Physics and Causation

Foundations of Physics 40 (9-10):1597-1610 (2010)
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Abstract

The paper makes a case for there being causation in the form of causal properties or causal structures in the domain of fundamental physics. That case is built in the first place on an interpretation of quantum theory in terms of state reductions so that there really are both entangled states and classical properties, GRW being the most elaborate physical proposal for such an interpretation. I then argue that the interpretation that goes back to Everett can also be read in a causal manner, the splitting of the world being conceivable as a causal process. Finally, I mention that the way in which general relativity theory conceives the metrical field opens up the way for a causal conception of the metrical properties as well

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Michael Esfeld
University of Lausanne

Citations of this work

Physics and Causation.Thomas Blanchard - 2016 - Philosophy Compass 11 (5):256-266.
Structuralism with and without causation.Juha Saatsi - 2017 - Synthese 194 (7):2255-2271.
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References found in this work

Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics.Peter Strawson - 1959 - London, England: Routledge. Edited by Wenfang Wang.
Every thing must go: metaphysics naturalized.James Ladyman & Don Ross - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Don Ross, David Spurrett & John G. Collier.
Nature's Metaphysics: Laws and Properties.Alexander Bird - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Individuals: An Essay in Descriptive Metaphysics.Peter Frederick Strawson - 1959 - London, England: Routledge. Edited by Wenfang Wang.
Time and chance.David Z. Albert - 2000 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

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