A Philosopher's Understanding of Quantum Mechanics: Possibilities and Impossibilities of a Modal Interpretation Pieter Vermaas
Abstract
Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 52 (2001), 387±391 REVIEW A Philosopher's Understanding of Quantum Mechanics: Possibilities and Impossibilities of a Modal Interpretation Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, cloth £45.00/US$65.00 ISBN: 0 521 65108 5 PIETER VERMAAS Hans Halvorson Department of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh The best imaginable modal interpretation of quantum mechanicsÃaccording to Pieter VermaasÃwould give a description in which all statements about the system have a determinate truth value (at each ®xed time), and the assignment of truth values would obey the rules of classical logic. Since no-go results such as the Kochen±Specker theorem entail that, `the best modal interpretation does not exist' (p. 40), Vermaas' goal is to explore the possibility that the `second-best' modal interpretation of quantum mechanics is one of the family of Kochen±Dieks modal interpretations. The general idea behind modal interpretations is that a quantum state need not determine the truth-values of every proposition about the system. That is, a given quantum state will only assign determinate truth-values to a proper subset DP (the set of `de®nite propositions') of the set of all propositions about the system. (Vermaas follows the traditional line of taking the set of propositions about the system as corresponding to