How to evaluate counterfactuals in the quantum world
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10814628 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tomasz Bigaj (0000-0002-8121-9789, University of Warsaw, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 190 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 619-637 |
| Publication date | 2013-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Synthese (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0039-7857 • E-ISSN: 1573-0964 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11229-012-0195-7 |
| OpenAlex | W2154025671 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 30 |
In the article I discuss possible amendments and corrections to Lewis’s semantics for counterfactuals that are necessary in order to account for the indeterministic and non-local character of the quantum world. I argue that Lewis’s criteria of similarity between possible worlds produce incorrect valuations for alternate-outcome counterfactuals in the EPR case. Later I discuss an alternative semantics which rejects the notion of miraculous events and relies entirely on the comparison of the agreement with respect to individual facts. However, a controversy exists whether to include future indeterministic events in the criteria of similarity. J. Bennett has suggested that an indeterministic event count toward similarity only if it is a result of the same causal chain as in the actual world. I claim that a much better agreement with the demands of the quantum-mechanical indeterminism can be achieved when we stipulate that possible worlds which differ only with respect to indeterministic facts that take place after the antecedent-event should always be treated as equally similar to the actual world. In the article I analyze and dismiss some common-sense counterexamples to this claim. Finally, I critically evaluate Bennett’s proposal regarding the truth-conditions for true-antecedent counterfactuals
Antecedent (behavioral psychology) · Causation · Counterfactual conditional · Counterfactual thinking · Determinism · Epistemology · Event (particle physics) · Indeterminism · Metaphysics · Philosophy of language · Philosophy of science · Possible world · Semantics (computer science) · Similarity (geometry) · Truth condition · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Psychology · Quantum Information and Cryptography · Quantum Mechanics and Applications · Social Psychology
Studies in logical theory
Non-locality and Possible World
Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?
A Theory of Conditionals
Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?
Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science
A Philosophical Guide to Conditionals
Counterfactuals and Spatiotemporal Events
Bell's theorem in an indeterministic universe
Space-Time Counterfactuals
Outcome predictions and property attribution
Statistical Mechanics and the Asymmetry of Counterfactual Dependence
Counterfactuals and Temporal Direction
Nonlocal Influences and Possible Worlds—A Stapp in the Wrong Direction
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |