Modelling Deep Indeterminacy

Synthese 198:1685–1710 (2021)
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Abstract

This paper constructs a model of metaphysical indeterminacy that can accommodate a kind of ‘deep’ worldly indeterminacy that arguably arises in quantum mechanics via the Kochen-Specker theorem, and that is incompatible with prominent theories of metaphysical indeterminacy such as that in Barnes and Williams (2011). We construct a variant of Barnes and Williams's theory that avoids this problem. Our version builds on situation semantics and uses incomplete, local situations rather than possible worlds to build a model. We evaluate the resulting theory and contrast it with similar alternatives, concluding that our model successfully captures deep indeterminacy.

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Author Profiles

George Darby
University of Kent
Martin Pickup
University of Birmingham

Citations of this work

Quantum indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi & Cristian Mariani - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 16 (4):e12731.
Derivative Indeterminacy.Kevin Richardson - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-17.
Social construction and indeterminacy.Kevin Richardson - 2024 - Analytic Philosophy 65 (1):37-52.
Quantum modal indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi - 2022 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 95 (C):177-184.

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References found in this work

Aboutness.Stephen Yablo - 2014 - Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Quantum metaphysical indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi & Jessica Wilson - 2019 - Philosophical Studies 176 (10):2599–2627.
A Theory of Metaphysical Indeterminacy.Elizabeth Barnes & J. Robert G. Williams - 2011 - In Karen Bennett & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics Volume 6. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press. pp. 103-148.

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