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AlbertEinsteinAutobiography(Excerpts)
MortimerAdler

RogersAlbritton
CommentsonQuantumMechanics

AlexanderofAphrodisias
SamuelAlexander (Alb ertEinstein:PhilosopherScientist,Ed.PaulArthurSchilpp,pp.8189)
WilliamAlston
G.E.M.Anscombe BeforeIenteruponthequestionofthecompletionofthegeneraltheoryofrelativity,Imusttake
Anselm astandwithreferencetothemostsuccessfulphysicaltheoryofourperiod,viz.,thestatistical

LouiseAntony quantumtheorywhich,abouttwentyfiveyearsago,tookonaconsistentlogicalform
ThomasAquinas (Schrdinger,Heisenberg,Dirac,Born).Thisistheonlytheoryatpresentwhichpermitsa
Aristotle unitarygraspofexperiencesconcerningthequantumcharacterofmicromechanicalevents.

DavidArmstrong

Thistheory,ontheonehand,andthetheoryofrelativityontheother,arebothconsidered
HaraldAtmanspacher
correctinacertainsense,althoughtheircombinationhasresistedalleffortsuptonow.Thisis
RobertAudi
Augustine
probablythereasonwhyamongcontemporarytheoreticalphysiciststhereexistentirelydiffering
J.L.Austin opinionsconcerningthequestionastohowthetheoreticalfoundationofthephysicsofthe
A.J.Ayer futurewillappear.Willitbeafieldtheorywillitbeinessenceastatisticaltheory?Ishallbriefly

AlexanderBain indicatemyownthoughtsonthispoint.
MarkBalaguer
JeffreyBarrett Physicsisanattemptconceptuallytograsprealityasitisthoughtindependentlyofitsbeing
WilliamBelsham
observed.Inthissenseonespeaksof"physicalreality."Inprequantumphysicstherewasno
HenriBergson
doubtastohowthiswastobeunderstood.InNewton'stheoryrealitywasdeterminedbya
IsaiahBerlin

BernardBerofsky
materialpointinspaceandtimeinMaxwell'stheory,bythefieldinspaceandtime.Inquantum
RobertBishop mechanicsitisnotsoeasilyseen.Ifoneasks:doesafunctionofthequantumtheory
MaxBlack representarealfactualsituationinthesamesenseinwhichthisisthecaseofamaterial

SusanneBobzien systemofpointsorofanelectromagneticfield,onehesitatestoreplywithasimple"yes"or
EmilduBoisReymond "no"}why?Whatthefunction(atadefinitetime)asserts,isthis:Whatistheprobabilityfor
HilaryBok

findingadefinitephysicalmagnitudeq(orp)inadefinitelygiveninterval,ifImeasureitattime
LaurenceBonJour
t?Theprobabilityisheretobeviewedasanempiricallydeterminable,andthereforecertainly
GeorgeBoole
mileBoutroux
asa"real"quantitywhichImaydetermineifIcreatethesamefunctionveryoftenandperform
F.H.Bradley aqmeasurementeachtime.
C.D.Broad

MichaelBurke Butwhataboutthesinglemeasuredvalueofq?Didtherespective
C.A.Campbell individualsystemhavethisqvalueevenbeforethemeasurement?To Einstein'sfatefulquestion:
Istherebutonepossible
JosephKeimCampbell thisquestionthereisnodefiniteanswerwithintheframeworkofthe measurementbeforethe
RudolfCarnap
[existing]theory,sincethemeasurementisaprocesswhichimpliesa actualmeasurement?
Carneades

ErnstCassirer
finitedisturbanceofthesystemfromtheoutsideitwouldthereforebe
DavidChalmers thinkablethatthesystemobtainsadefinitenumericalvalueforq(or
RoderickChisholm p),i.e.,themeasurednumericalvalue,onlythroughthemeasurementitself.Forthefurther
Chrysippus discussionIshallassumetwophysicists,AandB,whorepresentadifferentconceptionwith
Cicero referencetotherealsituationasdescribedbythefunction.

RandolphClarke
SamuelClarke A.Theindividualsystem(beforethemeasurement)hasadefinite
AnthonyCollins PhysicistAisa

valueofq(i.e.,p)forallvariablesofthesystem,andmorespecifically,
AntonellaCorradini determinist.Asystem
DiodorusCronus
thatvaluewhichisdeterminedbyameasurementofthisvariable. variablehasasingle
JonathanDancy Proceedingfromthisconception,hewillstate:Thefunctionisno determinatevalueatall
DonaldDavidson exhaustivedescriptionoftherealsituationofthesystembutan times.Theonlypossible
MarioDeCaro incompletedescription}itexpressesonlywhatweknowonthebasisof measurementistheactual
Democritus formermeasurementsconcerningthesystem. measurement.

DanielDennett
JacquesDerrida
B.Theindividualsystem(beforethemeasurement)hasnodefinite
RenDescartes PhysicistBisan
valueofq(i.e.,p).Thevalueofthemeasurementonlyarisesin
RichardDouble indeterminist.Thereare
FredDretske
cooperationwiththeuniqueprobabilitywhichisgiventoitinviewof manypossiblevaluesfor
JohnDupr thefunctiononlythroughtheactofmeasurementitself.Proceeding asystemvariable.Oneof
JohnEarman fromthisconception,hewill(or,atleast,hemay)state:thefunction thesebecomesactualina

LauraWaddellEkstrom isanexhaustivedescriptionoftherealsituationofthesystem. measurement.

Epictetus Wenowpresenttothesetwophysiciststhefollowinginstance:Thereis
Epicurus tobeasystemwhichatthetimetofourobservationconsistsoftwopartialsystemsS1andS2,

HerbertFeigl
JohnMartinFischer whichatthistimearespatiallyseparatedand(inthesenseoftheclassicalphysics)arewithout
Ow enFlanagan significantreciprocity.Thetotalsystemistobecompletelydescribedthroughaknown
LucianoFloridi function12inthesenseofquantummechanics.Allquantumtheoreticiansnowagreeuponthe
PhilippaFoot following:IfImakeacompletemeasurementofS1,Igetfromtheresultsofthemeasurement
AlfredFouille
HarryFrankfurt andfrom12anentirelydefinitefunction2ofthesystem2.Thecharacterof2then
RichardL.Franklin dependsuponwhatkindofmeasurementIundertakeon1.
MichaelFrede
GottlobFrege NowitappearstomethatonemayspeakoftherealfactualsituationofthepartialsystemS2.
PeterGeach
EdmundGettier Ofthisrealfactualsituation,weknowtobeginwith,beforethemeasurementofS1,evenless
CarlGinet thanweknowofasystemdescribedbythefunction.Butononesuppositionweshould,inmy

AlvinGoldman opinion,absolutelyholdfast:therealfactualsituationofthesystemS2isindependentofwhatis
Gorgias

NicholasSt.JohnGreen
donewiththesystemS1,whichisspatiallyseparatedfromtheformer.Accordingtothetypeof
H.PaulGrice measurementwhichImakeofS1,Iget,however,averydifferent2forthesecondpartial
IanHacking
IshtiyaqueHaji system(2,21,...).Now,however,therealsituationofS2mustbeindependentofwhat
StuartHampshire happenstoS1.ForthesamerealsituationofS2itispossiblethereforetofind,accordingto
W.F.R.Hardie
one'schoice,differenttypesoffunction.(Onecanescapefromthisconclusiononlybyeither
SamHarris
assumingthatthemeasurementofS1((telepathically))changestherealsituationofS2orby
WilliamHasker
R.M.Hare denyingindependentrealsituationsassuchtothingswhicharespatiallyseparatedfromeach

GeorgW.F.Hegel other.Bothalternativesappeartomeentirelyunacceptable.)
MartinHeidegger
R.E.Hobart Ifnowthephysicists,AandB,acceptthisconsiderationasvalid,thenBwillhavetogiveuphis
ThomasHobbes
positionthatthefunctionconstitutesacompletedescriptionofarealfactualsituation.Forin
DavidHodgson
thiscaseitwouldbeimpossiblethattwodifferenttypesoffunctionscouldbecoordinated
Shadsw orthHodgson
Barond'Holbach withtheidenticalfactualsituationofS2.
TedHonderich
PamelaHuby Thestatisticalcharacterofthepresenttheorywouldthenhavetobeanecessaryconsequence
DavidHume oftheincompletenessofthedescriptionofthesystemsinquantummechanics,andtherewould

FerencHuoranszki nolongerexistanygroundforthesuppositionthatafuturebasisofphysicsmustbebased
WilliamJames
uponstatistics.
LordKames
RobertKane
ImmanuelKant Itismyopinionthatthecontemporaryquantumtheorybymeansofcertaindefinitelylaiddown
TomisKapitan basicconcepts,whichonthewholehavebeentakenoverfromclassicalmechanics,constitutes
Jaegw onKim anoptimumformulationoftheconnections.
WilliamKing
HilaryKornblith Ibelieve,however,thatthistheoryoffersnousefulpointofdeparture
ChristineKorsgaard forfuturedevelopment.Thisisthepointatwhichmyexpectation Inhisfinalremarks,
SaulKripke Einsteinsaidanyfuture

departsmostwidelyfromthatofcontemporaryphysicists.Theyare theoryw illprobably
AndreaLavazza
convincedthatitisimpossibletoaccountfortheessentialaspectsof incorporatequantum
KeithLehrer
GottfriedLeibniz quantumphenomena(apparentlydiscontinuousandtemporallynot theory!
Leucippus determinedchangesofthesituationofasystem,andatthesametime
MichaelLevin corpuscularandundulatoryqualitiesoftheelementarybodiesof
GeorgeHenryLew es energy)bymeansofatheorywhichdescribestherealstateofthings[objects]bycontinuous
C.I.Lew is functionsofspaceforwhichdifferentialequationsarevalid.Theyarealsooftheopinionthatin
DavidLew is thiswayonecannotunderstandtheatomicstructureofmatterandofradiation.Theyrather
PeterLipton
expectthatsystemsofdifferentialequations,whichcouldcomeunderconsiderationforsucha
JohnLocke
MichaelLockw ood theory,inanycasewouldhavenosolutionswhichwouldberegular(freefromsingularity)
E.JonathanLow e everywhereinfourdimensionalspace.Aboveeverythingelse,however,theybelievethatthe
JohnR.Lucas apparentlydiscontinuouscharacterofelementaryeventscanbedescribedonlybymeansofan
Lucretius essentiallystatisticaltheory,inwhichthediscontinuouschangesofthesystemsaretakeninto

RuthBarcanMarcus accountbywayofthecontinuouschangesoftheprobabilitiesofthepossiblestates.
JamesMartineau
StorrsMcCall
Alloftheseremarksseemtometobequiteimpressive.However,thequestionwhichisreally
HughMcCann
determinativeappearstometobeasfollows:Whatcanbeattemptedwithsomehopeof
ColinMcGinn
MichaelMcKenna successinviewofthepresentsituationofphysicaltheory?Atthispointitistheexperiences
BrianMcLaughlin withthetheoryofgravitationwhichdeterminemyexpectations.Theseequationsgive,frommy
JohnMcTaggart pointofview,morewarrantfortheexpectationtoassertsomethingprecisethanallother
PaulE.Meehl equationsofphysics.Onemay,forexample,callonMaxwell'sequationsofemptyspacebyway
Uw eMeixner ofcomparison.Theseareformulationswhichcoincidewiththeexperiencesofinfinitelyweak
AlfredMele electromagneticfields.Thisempiricaloriginalreadydeterminestheirlinearformithas,
TrentonMerricks
however,alreadybeenemphasizedabovethatthetruelawscannotbelinear.Suchlinearlaws
JohnStuartMill
DickinsonMiller
fulfillthesuperpositionprinciplefortheirsolutions,butcontainnoassertionsconcerningthe

G.E.Moore interactionofelementarybodies.Thetruelawscannotbelinearnorcantheybederivedfrom

C.LloydMorgan such.Ihavelearnedsomethingelsefromthetheoryofgravitation:Noeversoinclusive
ThomasNagel
collectionofempiricalfactscaneverleadtothesettingupofsuchcomplicatedequations.A
FriedrichNietzsche
JohnNorton theorycanbetestedbyexperience,butthereisnowayfromexperiencetothesettingupofa
P.H.Now ellSmith theory.Equationsofsuchcomplexityasaretheequationsofthegravitationalfieldcanbefound
RobertNozick onlythroughthediscoveryofalogicallysimplemathematicalconditionwhichdeterminesthe
WilliamofOckham equationscompletelyor[atleast]almostcompletely.Onceonehasthosesufficientlystrong
TimothyO'Connor formalconditions,onerequiresonlylittleknowledgeoffactsforthesettingupofatheoryinthe
DavidF.Pears caseoftheequationsofgravitationitisthefourdimensionalityandthesymmetrictensoras
CharlesSandersPeirce
expressionforthestructureofspacewhich,togetherwiththeinvarianceconcerningthe
DerkPereboom
StevenPinker
continuoustransformationgroup,determinetheequationsalmostcompletely.
Plato

KarlPopper Ourproblemisthatoffindingthefieldequationsforthetotalfield.Thedesiredstructuremust
Porphyry beageneralizationofthesymmetrictensor.Thegroupmustnotbeanynarrowerthanthatof
Huw Price thecontinuoustransformationsofcoordinates...
H.A.Prichard
HilaryPutnam

WillardvanOrmanQuine
ABriefNoteonCompleteness
FrankRamsey Nowitwouldofcoursebepossibletoobject:Ifsingularitiesarepermittedatthepositionsofthe
AynRand

materialpoints,whatjustificationisthereforforbiddingtheoccurrenceofsingularitiesintherest
MichaelRea
ofspace?Thisobjectionwouldbejustifiediftheequationsofgravitationweretobeconsidered
ThomasReid
CharlesRenouvier asequationsofthetotalfield.[Sincethisisnotthecase],however,onewillhavetosaythatthe
NicholasRescher fieldofamaterialparticlemaythelessbeviewedasapuregravitationalfieldthecloserone
C.W.Rietdijk comestothepositionoftheparticle.Ifonehadthefieldequationofthetotalfield,onewouldbe
RichardRorty compelledtodemandthattheparticlesthemselveswouldeverywherebedescribableas
JosiahRoyce singularityfreesolutionsofthecompletedfieldequations.Onlythenwouldthegeneraltheory
BertrandRussell

ofrelativitybeacompletetheory.
PaulRussell
GilbertRyle (Alb ertEinstein:PhilosopherScientist,p.81)
JeanPaulSartre
KennethSayre [SoforEinstein,evenhisfourdimensionalfieldtheoryisnotyetcomplete.Completenesswould
T.M.Scanlon
MoritzSchlick eliminatepossibilitiesinfavorofasingledeterminateactualityifonlyonepossibility,thereare
ArthurSchopenhauer noprobabilities.Alliscertain.Nonewinformationispossibleintheuniverse.
JohnSearle Andthereisnoirreversibility.Alltimesarepresentinadeterministicblockuniverse.
WilfridSellars SeeEinstein'sremarksonKurtGdel'sideasonanarrowoftime.
AlanSidelle
TedSider NotethatEinstein'sviewsaboutquantummechanicsin1949wereessentiallyunchangedfrom
ick
HenrySidgw hisviewsin1930.Seehisexplanationofhowfieldtheoriescametobeapartofourdescription
WalterSinnottArmstrong

ofrealityalongsidematerialparticlesasaresultofMaxwell'sequationsinhis1931article
J.J.C.Smart
SaulSmilansky "Maxwell'sInfluenceontheEvolutionoftheIdeaofPhysicalReality."
MichaelSmith
BaruchSpinoza AndEinsteinarguablygrewpessimisticaboutthepossibilitiesfordeterministiccontinuousfield
L.SusanStebbing theories(bycomparisonwithindeterministicandstatisticaldiscontinuousparticletheories)inhis
GeorgeF.Stout lateryears:
GalenStraw son
PeterStraw son TohisdearfriendBessohewrotein1954,"Iconsideritquitepossiblethatphysicscannot
EleonoreStump bebasedonthefieldconcept,i.e:,oncontinuousstructures.Inthatcase,nothingremains
FranciscoSurez
ofmyentirecastleintheair,gravitationtheoryincluded,[andof]therestofmodern
RichardTaylor
KevinTimpe
physics."
MarkTw ain
PeterUnger
AndtoLeopoldInfeldhewrotein1941,"Itendmoreandmoretotheopinionthatone
PetervanInw agen cannotcomefurtherwithacontinuumtheory."
ManuelVargas
quotedinSubtleistheLord...,AbrahamPais,1982,p.467
JohnVenn
KadriVihvelin
Voltaire ]

G.H.vonWright
DavidFosterWallace Chapter1.5ThePhilosophers Chapter2.1TheProblemofKnowledge
R.JayWallace
Home PartTwoKnowledge
W.G.Ward
TedWarfield

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RoyWeatherford
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