Skip to main content

Part of the book series: The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 57))

Abstract

There are two basic strategies for handling the problem of measurement. It is possible to modify the basic theory, giving up the fundamental symmetries (Lorentz space-time symmetry or Hilbert-space symmetry), and it is possible to keep them intact. Examples of the first kind, the “revisionary” approaches, include stochastic wave equations (the GRW approach), and Bohm’s mechanics. Examples of the second kind appeal to decoherence theory, with the idea that state reduction is somehow to be understood as an “effective” dynamics, alongside an underlying unitary dynamics. The key question is whether Everett’s ideas must be used as well.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Albert, D., and B. Loewer. (1988), “Interpreting the Many-Worlds Interpretation”, Synthese 77: 195–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnap, R. (1963), “Intellectual Autobiography”, in P. A. Schilpp (ed.), The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. La Salle: Open Court.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clifton, R., and M. Hogarth. (1994), “The Definability of Objective Becoming in Minkowski Spacetime”, Synthese (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, D. (1985), “Quantum Theory as a -Universal Physical Theory”, International Journal of Theoretical Physics 24: 1–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeWitt, B. (1970), “Quantum Mechanics and Reality”, Physics Today 23; reprinted in DeWitt and Graham (1973, 155–67).

    Google Scholar 

  • DeWitt, B. (1993), “How Does the Classical World Emerge from the Wave Function?”, in F. Mansouri and J. J. Scanio (eds.), Topics on Quantum Gravity and Beyond. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeWitt, B., and N. Graham. (1973), The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diôsi, L. (ed.) (1994), Stochastic Evolution of Quantum States in Open Systems and in Measurement Processes. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diôsi, L., N. Gisin, J. Halliwell, and I. Percival. (1995), “Decoherent Histories and Quantum State Diffusion”, Physical Review Letters (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowker, F., and N. Kent. (1994), “On the Consistent Histories Approach to Quantum Mechanics”, Cambridge University preprint, DAMTP/ 94–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Einstein, A. (1905), “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper”, Annalen der Physik 17: 891–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Everett III, H. (1957), “Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics”, Reviews of Modern Physics 29: 454–62; reprinted in DeWitt and Graham (1973, 14150).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fahri E., J. Goldstone, and S. Gutman. (1989), “How Probability Arises in Quantum Mechanics”, Annals of Physics 192: 368–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein, D. (1963), “The Logic of Quantum Physics”, Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 25: 621–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gell-Mann, M., and J. B. Hartle. (1990), “Quantum Mechanics in the Light of Quantum Cosmology”, in Zurek ( 1990, 425–59 ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham, N. (1973), “The Measurement of Relative Frequency”, in DeWitt and Graham ( 1973, 229–553 ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Grünbaum, A. (1973), Philosophical Problems of Space and Time. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. ?QI. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Halliwell, J. (1994), “Aspects of the Decoherent Histories Approach to Quantum Mechanics”, in Diôsi (1994, 54–68).

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliwell, J., J. Pérez-Mercader, and W. Zurek. (eds.) (1994), The Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartle, J. B. (1968), “Quantum Mechanics of Individual Systems”, American Journal of Physics 36: 704–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isham, C. J., and N. Linden. (1994), “Quantum Temporal Logic and Decoherence Functionals in the Histories Approach to Generalized Quantum Theory”, Imperial College Preprint, Imperial/ TP/ 93–94/ 35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, D., and L. Thomas. (1975), “On the Existence of a Class of Stationary Quantum Stochastic Processes”, Annals Institute Henri Poincaré A22: 241–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, M. (1989), Mind, Brain, and The Quantum. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood, M. (1992), “What Schrödinger Should Have Learnt from his Cat”, in M. Bitbol and O. Darrigol, (eds.) Erwin Schrödinger: Philosophy and the Birth of Quantum Mechanics. Cedex: Editions Frontières, pp. 363–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maudlin, T. (1994), Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ochs, W. (1977), “On the Strong Law of Large Numbers in Quantum Probability Theory”, Journal of Philosophical Logic 6: 473–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quine, W. V. O. (1953), “Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory”, Mind 62: 1–19; reprinted in The Ways of Paradox, Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1966).

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, B. (1903), Principles of Mathematics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. (1993a), “Decoherence, Relative States, and Evolutionary Adaptation”, Foundations of Physics 23: 1553–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. (1993b), “Decoherence and Evolutionary Adaptation”, Physics Letters A 184: 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. (1994), “Remarks on Decoherent Histories Theory and the Problem of Measurement”, in Diösi ( 1994, 94–105 ).

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, S. (1995), “Time, Quantum Mechanics, and Decoherence”, Synthese (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Stein, H. (1991), “On Relativity Theory and the Openness of the Future”, Philosophy of Science 58: 147–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weyl, H. (1949), Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science. New York: Atheneum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, C. (1993), Realism, Meaning, and Truth, 2nd. ed. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeh, H. D. (1992), The Physical Basis for the Direction of Time, 2nd. ed. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zurek, W. H. (ed.) (1990), Complexity, Entropy, and the Physics of Information. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zurek, W. H. (1993), “Negotiating the Tricky Border Between Quantum and Classical”, Physics Today 46: 13–15, 81–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zurek, W. H. (1994), “Preferred States, Predictability, Classicality, and the Environment-Induced Decoherence”, in Halliwell et al. ( 1994, 175–213 ).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Saunders, S. (1996). Relativism. In: Clifton, R. (eds) Perspectives on Quantum Reality. The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 57. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8656-6_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8656-6_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4643-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8656-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics