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157 - David Albert: The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics

157 - David Albert: The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics

Robinson's Podcast vor 2 Jahren

0:00

1:54:49

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of
Philosophy at Columbia University and one of the world’s most
respected philosophers of physics. He is also the director of the
Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia and a
faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of
Physics. This is David’s fifth (!) appearance on Robinson’s
Podcast. He appeared on episode #23 with Justin Clarke-Doane on
metaethics and absolute space, episode #30 on the philosophy of
time, episode #67 with Tim Maudlin on the foundations of quantum
theory, and episode #106 with Sean Carroll on Many-Worlds and
fine-tuning. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss his new
book, A Guess at the Riddle: Essays on the Physical Underpinnings
of Quantum Mechanics (Harvard, 2023), and the metaphysics of
quantum mechanics. If you’re interested in the foundations of
physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the
JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and
education in this important area. Any donations are immensely
helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

05:12 On The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics

30:24 The Complex Origins of Antirealism in Quantum Physics

37:29 Instrumentalism and String Theory

45:31 The Amazing History of Locality in Physics

01:22:38 Quantum Mechanics as Experimental Metaphysics

01:26:27 What Is Wave-Function Realism in the Foundations of
Quantum Mechanics?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of
mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations
with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and
everyone in-between.