Primary Menu Search
  • Aims & Scope
  • Editorial Board
  • Content
  • Book Reviews
  • Supplement
  • Members
  • Submit
  • Contact IJQF

International Journal of Quantum Foundations

An online forum for exploring the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and quantum gravity

You are here: Home ∼ Primitive ontology in a nutshell

Primitive ontology in a nutshell

Published by International Journal of Quantum Foundations on June 26, 2015

Volume 1, Issue 3, pages 107-122

Valia Allori [Show Biography]

Valia Allori has studied physics and philosophy first in Italy, her home country, and then in the United States. She is currently Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at Northern Illinois University where she works in the foundations of physics, with special focus on quantum mechanics. Her main concern has always been to understand what the world is really like, and how we can use our best physical theory to answer such general metaphysical questions. In her physics doctoral dissertation from University of Genova (Italy), she discussed the classical limit of quantum mechanics, to analyze the connections between the quantum and the classical theories. What does it mean that a theory, in a certain approximation, reduces to another? Is the classical explanation of macroscopic phenomena essentially different from the one provided by quantum mechanics? In her philosophy doctoral dissertation from Rutgers she turned to more general questions that involve the structure of fundamental physical theories, the metaphysical status and the epistemological role of the theoretical entities used in these theories. Do all fundamental physical theories have the very same structure, contrarily to what one might think? If so, what is this telling us about the nature of explanation?

The aim of this paper is to summarize a particular approach of doing metaphysics through physics – the primitive ontology approach. The idea is that any fundamental physical theory has a well-defined architecture, to the foundation of which there is the primitive ontology, which represents matter. According to the framework provided by this approach when applied to quantum mechanics, the wave function is not suitable to represent matter. Rather, the wave function has a nomological character, given that its role in the theory is to implement the law of evolution for the primitive ontology.

Full Text Download (393k) | View Open Review

Posted in Volume 1, Issue 3, July 2015 Tagged Original Paper

Article written by International Journal of Quantum Foundations

International Journal of Quantum Foundations

← Previous Next →

Latest Issues

  • Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2022
  • Volume 8, Issue 2, April 2022
  • Volume 8, Issue 3, July 2022
  • Volume 8, Issue 4, October 2022
  • Volume 9, Issue 1, January 2023
  • Volume 9, Issue 2, April 2023

IJQF Supplement

  • Volume 4, Issue 1, April 2022
  • Volume 4, Issue 2, July 2022
  • Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2023
  • Volume 5, Issue 2, April 2023

IJQF Members

Newest | Active | Popular
  • Profile picture of editor
    editor
    active 8 hours ago
  • Profile picture of David Deutsch
    David Deutsch
    active 12 hours, 7 minutes ago
  • Profile picture of Sheldon Goldstein
    Sheldon Goldstein
    active 1 day, 7 hours ago
  • Profile picture of Nathan Argaman
    Nathan Argaman
    active 3 days, 16 hours ago
  • Profile picture of Roger Penrose
    Roger Penrose
    active 5 days, 9 hours ago

IJQF Forums

Newest | Active | Popular | Alphabetical
  • Group logo of 2019 International Workshop: Beyond Bell’s theorem
    2019 International Workshop: Beyond Bell’s theorem
    active 3 months, 3 weeks ago
  • Group logo of 2018 Workshop on Wigner’s Friend
    2018 Workshop on Wigner’s Friend
    active 3 years, 8 months ago
  • Group logo of 2016 International Workshop on Quantum Observers
    2016 International Workshop on Quantum Observers
    active 4 years ago
  • Group logo of 2015 International Workshop on Quantum Foundations
    2015 International Workshop on Quantum Foundations
    active 4 years, 7 months ago
  • Group logo of John Bell Workshop 2014
    John Bell Workshop 2014
    active 5 years, 2 months ago
  • Group logo of 2017 International Workshop: Collapse of the Wave Function
    2017 International Workshop: Collapse of the Wave Function
    active 5 years, 2 months ago

Most Viewed

  • On Testing the Simulation Theory (16,065)
  • 2019 International Workshop: Beyond Bell’s theorem (3,325)
  • Latest Papers on Quantum Foundations (1,970)
  • OBITUARY FOR HEINZ-DIETER ZEH (1932 — 2018) (1,629)
  • Non-Relativistic Limit of the Dirac Equation (1,595)
  • International Journal of Quantum Foundations (1,360)
  • Review of “Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: An Exploration of the Physical Meaning of Quantum Theory” (1,166)
  • Taking Heisenberg’s Potentia Seriously (1,065)
  • The Meaning of the Wave Function: In Search of the Ontology of Quantum Mechanics (945)
  • On testing the simulation hypothesis (911)

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Primary Menu

  • Aims & Scope
  • Editorial Board
  • Content
  • Book Reviews
  • Supplement
  • Members
  • Submit
  • Contact IJQF

Copyright © 2023 International Journal of Quantum Foundations.

Powered by WordPress and Path. Back to Top