Abstract
In this paper, we are trying to do two things: to present a general theory about the interpretation of scientific theories, and to use quantum mechanics as a test case for judging the validity of this metatheory. By a metatheory of scientific theories, I mean a general theory concerning the structure, functioning, and interpretation of scientific theories. The construction of such metatheories has been one of the primary concerns of philosophers of science in the twentieth century. A brief historical sketch may serve to show some of the limitations in the results so far obtained. Here, a word of caution is in order. Since this historical sketch is simply intended as a background to make a new interpretation intelligible, we will present a schematic view which necessarily oversimplifies the positions considered.
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Reference
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His views have been developed in a series of articles: ‘Problems of Empiricism’, in R. Colodny (ed.), Beyond the Edge of Certainty: Essays in Contemporary Science and Philosophy Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965, pp. 145–260; ‘Problems of Microphysics’, in R. Colodny (ed.), Frontiers of Science and Philosophy University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1962, pp. 189–283; ‘Explanation, Reductionism, and Empiricism’, in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science Ill, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1963, pp. 28–97.
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Patrick Heelan, S.J., [this volume — Ed.].
See the discussion on Axiom 7 in Mackey, p. 71ff.
As this contention is developed in Jauch, Chap. v, it is the conclusion from a set of premises. First, a physical law is a condition-effect relation, in quantum mechanics a probability relation, which has the general form: “If a system S is subject to conditions A, B… then the effects X, Y,… can be observed” (p. 71). Secondly, operational definitions are an adequate basis for explaining theoretical terms: “If we wish to determine the physical characteristics of a proton, we must perform a series of experiments which then, in their ensemble, will be a full operational equivalent for the construct proton” (p. 72). Third, a set of idealized measuring apparatuses would reproduce not only the values characterizing states of a system, but also the logical properties of combinations (union and intersection) of propositions. Finally, the structure properties (complete, orthocomplemented modular lattice) of this set of propositions reveal the intrinsic structure of a physical system; i.e., the set of propositions about a physical system which are independent of the state of the system. Each of these contentions is open to serious objections. On the difference between conditional statements and physical laws, see Stephan Körner, Experience and Theory: An Essay in the Philosophy of Science, op. cit. On the impossibility of explaining theoretical constructs exclusively by operational definitions, see Arthur Pap, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Free Press, Glencoe, Ill., 1962, Chap. iii. The difficulties with the third and fourth premises are discussed by Patrick Heelan, S.J. in ‘Quantum Logic Does not Have to Be Non-Classical’, in Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science (to be published)
and by D. Bohm and J. Bub in ‘On Hidden Variables — A Reply to Comments by Jauch and Piron and by Gudder’, Rev. Mod. Phys. 40 (1968), 235–6.
H. Putnam, op. cit.
For his doctrine of determinism, see Hilary Putnam, ‘Time and Physical Geometry’, The Journal of Philosophy 64 (April 27, 1967), 240–47.
A refutation of Putnam’s view is given by Howard Stein in ‘On Einstein-Minkowski Space-Time’, The Journal of Philosophy 65 (January 11, 1968), 5–23.
See my Truth: The Hecker Lectures, op. cit., Chap, iii, Sect. iii.
These ideas are based on Julian Schwinger, ‘Field Theory of Particles’, in Lectures on Particles and Fields: Brandeis Summer Institute, 1964 Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., pp. 145–288. See especially the introductory remarks to Chap, v, pp. 267–8.
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Mackinnon, E. (1974). Ontic Commitments of Quantum Mechanics. In: Cohen, R.S., Wartofsky, M.W. (eds) Logical and Epistemological Studies in Contemporary Physics. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 13. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2656-7_9
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