Van Fraassen on Preparation and Measurement

descriptionPublicationkeyboard_double_arrow_right Article 01 Jan 1996 English Publisher:Cambridge University Press (CUP)Journal:Philosophy of Science, volume 63, pages S338-S346 (issn: 0031-8248, eissn: 1539-767X,

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Authors: Laura Ruetsche;

doi: 10.1086/289969

Van Fraassen on Preparation and Measurement

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Abstract

Van Fraassen’s 1991 modal interpretation of Quantum Mechanics offers accounts of measurement and state preparation. I argue that both accounts overlook a class of interactions I call General Unitary Measurements, or GUMs. Ironically, GUMs are significant for van Fraassen’s account of measurement because they challenge it, and significant for his account of preparation because they simplify it. Van Fraassen’s oversight prompts a question about modal interpretations: developed to account for ideal measurement outcomes, can they consistently account as well for the whole horizon of laboratory practices by which we investigate QM?

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