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Quantum Theory and Explanatory Discourse: Endgame for Understanding?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

James T. Cushing
James T. Cushing*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics University of Notre Dame
*
‡Send reprint requests to the author, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556.
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Abstract

Empirical adequacy, formal explanation and understanding are distinct goals of science. While no a priori criterion for understanding should be laid down, there may be inherent limitations on the way we are able to understand explanations of physical phenomena. I examine several recent contributions to the exercise of fashioning an explanatory discourse to mold the formal explanation provided by quantum mechanics to our modes of understanding. The question is whether we are capable of truly understanding (or comprehending) quantum phenomena, as opposed to simply accepting the formalism and certain irreducible quantum correlations. The central issue is that of understanding versus merely redefining terms to paper over our ignorance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , September 1991 , pp. 337 - 358
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Partial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. SE5-8606472 and No. SE5-8705469. I thank Ernan McMullin for numerous discussions on the subject of this paper and for his comments on an early version of the manuscript, even though his views on several of the relevant issues are considerably different from mine. Also, extensive comments by a referee were genuinely helpful for final revisions prior to publication.

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