Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:20:16.159Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Material Objects in Bohm's Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Katherine Bedard*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
*
Send requests for reprints to the author, 5640 S. Maryland Ave. #3, Chicago, IL 60637; e-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

According to the traditional presentation of Bohm's interpretation, we have immediate epistemic access to particle properties but not wavefunction properties, and mental states, pointer states, and ink patterns supervene on particle properties alone. I argue that these claims do not make physical sense, and I offer an alternative account that does.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I would like to thank Frank Arntzenius, Per Kraus, Bas van Fraassen, and the anonymous referees for useful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. This work was supported in part by an NSF graduate fellowship.

References

Albert, David, and Loewer, Barry (1989), “Two No-Collapse Interpretations of Quantum Theory”, Noûs 23: 169186.10.2307/2215977CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albert, David (1992), Quantum Mechanics and Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bedard, Katherine (1997), “Property Attribution in Bohm's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics”, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Bell, John S. (1980), “De Broglie-Bohm, Delayed-Choice Double-Slit Experiment, and Density Matrix”, International Journal of Quantum Chemistry: Quantum Chemistry Symposium 14: 155159. Reprinted in Bell 1987.Google Scholar
Bell, John S. (1981), “Quantum Mechanics for Cosmologists”, in Isham, C., Penrose, R., and Sciama, D. (eds.), Quantum Gravity 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 611637. Reprinted in Bell 1987.Google Scholar
Bell, John S. (1982), “On the Impossible Pilot Wave”, Foundations of Physics 12: 989999. Reprinted in Bell (1987).10.1007/BF01889272CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, John S. (1987), Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bohm, David (1952), “A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of ‘Hidden’ Variables: Parts I and II”, Physical Review 85: 166193.10.1103/PhysRev.85.166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Harvey, Dewdney, Chris, and Horton, George (1995), “Bohm Particles and Their Detection in the Light of Neutron Interferometry”, Foundations of Physics 25: 329347.10.1007/BF02055211CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewdney, Chris, Holland, Peter R., and Kyprianidis, A. (1987), “A Causal Account of Non-Local Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Spin Correlations”, Journal of Physics A 20: 47174732.10.1088/0305-4470/20/14/016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewdney, Chris, Holland, Peter R., Kyprianidis, A., and Vigier, Jean P. (1988), “Spin and Non-Locality in Quantum Mechanics”, Nature 336: 536544.10.1038/336536a0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dürr, Detlef, Goldstein, Sheldon, and Zanghi, Nino (1992), “Quantum Equilibrium and the Origin of Absolute Uncertainty”, Journal of Statistical Physics 67: 843907.10.1007/BF01049004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, Peter R. (1993), The Quantum Theory of Motion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511622687CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maudlin, Tim (1994), Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Parfit, Derek (1971), “Personal Identity”, The Phil. Review 80(1).10.2307/2184309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vink, Jeroen (1993), “Quantum Mechanics in Terms of Discrete Beables”, Physical Review A 48:18081818.10.1103/PhysRevA.48.1808CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed