Bell’s Theorem and the Issue of Determinism and Indeterminism

Foundations of Physics 45 (5):471-482 (2015)
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Abstract

The paper considers the claim that quantum theories with a deterministic dynamics of objects in ordinary space-time, such as Bohmian mechanics, contradict the assumption that the measurement settings can be freely chosen in the EPR experiment. That assumption is one of the premises of Bell’s theorem. I first argue that only a premise to the effect that what determines the choice of the measurement settings is independent of what determines the past state of the measured system is needed for the derivation of Bell’s theorem. Determinism as such does not undermine that independence . Only entanglement could do so. However, generic entanglement without collapse on the level of the universal wave-function can go together with effective wave-functions for subsystems of the universe, as in Bohmian mechanics. The paper argues that such effective wave-functions are sufficient for the mentioned independence premise to hold

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Michael Esfeld
University of Lausanne

Citations of this work

What does the world look like according to superdeterminism.Augustin Baas & Baptiste Le Bihan - 2023 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 74 (3):555-572.
An Operationalist Perspective on Setting Dependence.Ronnie Hermens - 2019 - Foundations of Physics 49 (3):260-282.
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