Causality and the Modeling of the Measurement Process in Quantum Theory

Disputatio 9 (47):657-690 (2017)
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Abstract

In this paper we provide a general account of the causal models which attempt to provide a solution to the famous measurement problem of Quantum Mechanics. We will argue that—leaving aside instrumentalism which restricts the physical meaning of QM to the algorithmic prediction of measurement outcomes—the many interpretations which can be found in the literature can be distinguished through the way they model the measurement process, either in terms of the efficient cause or in terms of the final cause. We will discuss and analyze why both, ‘final cause’ and ‘efficient cause’ models, face severe difficulties to solve the measurement problem. In contradistinction to these schemes we will present a new model based on the immanent cause which, we will argue, provides an intuitive understanding of the measurement process in QM.

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References found in this work

The principles of quantum mechanics.Paul Dirac - 1930 - Oxford,: Clarendon Press.
The Complete Works: The Rev. Oxford Translation.Jonathan Barnes (ed.) - 1984 - Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Physics and philosophy: the revolution in modern science.Werner Heisenberg - 1958 - Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.
The Shaky Game: Einstein, Realism, and the Quantum Theory.Arthur Fine - 1986 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Atomic theory and the description of nature.Niels Bohr - 1934 - Woodbridge, Conn.: Ox Bow Press.

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