The advent of quantum mechanics completely changed our worldview. Not only have our concepts of matter and space-time been deeply affected by the theory, but it has also raised a great number of epistemological and methodological issues that contributed to shaping the philosophical discussion of the twentieth century. Therefore, a certain familiarity with the theory is essential for contemporary metaphysicians, epistemologists, and philosophers of science. This course aims to provide an elementary but rigorous introduction to the conceptual difficulties associated with (non-relativistic) quantum theory. Our goal is to answer the question: What would the world be like if the theory were true? As we will see, there are many answers to this question, all of them involving important revisions in our concept of nature.
The course is a self-contained introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics.
No special mathematics or physics knowledge is presupposed, beyond high-school level mathematics.
STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS
1. Overview of classical mechanics.
2. Introduction to some quantum phenomena
3. Formalism and postulates of quantum mechanics.
4. Non-locality and Bell’s theorem.
5. Why quantum mechanics needs an interpretation: the measurement problem.
6. Interpretations of quantum mechanics I: Collapse theories.
7. Interpretations of quantum mechanics II: De Broglie-Bohm theory.
8. Interpretations of quantum mechanics III: Many worlds and other no collapse interpretations.
9. Methodological considerations: realism and underdetermination in quantum mechanics.
10. Metaphysical considerations: the nature of the wave function.