On Witness-Discernibility of Elementary Particles

Erkenntnis 78 (5):1133-1142 (2013)
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Abstract

In the context of discussions about the nature of ‘identical particles’ and the status of Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles in Quantum Mechanics, a novel kind of physical discernibility has recently been proposed, which we call witness-discernibility. We inquire into how witness-discernibility relates to known kinds of discernibility. Our conclusion will be that for a wide variety of cases, including the intended quantum-mechanical ones, witness-discernibility collapses extensionally to absolute discernibility, that is, to discernibility by properties

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Author Profiles

Øystein Linnebo
University of Oslo
F. A. Muller
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Citations of this work

On Discernibility and Symmetries.Tomasz Bigaj - 2015 - Erkenntnis 80 (1):117-135.
Grades of Discrimination: Indiscernibility, Symmetry, and Relativity.Tim Button - 2017 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 58 (4):527-553.
Three kinds of worlds and two kinds of truth.Wolfgang Spohn - 2016 - Philosophical Studies 173 (5):1335-1359.

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References found in this work

Identity in physics: a historical, philosophical, and formal analysis.Steven French & Decio Krause - 2006 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Decio Krause.
Are quantum particles objects?Simon Saunders - 2006 - Analysis 66 (1):52-63.
Discerning Fermions.Simon Saunders & F. A. Muller - 2008 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59 (3):499 - 548.
Physics and Leibniz's principles.Simon Saunders - 2003 - In Katherine Brading & Elena Castellani (eds.), Symmetries in Physics: Philosophical Reflections. Cambridge University Press. pp. 289--307.

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