Vague Identity and Quantum Non-Individuality

Analysis 55 (1):20 - 26 (1995)
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Abstract

Lowe has recently argued that quantum particles offer examples of vague objects. While accepting the premise of the argument that such particles can be regarded as individuals, we point out that there is a lacuna here, to be filled by a detailed analysis of the nature of the entangled states which they enter into. We then elaborate the alternative view, according to which such particles should be regarded as non- individuals' and situate it in the context of recent developments of a logic of non- individuality. Our conclusion is that it is here that one encounters genuine ontic vagueness.

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Author Profiles

Steven French
University of Leeds
Décio Krause
Federal University of Santa Catarina

Citations of this work

Fundamental Indeterminacy.Elizabeth Barnes - 2014 - Analytic Philosophy 55 (4):339-362.
Ontic structural realism as a metaphysics of objects.Michael Esfeld & Vincent Lam - 2011 - In Alisa Bokulich & Peter Bokulich, Scientific Structuralism. Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 143-159.
In defence of ontic structural realism.Steven French & James Ladyman - 2011 - In Alisa Bokulich & Peter Bokulich, Scientific Structuralism. Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 25-42.

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References found in this work

Particle labels and the theory of indistinguishable particles in quantum mechanics.Michael Redhead & Paul Teller - 1992 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 43 (2):201-218.
Holism, Separability, and the Metaphysical Implications of the Bell Experiments.Don Howard - 1989 - In James T. Cushing & Ernan McMullin, Philoophical Consequences of Quantum Theory. University of Notre Dame Press. pp. 224--253.
On a quasi-set theory.Décio Krause - 1992 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 33 (3):402--11.
Vague Identity and Quantum Indeterminacy.E. J. Lowe - 1994 - Analysis 54 (2):110 - 114.

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