The roads to non-individuals (and how not to read their maps)
- URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12997v1
- Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2023 11:57:09 GMT
- Title: The roads to non-individuals (and how not to read their maps)
- Authors: Jonas R. B. Arenhart and Raoni W. Arroyo
- Abstract summary: We argue that neither non-individuality nor individuality is not to be found imposed on us in any of these levels so that it should be seen as a metaphysical addition to the theory.
- Score: 0.0
- License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
- Abstract: Ever since its beginnings, standard quantum mechanics has been associated
with a metaphysical view according to which the theory deals with
non-individual objects, i.e., objects deprived of individuality in some sense
of the term. We shall examine the grounds of the claim according to which
quantum mechanics is so closely connected with a metaphysics of
non-individuals. In particular, we discuss the attempts to learn the required
`metaphysical lessons' required by quantum mechanics coming from four distinct
roads: from the formalism of the theory, treating separately the case of the
physics and the underlying logic; from the ontology of the theory, understood
as the furniture of the world according to the theory; and, at last, we analyze
whether a metaphysics of non-individuals is indispensable from a purely
metaphysical point of view. We argue that neither non-individuality nor
individuality is not to be found imposed on us in any of these levels so that
it should be seen as a metaphysical addition to the theory, rather than as a
lesson from it.
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