Abstract
According to a very widespread interpretation of the metaphysical nature of quantum entities—the so-called Received View on quantum non-individuality—, quantum entities are non-individuals. Still according to this understanding, non-individuals are entities for which identity is restricted or else does not apply at all. As a consequence, it is said, such approach to quantum mechanics would require that classical logic be revised, given that it is somehow committed with the unrestricted validity of identity. In this paper we examine the arguments to the inadequacy of classical logic to deal with non-individuals, as previously defined, and argue that they fail to make a good case for logical revision. In fact, classical logic may accommodate non-individuals in that specific sense too. What is more pressing for the Received View, it seems, is not a revision of logic, but rather a more adequate metaphysical characterization of non-individuals.
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This paper was awarded the ‘Newton da Costa Logic Prize 2018’. This prize was created in Brazil in 2015 in honor of Newton C. A. da Costa, the great Brazilian logician. The ‘Newton da Costa Logic Prize’ is part of a larger project, ‘A Prize of Logic in Every Country’. As a result, the paper was presented at the ‘Logic Prizes Contest’, which took place at the 6th Unilog, held in Vichy, France, 2018. For further information, see http://www.uni-log.org/logic-prize-world
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Arenhart, J.R.B. New Logics for Quantum Non-individuals?. Log. Univers. 12, 375–395 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-018-0202-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11787-018-0202-y