Introduction to the Volume

Alyssa Ney

The purpose of this introduction is to provide the reader who is unfamiliar with contemporary debates in the metaphysics of quantum mechanics with some background in the central issues that arise in this volume. The goal is to sketch one clean, direct, accessible path from classical physics to quantum theory that will serve to clarify the main interpretive issues that arise in the volume. Key technical concepts of quantum mechanics are introduced as well as the main interpretive options.

Abstract This chapter states the aims of this volume and provides an introduction to the material to follow. In the first section, various interpretations of probabilities are surveyed and discussed with an eye to physics and its probabilities. It is stressed that the axioms of the probability calculus do not suffice to understand probabilities from physics. Objectivist interpretations take it that probabilistic statements reflect mind-independent facts. However, as a discussion of frequentism, propensity views, and other objectivist interpretations shows, it is difficult to say what exactly these facts are. According to subjectivist views, probabilities are used to express degrees of belief. These views have problems to explain why physicists reasonably agree on the values of many probabilities. The second section of this introduction summarizes the chapters of this volume.

Erik Rüdinger, Klaus Stolzenburg

Michael A. Morrison, Thomas L. Estle, Neal F. Lane

This is Volume 1 of a two-volume set which offers an introduction to the theoretical concepts and strategies of quantum physics. The book is intended for undergraduate and graduate courses in quantum physics.

Erik Rüdinger