Part one - Formalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2009
Summary
In Chapter 4 the different modal interpretations are introduced. Their property ascription to a system α is characterised by a core property ascription {〈Pj,CαJ〉}j.
Chapter 5 treats the question of how the core property ascription to a system determines the full property ascription to the system, and of how that full property ascription induces an assignment of values to the magnitudes of the system.
In Chapter 6 it is determined whether the properties that modal interpretations simultaneously ascribe to different systems can be correlated. A no-go theorem is derived which restricts the possibility of giving such correlations.
In Chapter 7 it is shown that the set of properties, which a system possibly possesses, evolves in a number of undesirable ways. This evolution is, for instance, discontinuous and unstable.
Chapter 8 is concerned with the evolution of the actually possessed properties of a system. It is proved for the case of freely evolving systems that this evolution is deterministic and for the case of interacting systems it is argued that this evolution cannot be uniquely fixed.
In Chapter 9 it is proved that the evolution of the actually possessed properties of systems violates a number of the Dynamical Autonomy assumptions presented in Section 3.3. It is shown that this allows the descriptions of reality by modal interpretations to be non-local in a quite explicit way.
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- A Philosopher's Understanding of Quantum MechanicsPossibilities and Impossibilities of a Modal Interpretation, pp. 37 - 38Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000