Everett's Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics in the Light of Everett's Modal Realism and Kripke's Semantics

• Authors: Kus K. , Kus M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The paper analyzes Everett's interpretation of quantum mechanics in which every quantum measurement process results in a splitting of the actual world into a family of possible worlds. These worlds differ depending on the results of the measurement - in each of the worlds one of the possible particular outcomes takes place. The authors pose and discuss two problems: (i) to what extent can the measurement-created worlds be identified with the possible worlds of Lewis', and (ii) which system of modal logic is modeled by Everett's worlds. In contrast with Lewis' worlds, whose existence is limited only by consistency, Everett's universes are conditioned by past measurements. Moreover, they are 'genetically' interconnected by the fact that new worlds stem from their predecessors in which a particular measurement was performed. The type of modal logic that can describe the modalities in Everett's interpretation depends on the way in which we implement our intuitions concerning 'possibility' - as something that concerns the totality of possible situations in which we could have been now, if a particular sequence of measurements had taken place in the past - or, in a more temporal spirit, as a question about possible worlds in which we can find ourselves in the future.

Keywords

EN

EVERETT’S INTERPRETATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS; MODAL LOGIC; MODAL REALISM; POSSIBLE WORLDS SEMANTICS; QUANTUM MEASUREMENT

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Przegląd Filozoficzny. Nowa Seria
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 2(66)
• Pages: 109-125
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Kus K.

author

Kus M.

• Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Filozofii, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

• K. Kus,Uniwersytet Warszawski, Instytut Filozofii, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA06406