This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical
phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach to quantum theory and
cutting-edge metaphysics and philosophy of science, it argues that
quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of
genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about
actuality. When quantum physics is taken seriously in the way first
proposed by Hugh Everett III, it provides the resources for a new
systematic metaphysical framework encompassing possibility, necessity,
actuality, chance, counterfactuals, and a host of related modal
notions. Rationalist metaphysicians argue that the metaphysics of
modality is strictly prior to any scientific investigation;
metaphysics establishes which worlds are possible, and physics merely
checks which of these worlds is actual. Naturalistic metaphysicians
respond that science may discover new possibilities and new
impossibilities. This book's quantum theory of contingency takes
naturalistic metaphysics one step further, allowing that science may
discover what it is to be possible. As electromagnetism revealed the
nature of light, as acoustics revealed the nature of sound, as
statistical mechanics revealed the nature of heat, so quantum physics
reveals the nature of contingency.
Les mer
Quantum Physics as Modal Realism
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780192585158
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
OUP Oxford
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter