Why quantize gravity (or any other field for that matter)?

Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 2001 (3):S382- (2001)
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Abstract

The quantum gravity program seeks a theory that handles quantum matter fields and gravity consistently. But is such a theory really required and must it involve quantizing the gravitational field? We give reasons for a positive answer to the first question, but dispute a widespread contention that it is inconsistent for the gravitational field to be classical while matter is quantum. In particular, we show how a popular argument (Eppley and Hannah 1997) falls short of a no-go theorem, and discuss possible counterexamples. Important issues in the foundations of physics are shown to bear crucially on all these considerations

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Author Profiles

Craig Callender
University of California, San Diego
Nick Huggett
University of Illinois, Chicago

Citations of this work

Duality and ontology.Baptiste Le Bihan & James Read - 2018 - Philosophy Compass 13 (12):e12555.
Inter-theory Relations in Quantum Gravity: Correspondence, Reduction and Emergence.Karen Crowther - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 63:74-85.
Betting on Future Physics.Mike D. Schneider - 2022 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 73 (1):161-183.

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