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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 8: Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: Bohm and Hidden Variables

AGPhil 8.4: Talk

Thursday, March 13, 2025, 12:30–13:00, HS XVII

Modal interpretations, hidden-variables and simple realism — •Yanis Pianko — Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Paris, France — IHPST, Paris, France

I present and review the modal approach to quantum foundations in a comprehensive way, and provide a novel way to classify its interpretations. This classification can be extended to non-modal interpretations, and reveals that modal interpretations were part of a bigger framework, sometimes called "simple realism" in the literature. This novel insight, as well as the introduction of a distinction between the kinematics and dynamics of an interpretation, allows for a sharper characterization of hidden-variables theories. I then give an account of why, while the modal approach was an influential research program in philosophy of physics during the 1990's, one barely hears about it today. After presenting and classifying the various difficulties modal interpretations encountered, I identify two epistemic factors in their downfall: the mathematical abstractness of the approach, along with the lack of physical intuition; and the ad hoc flavor manifested in the structure and historical development of the overall approach. I argue that, although there were good reasons to criticize the modal approach in some regards (particularly their dynamics), some fruitful insights in contemporary quantum foundations could still be gained by a larger exposure of this approach.

Keywords: Modal interpretations; Hidden-variables; Quantum foundations; Interpretations of quantum mechanics