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Why Conceptual Rigour Matters to Philosophy: on the Ontological Significance of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory

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I argue that algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT) permits an undisturbed view of the right ontology for fundamental physics, whereas standard (or Lagrangian) QFT offers different mutually incompatible ontologies. My claim does not depend on the mathematical inconsistency of standard QFT but on the fact that AQFT has the same concerns as ontology, namely categorical parsimony and a clearly structured hierarchy of entities.

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  1. University of Bremen, Enrique-Schmidt-Straße 7, 28 359, Bremen, Germany

    Meinard Kuhlmann

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Kuhlmann, M. Why Conceptual Rigour Matters to Philosophy: on the Ontological Significance of Algebraic Quantum Field Theory. Found Phys 40, 1625–1637 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9474-7

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