An Empirical Reply to Empiricism: Protective Measurement Opens the Door for Quantum Realism

Quantum mechanics has sometimes been taken to be an empiricist (vs. realist) theory. I state the empiricist's argument, then outline a recently noticed type of measurement--protective measurement--that affords a good reply for the realist. This paper is a reply to scientific empiricism (about quantum mechanics), but is neither a refutation of that position, nor an argument in favor of scientific realism. Rather, my aim is to place realism and empiricism on an even score in regards to quantum theory.

[1]  Bas C. van Fraassen,et al.  The Scientific Image , 1980 .

[2]  P. Teller.  The Projection Postulate and Bohr's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics , 1980, PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association.

[3]  P. Holland,et al.  The Quantum Theory of Motion: An Account of the de Broglie-Bohm Causal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics , 1993 .

[4]  Richard W. Miller.  Fact and Method: Explanation, Confirmation and Reality in the Natural and the Social Sciences , 1988 .

[5]  Edward Mackinnon.  Scientific Realism: The New Debates , 1979, Philosophy of Science.

[6]  Pearle,et al.  Combining stochastic dynamical state-vector reduction with spontaneous localization. , 1989, Physical review. A, General physics.

[7]  Weber,et al.  Unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems. , 1986, Physical review. D, Particles and fields.

[8]  Henry P. Stapp,et al.  The Undivided Universe: An ontological interpretation of Quantum Theory , 1994 .

[9]  D. Bohm.  A SUGGESTED INTERPRETATION OF THE QUANTUM THEORY IN TERMS OF "HIDDEN" VARIABLES. II , 1952 .

[10]  Arthur I. Miller.  Sixty-Two Years of Uncertainty , 1990 .

[11]  Paul Teller,et al.  Quantum Mechanics: An Empiricist View , 1991 .

[12]  I. Hacking.  Experimentation and Scientific Realism , 1982 .

[13]  M. Redhead,et al.  Incompleteness, Nonlocality, and Realism: A Prolegomenon to thePhilosophy of Quantum Mechanics , 1989 .

[14]  C. R. Leavens.  Transmission, reflection and dwell times within Bohm's causal interpretation of quantum mechanics , 1990 .

[15]  G. C. Aers,et al.  The time-modulated barrier approach to traversal times from the Bohm trajectory point of view , 1991 .

[16]  H. Kyburg,et al.  How the laws of physics lie , 1984 .

[17]  A. Messiah.  Quantum Mechanics , 1961 .

[18]  Niels Bohr,et al.  Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature , 1934 .

[19]  H. Krips.  The Metaphysics of Quantum Theory , 1988 .