Repository | Journal | Volume | Article

235010

Pure wave mechanics and the very idea of empirical adequacy

Jeffrey A. Barrett

pp. 3071-3104

Abstract

Hugh Everett III proposed his relative-state formulation of pure wave mechanics as a solution to the quantum measurement problem. He sought to address the theory’s determinate record and probability problems by showing that, while counterintuitive, pure wave mechanics was nevertheless empirically faithful and hence empirical acceptable. We will consider what Everett meant by empirical faithfulness. The suggestion will be that empirical faithfulness is well understood as a weak variety of empirical adequacy. The thought is that the very idea of empirical adequacy might be renegotiated in the context of a new physical theory given the theory’s other virtues. Everett’s argument for pure wave mechanics provides a concrete example of such a renegotiation.

Publication details

Published in:

Solé Albert, Hoefer Carl (2015) Space-time and the wave function. Synthese 192 (10).

Pages: 3071-3104

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-015-0698-0

Full citation:

Barrett Jeffrey A. (2015) „Pure wave mechanics and the very idea of empirical adequacy“. Synthese 192 (10), 3071–3104.