Synthese 192 (4):1139-1155 (2015)
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Abstract |
One obstacle faced by proposals of retrocausal influences in quantum mechanics is the perceived high conceptual cost of making such a proposal. I assemble here a metaphysical picture consistent with the possibility of retrocausality and not precluded by the known physical structure of our reality. This picture employs two relatively well-established positions—the block universe model of time and the interventionist account of causation—and requires the dismantling of our ordinary asymmetric causal intuition and our ordinary intuition about epistemic access to the past. The picture is then built upon an existing model of agent deliberation that permits us to strike a harmony between our causal intuitions and the fixity of the block universe view. I conclude that given the right mix of these reasonable metaphysical and epistemological ingredients there is no conceptual cost to such a retrocausal picture of quantum mechanics.
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Keywords | Retrocausality Temporal symmetry Interventionism Quantum mechanics Bell’s theorem |
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Reprint years | 2014, 2015 |
ISBN(s) | |
DOI | 10.1007/s11229-014-0605-0 |
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References found in this work BETA
Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation.James Woodward - 2003 - Oxford University Press.
Making Things Happen. A Theory of Causal Explanation.Michael Strevens - 2007 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 74 (1):233-249.
Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.Huw Price - 1996 - Oup Usa.
Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics.Tim Maudlin - 2002 - Blackwell.
Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point.Huw Price - 1996 - Philosophical and Phenomenological Research 59 (4):1093-1096.
View all 29 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
New Slant on the EPR-Bell Experiment.Peter Evans, Huw Price & Ken Wharton - 2013 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (2):297-324.
Discovering Quantum Causal Models.Sally Shrapnel - 2019 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (1):1-25.
Quantum Causal Models, Faithfulness, and Retrocausality.Peter W. Evans - 2018 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 69 (3):745-774.
Ψ-Epistemic Quantum Cosmology?Peter W. Evans, Sean Gryb & Karim P. Y. Thébault - 2016 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 56:1-12.
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