Modelling Deep Indeterminacy

Synthese 198:1685–1710 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper constructs a model of metaphysical indeterminacy that can accommodate a kind of ‘deep’ worldly indeterminacy that arguably arises in quantum mechanics via the Kochen-Specker theorem, and that is incompatible with prominent theories of metaphysical indeterminacy such as that in Barnes and Williams (2011). We construct a variant of Barnes and Williams's theory that avoids this problem. Our version builds on situation semantics and uses incomplete, local situations rather than possible worlds to build a model. We evaluate the resulting theory and contrast it with similar alternatives, concluding that our model successfully captures deep indeterminacy.

Similar books and articles

Deep metaphysical indeterminacy.Bradford Skow - 2010 - Philosophical Quarterly 60 (241):851 - 858.
Against Quantum Indeterminacy.David Glick - 2017 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 6 (3):204-213.
Quantum metaphysical indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi & Jessica Wilson - 2019 - Philosophical Studies 176 (10):2599–2627.
Quantum Mechanics and Metaphysical Indeterminacy.George Darby - 2010 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 88 (2):227-245.
Metaphysically indeterminate existence.Elizabeth Barnes - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 166 (3):495-510.
Spin as a Determinable.Johanna Wolff - 2015 - Topoi 34 (2):379-386.
Indeterminacy and interpretation.Günter Abel - 1994 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 37 (4):403 – 419.
Emerging (In)Determinacy.Benjamin Eva - 2018 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 7 (1):31-39.
Must We Know What We Mean?Kuang-Ming Cheng - 2005 - Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 19 (1):21-33.
Can deflationism allow for hidden indeterminacy?Ken Akiba - 2002 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83 (3):223–234.
A Theory of Metaphysical Indeterminacy.Elizabeth Barnes & J. Robert G. Williams - 2011 - In Karen Bennett & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 6. Oxford University Press UK. pp. 103-148.
Causal and Moral Indeterminacy.Sara Bernstein - 2016 - Ratio 29 (4):434-447.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-03-01

Downloads
2,151 (#3,906)

6 months
102 (#38,391)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

George Darby
University of Kent
Martin Pickup
University of Birmingham

Citations of this work

Quantum indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi & Cristian Mariani - 2021 - Philosophy Compass 16 (4):e12731.
Derivative Indeterminacy.Kevin Richardson - forthcoming - Erkenntnis:1-17.
Plural metaphysical supervaluationism.Robert Michels, Cristian Mariani & Giuliano Torrengo - 2021 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.

View all 13 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Aboutness.Stephen Yablo - 2014 - Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Truthmaker Semantics.Kit Fine - 2017 - In Bob Hale, Crispin Wright & Alexander Miller (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language. Chichester, UK: Wiley. pp. 556–577.
Quantum metaphysical indeterminacy.Claudio Calosi & Jessica Wilson - 2019 - Philosophical Studies 176 (10):2599–2627.
A Theory of Metaphysical Indeterminacy.Elizabeth Barnes & J. Robert G. Williams - 2011 - In Karen Bennett & Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 6. Oxford University Press UK. pp. 103-148.

View all 34 references / Add more references