Author : Xiaoqian Hu
Release : 2022
Genre : Knowledge, Theory of
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Principle of the Identity of Indiscernible (PII), Determinism, and Locality by : Xiaoqian Hu

Download or read book The Principle of the Identity of Indiscernible (PII), Determinism, and Locality written by Xiaoqian Hu. This book was released on 2022. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In my dissertation, I discuss one organizing principle and its application in space and time: the principle of the identity of indiscernible (PII), determinism (PII's application in time), and locality (PII's application in space). Organizing principles are those that must be assumed to be a working hypothesis to perform experiments and interpret their results, and so cannot be affected by results of such experiments: PII ("[t]hings which are different must differ in something or must have within themselves some diversity that can be noted" (L529)) that helps us to identify a physical event as "the same" as another physical event. PII can be applied in time as "determinism" that tells us that a physical event can pertain to one and only one trajectory of events, hence it allows us to individuate physical events in time; and it can be applied in space as "locality" allows us to separate one physical system from another, hence it allows us to individuate physical systems in space. My argument and examples in physics only stay in the domain of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. The generalization of the investigation is limited to this realm. There are other domains in physics where I believe organizing principles would work. However, they will be left for future research. My thesis is twofold: First, I will argue that organizing principles are necessary pre-conditions for experimental and theoretical physics, as they allow us to conduct experiments that underwrite physical laws. The corollary here is that since metaphysics constrains (places boundaries on) the various (and contradictory) theories scientists advance and the sorts of experiments they conduct, it is unwarranted to vindicate or refute these principles with an experiment. Second, I will argue that since these three principles are all principles of what it means to be "the same" (in general, in space, in time), then if one of them fails, all of them fail. The corollary here is that, viewed from this lens, some theories that have been advanced in the foundations of quantum mechanics that now appear inconsistent.