Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 4: Kausalität

AGPhil 4.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 12:30–13:00, BEY 154

EPR's reality criterion as a principle of causality — •Adrian Wüthrich — History and Philosophy of Science, University of Bern, Switzerland

I reconstruct arguments by David Albert and Tim Maudlin [1,2] according to which there are non-local interactions in the world. These arguments are, in essence, a combination of the EPR argument for the incompleteness of quantum mechanics and Bell's theorem, which rules out the possibility of an empirically adequate theory of local causes for the quantum mechanical correlations. I compare these arguments with a derivation, by myself and others, of Bell's inequality from a minimal set of assumptions [3,4]. The comparison reveals that Albert's and Maudlin's arguments are conclusive only on the supposition of the validity of a principle of causality in some form or another. I will argue that EPR's reality criterion is, in fact, a principle of causality and, as such, one of the crucial premises in Albert's and Maudlin's arguments.

[1] Albert, D. Z.: Quantum Mechanics and Experience. Harvard University Press, 1992

[2] Maudlin, T.: Quantum Non-locality and Relativity: metaphysical intimations of modern physics. Wiley-Blackwell, 2002

[3] Graßhoff, G.; Portmann, S. & Wüthrich, A.: Minimal Assumption Derivation of a Bell-type Inequality. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2005, 56, 663-680

[4] Portmann, S. & Wüthrich, A.: Minimal Assumption Derivation of a Weak Clauser-Horne Inequality. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 2007, 38, 844-862