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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Nominalization And Interpretation: A Critique Of Global Nominalization Criteria, Jason Alen Dewitt
Nominalization And Interpretation: A Critique Of Global Nominalization Criteria, Jason Alen Dewitt
Theses and Dissertations
Nominalization is the process which removes abstract objects from our scientific theories. But what makes a proposed nominalization a good or successful one? In the paper “Is It Possible to Nominalize Quantum Mechanics,” Otávio Bueno develops criteria for any successful nominalization. In the present work, I discuss one of these criteria that I call the “interpretation criterion.” It claims that a nominalization of a scientific theory should be neutral with regards to the interpretations of that theory. I argue that the interpretation criterion is problematic, and that it should be replaced with an alternative criterion of nominalization. I first explicate …
How To Think About Indiscernible Particles, Daniel Joseph Giglio
How To Think About Indiscernible Particles, Daniel Joseph Giglio
Theses and Dissertations
Permutation symmetries which arise in quantum mechanics pose an intriguing problem. It is not clear that particles which exhibit permutation symmetries (i.e. particles which are indiscernible, meaning that they can be swapped with each other without this yielding a new physical state) qualify as "objects" in any reasonable sense of the term. One solution to this puzzle, which I attribute to W.V. Quine, would have us eliminate such particles from our ontology altogether in order to circumvent the metaphysical vexations caused by permutation symmetries. In this essay I argue that Quine's solution is too rash, and in its place I …