Van Fraassen B. Quantum Mechanics. An Empiricist View 1991 torrent

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After introducing the empiricist point of view in philosophy of science, and the concepts and methods of the semantic approach to scientific theories, Professor van Fraassen discusses quantum theory in three stages. He first examines the question of whether and how empirical phenomena require a non-classical theory, and what sort of theory they require. He then discusses the mathematical foundations of quantum theory with special reference to developments in the modelling of interaction, composite systems, and measurement. Finally, the author broaches the main questions of interpretation. After offering a critique of earlier interpretations, he develops a new one - the modal interpretation - which attempts to stay close to the original Copenhagen ideas without implying a radical incompleteness in quantum theory. He again gives special attention to the character of composite, many-body systems and especially to the peculiar character of assemblies of identical particles in quantum statistics.
Quantum theory grew up, from Planck to Heisenberg and Schroedinger, in response to a welter of new experimental phenomena: measurements of the heat radiation spectrum, the photoelectric effect, specific heats of solids, radioactive decay, the hydrogen spectrum, and confusingly much more. Yet this theory, emerging from the mire and blood of empirical research, radically affected the scientific world-picture. If it did describe a world 'behind the phenomena,, that world was so esoteric as to be literally unimaginable. The very language it used was broken:an analogical extension of the classical language that it discre­dits, and redeemed at best by the mathematics that it tries to gloss. Interpretation of quantum theory became genuinely feasible only after von Neumann's theoretical unification in 1932.
Van Fraassen introduces each topic with care and attention to detail. A thought-provoking and largely well-written monograph complemented by an extensive bibliography containing important contributions by numerous authors. Strongly recommended book to anyone who aims at a thorough background in this bewildering subject.
What Is Science?
Determinism and Indeterminism In Classical Perspective
Determinism
Indeterminism and Probability
How the Phenomena Demand Quantum Theory
The Empirical Basis of Quantum Theory
New Probability Models and their Logic
Mathematical Foundations
The Basic Theory of Quantum Mechanics
Composite Systems, Interaction, and Measurement
Questions of Interpretation
Critique of the Standard Interpretation
Modal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
EPR: When Is a Correlation Not a Mystery?
The Problem of Identical Particles
Identical Particles: Individuation and Modality
Notes
Bibliography
Index