Pure wave mechanics and the very idea of empirical adequacy

Synthese 192 (10):3071-3104 (2015)
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Abstract

Hugh Everett III proposed his relative-state formulation of pure wave mechanics as a solution to the quantum measurement problem. He sought to address the theory’s determinate record and probability problems by showing that, while counterintuitive, pure wave mechanics was nevertheless empirically faithful and hence empirical acceptable. We will consider what Everett meant by empirical faithfulness. The suggestion will be that empirical faithfulness is well understood as a weak variety of empirical adequacy. The thought is that the very idea of empirical adequacy might be renegotiated in the context of a new physical theory given the theory’s other virtues. Everett’s argument for pure wave mechanics provides a concrete example of such a renegotiation

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Jeffrey Barrett
University of California, Irvine

Citations of this work

The role of decoherence in quantum mechanics.Guido Bacciagaluppi - 2003 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Perspectival Quantum Realism.Dennis Dieks - 2022 - Foundations of Physics 52 (4):1-20.
Situated observation in Bohmian mechanics.Jeffrey A. Barrett - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 88 (C):345-357.

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