Philosophy at the Atomic Scale

Catalog description

This course examines two conceptual problems in the foundations of quantum mechanics - the measurement problem and the ontology problem - that together threaten to render the entire edifice of quantum theory incoherent, and surveys various ways that have been proposed to address those problems. Among the 'interpretations' of quantum mechanics we'll investigate are spontaneous collapse theories, pilot wave theories, and many-worlds theories, each of which aims to solve the existing conceptual issues but often at the expense of raising new and unexpected ones. Along the way, we'll see that understanding quantum mechanics requires engaging with philosophical questions about locality, determinism, the dimensionality of space, laws of nature, personal identity, physical probabilities, theory confirmation, scientific realism, and ontology. This course satisfies the Philosophy Program's theoretical elective distribution requirement, and has as a pre-requisite one introductory-level Philosophy course (or instructor approval).