Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory (Princeton Foundations of Contemporary Philosophy Book 33) by Tim Maudlin (PDF)

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A sophisticated and original introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics from one of the world’s leading philosophers of physicsIn this book, Tim Maudlin, one of the world’s leading philosophers of physics, offers a sophisticated, original introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics. The briefest, clearest, and most refined account of his influential approach to the subject, the book will be invaluable to all students of philosophy and physics.Quantum mechanics holds a unique place in the history of physics. It has produced the most accurate predictions of any scientific theory, but, more astonishing, there has never been any agreement about what the theory implies about physical reality. Maudlin argues that the very term “quantum theory” is a misnomer. A proper physical theory should clearly describe what is there and what it does—yet standard textbooks present quantum mechanics as a predictive recipe in search of a physical theory.In contrast, Maudlin explores three proper theories that recover the quantum predictions: the indeterministic wavefunction collapse theory of Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber; the deterministic particle theory of deBroglie and Bohm; and the conceptually challenging Many Worlds theory of Everett. Each offers a radically different proposal for the nature of physical reality, but Maudlin shows that none of them are what they are generally taken to be.

User’s Reviews

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⭐I give this book one star because it fails to cover and it admits in its introduction that it intentionally fails to cover the instrumentalist interpretation, commonly known as the “Copenhagen Interpretation”, of physics which is the interpretation of it given by many of the founders of quantum theory (this book does not get into general relativity theory and its problems) and the only one that explains the evolution of science including physics into its present state and technique as data science. Thus it continues the present modern need of all philosophy both analytic and continental to turn philosophy into religion (for the latter they seem do so to justify social engineering, the former analytic school seems only to need secular religion to give meaning to their lives and academic tenure for their careers, otherwise they seem to accept the dogma of the continental school ). It rationalizes its exclusion of instrumentalist interpretation because it dogmatically states that a physical theory must answer the question: “what there is and what it does” or give “ontology” and “dynamics”. In the present world in which even for physics, data science and correlation without explanation are taking over all theory including physics, for a supposed philosopher of physics to demand an “ontology” from a science is outright delusion. Ontology is a branch of philosophy not science. This book is not written as an ontology book, it assumes that ontology must come from physics which is not a philosophy of physics but a physics of philosophy. It is one thing to argue that ontology must be naturalized to science; it is another to assume that science must have an ontology for you or to satisfy your need for one. If you want to read and have some understanding of what are essentially metaphysical theories that hide as physical theories such as the logicians’, mystics’, and science fiction writers’ beloved “Many World” theory, this book deserves 5 stars. Otherwise, if you want a real understanding or philosophy of physics as it is and not as it should be in order to satisfy a religious need for physics to explain life for you, I suggest you go old school and read something by the late Norwood Russell Hanson.

⭐Short version: This is now the first book I recommend for those trying to understand quantum theory at the level of an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student in philosophy. (I have already given a second copy to a friend.)Longer version: The book’s concreteness and it’s avoidance of unnecessary mathematics make it very suitable for those without much background in quantum mechanics. Not only does Maudlin introduce quantum mechanics with eight experiments, as others have mentioned, but he also explains how Bohmian mechanics and GRW account for these phenomena. He first introduces the essentials of the standard quantum recipe for making predictions without invoking eigenvalues, eigenvectors, or Hermitian operators, making the book more accessible to those without a background in Linear Algebra.Maudlin also covers topics that should interest people who are familiar with the basic moves in understanding QM, including the PBR theorem, typicality approaches to probability in Bohmian mechanics, and approaches where low-dimensional objects emerge as patterns in the quantum state. The book ends with excellent discussions of the probability problem for Many Worlds and how to extend GRW theories and Bohmian mechanics to a relativistic setting.

⭐What I really appreciate about this book is how Tim Maudlin deftly uses the three different types of quantum mechanics theories (Bohmian mechanics, collapse theories, and many worlds theories) to introduce essential philosophy of physics concepts at points where the reader will most fully comprehend their importance. For instance, one might have chosen to discuss the problem of local beables *before* discussing the three types of theories, since the problem of local beables is a problem that any quantum theory must grapple with. However, Tim Maudlin introduced the problem while discussing collapse theories, and the choice works nicely because it gives the reader a definite theory to picture in their mind rather than forcing the reader to try to immediately grasp the importance of local beables on an abstract level.

⭐This book gets off to a brilliant start and continues in the same vein. The introduction declines to discuss the Copenhagen Interpretation in any detail on the grounds that, in any of its forms, it does not amount to a physical theory. This “Interpretation” says nothing about the world, and its main proponents have actively and dogmatically undermined any academic who attempted to understand the reality behind quantum goings-on.Chapter 1 gives the basic results of eight experiments that (prior to formulating any theory) demand an explanation. The experiments are: 1) cathode ray tube; 2) single slit; 3) double slit; 4) double slit with monitoring; 5) spin and the Stern-Gerlach apparatus; 6) the interferometer; 7) the EPR experiment; and 8) Bell/Aspect experiments.Chapter 2 gives the quantum recipe one follows in order to make mathematical predictions in agreement with the results of the above experiments. The recipe involves a mathematical formalism; plus a hodgepodge of ad hoc ideas, borrowed from classical physics, which must applied judiciously with a certain amount of discretion. This recipe cannot amount to a physical theory – it explains nothing about the world – instead it is a method for calculating answers in agreement with all experimental results. The recipe gives answers of unprecedented accuracy. It is (more or less) the “Copenhagen interpretation.”This chapter also explains how the mathematical formalism gives correct results for each of the experiments of chapter 1. (This is *not* an explanation about what is actually going on in the world.) A paradoxical fact about experiments 3 & 4 is that usually when there are two slits, interference fringes are seen, but when the slits are monitored the fringes disappear. Tim Maudlin gives a beautiful, *visualisable* account of this.Chapter 3 distinguishes between the wavefunction (a mathematical entity) and the quantum state (roughly, the physical reality that the wavefunction represents). It is here that we begin to come to grips with physics.Isolating the topics of experimental results, the quantum recipe, and the quantum state, by discussing them in different chapters, is superbly beneficial. Most writers try to keep these distinct ideas separate, but when they are all discussed in the course of a single argument, (say one which attempts to explain a particular experiment), these notions are bound to become blurred and confused.Chapters 4 through 6 each discuss families of theories that attempt to provide a physical theory, each with a distinct ontology that gives an objective grounding which explains quantum phenomena. Chapter 4 covers spontaneous collapse theories, such as that of Ghirardi, Rimini & Weber. Chapter 5 discusses pilot wave theories, such as those of de Broglie & Bohm. Chapter 6 is about Many Worlds theories, first proposed by Everett.Finally, chapter 7 is a glimpse at relativistic Quantum Field Theory.The clarity of the writing is superb, and a great deal of ground is covered within a brief compass.

⭐Maybe I’m just not in this book’s target demographic, but other books in this sub-genre make more of an effort, it seems to me, to balance communicative helpfulness with formal precision. Between the walls of math in the first hundred pages and the pointedly–one senses proudly–terse prose style, I started flipping pages pretty quickly. No doubt my own mathematical shortcomings played a role in this experience; one can hardly fault an exposition of quantum physics for including complex math. So, as noted, if you have a degree in math or physics, go for it!

⭐When you are interested in the ontology of quantum mechanics, and are familiar with the basics of physics, andare acquainted with Hilbert spaces, not at a very technical level, that is, and are familiar with philosophical language, then this is an excellent book to read, and to read again. The author does an excellent job in explaining the basic structure of quantum mechanics, and how to give a possible ontological explication, about what this interesting part of physics could be about.

⭐É uma apresentação clara e profunda da Mecânica Quântica em sua versão mais atualizada. Contudo, é um texto técnico, com a complicação matemática que é inerente ao assunto.

⭐著者のティム・モードリン（1958ー）、若手の科学哲学者だと思っていたら、いつの間にかもう大家の仲間入りをする熟年層に入っていた（評者が歳をとったということ！）。この新著は、量子力学の哲学がテーマだが、著者はすでに時空論の本も出版しているので、二つ合わせて「物理学の哲学」を論じられる、数少ない研究者の一人。この新著は、「初学者向け」とされているが、本格的な科学哲学者が数少ない我が国では、結構レベルが高いと受け取られるだろう。量子論の解釈といえば、「コペンハーゲン解釈」が真っ先に思い浮かべられるかもしれないが、本書で論じられる三つの解釈で、コペンハーゲン派は最初から排除されている。この本の初めの方にその理由がきちんと書いてある。物理学の「理論」に求められるのは、（１）世界に何が存在するのかという存在論と（２）世界がどのように変化するのかという動力学であり、その変化の法則がきちんと方程式で明示されなければならない。ところが、「コペンハーゲン解釈」は人によって言うことがまちまちであり、存在論はなきに等しく（「相補性」という言い逃れだけ）、変化の法則は「文脈依存」する形でシュレーディンガー方程式の「適用の仕方」を述べる「レシピ」を述べるにすぎない。したがって、「動力学の法則」はきちんと明示されているとは言えない。「測定における波束の収縮」（詳細は不明）を持ち出すだけのレシピでは法則と言える資格がない。要するに、著者の基準によれば、「量子力学理論の解釈」と言えるための要件をコペンハーゲン解釈は満たしていない、という手厳しい判断がなされるわけだ。その点、評者は（ボーアらの解釈、特に訳のわからない「相補性」、に魅力を感じたことは一度もないので）全く同意できる。本書で取り上げられる解釈は、（１）ギラルディ・リミニ・ウェバー（GRW）の「波束の自発的収縮」説、（２）ボームの「パイロット波」説、および（３）「多世界」説の三つである。日本の読者には、（１）と（２）はよく知らない人が多い（評者も然り）ので、そこだけでも、本書はじっくりと読む値打ちが十分にある。それだけでなく、各々の解釈を検討するために試金石として、冒頭から8つの実験が解説され、各々の解釈ではこれらの実験がどのように説明できるかの丁寧な記述があって、大変有益である。つまり、通りいっぺんの解説ではなく、各々の解釈のディテールにまで立ち入った解説がなされるところが、本書の最大の長所。加えて、シュレーディンガー方程式を具体的に適用する際に必要な、「局所的な存在物 local beables」（例えば、実験装置やそれではかるべき、局所的時空内の対象物）の問題を明示的に扱うべし、という主張（ベル由来）も傾聴しなければならない。しかし、「古典的な時空」を前提した枠の中での解釈が本書の主眼だから、量子論と特殊相対論を結合した「量子場の理論」には立ち入らず、そこまで拡張するにはどんな問題点が現れるかの素描が最終章で付け加えられるのみ（今世紀に入った頃から、科学哲学者も量子場の問題を論じるようになってきた）。古典的時空を前提したまま（つまり、同時性や時間の順序構造が決まったまま）では、「非局所性」の問題が、相対論を導入するとどのように変わるのか、予想がつきにくいのである。量子論と時空論を統合しようとする試みについては、第一線の物理学者、例えば、ロヴェッリなどの一般向けの本を読んだ方が手っ取り早いかもしれない。この書評では、解説の詳細には立ち入らない。というのも、量子論のある程度の素養がない読者には、解説が長くなりすぎるし、理解してもらうのが難しいからである。興味を覚えた人は、新書やブルーバックス並みの「わかりやすい」説明を期待せず、自分で勉強しながらしっかりと読むことをお勧めしたい。物理学の哲学を論じるなら、そういう努力をしなければ、世界のレベルからどんどんと置き去りにされていくことがよくわかるだろう（数少ないが奇特な方々がいるのは救い）。嘘だと思うなら、日本の科学哲学関係の「学会誌」の論文を眺めてみればよかろう。

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