The Epiphenomena Argument for Symmetry-to-Reality Inference

Abstract

A new argument is given for the thesis that only symmetry-invariant physical quantities are real. Non-invariant quantities are dynamically epiphenomenal in that they have no effect on the evolution of invariant quantities, and it is a significant theoretical vice to posit epiphenomenal quantities.

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David Baker
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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References found in this work

After Physics.David Z. Albert - 2015 - Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Interpreting Quantum Theories: The Art of the Possible.Laura Ruetsche - 2011 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Physics, Structure, and Reality.Jill North - 2021 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Symmetry as an Epistemic Notion.Shamik Dasgupta - 2016 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67 (3):837-878.

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