Quantum propensities

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 38 (2):418-438 (2007)
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Abstract

This paper reviews four attempts throughout the history of quantum mechanics to explicitly employ dispositional notions in order to solve the quantum paradoxes, namely: Margenau's latencies, Heisenberg's potentialities, Maxwell's propensitons, and the recent selective propensities interpretation of quantum mechanics. Difficulties and challenges are raised for all of them, and it is concluded that the selective propensities approach nicely encompasses the virtues of its predecessors. Finally, some strategies are discussed for reading similar dispositional notions into two other well-known interpretations of quantum mechanics, namely the GRW interpretation and Bohmian mechanics.

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Mauricio Suárez
Complutense University of Madrid

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References found in this work

Physics and philosophy: the revolution in modern science.Werner Heisenberg - 1958 - Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen.
Dispositions and conditionals.C. B. Martin - 1994 - Philosophical Quarterly 44 (174):1-8.

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