physicist Christopher Fuchs.

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Notes

  1. For an overview of the dominant strains of interpretation and their commitments, see Peter Lewis (2016, 179–182).

  2. Fuchs (2016).

  3. See for comparison Bitbol (2020).

  4. Fuchs (2011).

  5. Wheeler (1973).

  6. Jaynes (1990). p. 381.

  7. Fuchs (2016).

  8. James (1979, 117–118).

  9. James (1975, 123–124).

  10. James (1975, 122–123).

  11. For one phenomenological account of the problem of observability, see Wiltsche (2012).

  12. Von Baeyer (2009). p. 64. Quote from the original English manscript of the book.

  13. Schilpp (1949). pp. 673–674.

  14. See also Wiltsche (2012).

  15. See Fuchs (2017, 2018).

  16. Pienaar (2020).

  17. Kochen and Specker (1967).

  18. Peres (1978).

  19. Fuchs, Mermin and Schack (2014).

  20. Caves, Fuchs, and Schack (2002).

  21. See Stacey (2019) for a more extensive list of these changes of heart.

  22. Timpson (2008).

  23. Caves, Fuchs, and Schack (2007).

  24. Rorty (1991). p. 1.

  25. Fuchs (2014).

  26. Powell (2019).

  27. Einstein (1948). p. 187.

  28. Heisenberg (1971). p. 206.

  29. Bohr (1962).

  30. Fuchs (2017).

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, United States

    Robert P. Crease & James Sares

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Crease, R.P., Sares, J. Interview with physicist Christopher Fuchs. Cont Philos Rev 54, 541–561 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-020-09525-6

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Keywords

  • QBism
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Christopher Fuchs
  • Measurement problem
  • Bayesianism
  • Normative structural realism