Reductive Explanation and the Construction of Quantum Theories

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>I argue that philosophical issues concerning reductive explanations help constrain the construction of quantum theories with appropriate state spaces. I illustrate this general proposal with two examples of restricting attention to physical states in quantum theories: regular states and symmetry-invariant states. 1Introduction2Background2.1 Physical states2.2 Reductive explanations3The Proposed ‘Correspondence Principle’4Example: Regularity5Example: Symmetry-Invariance6Conclusion: Heuristics and Discovery</jats:p>

A Role for the Fauxrizon in the Semiclassical Limit of a Fuzzball

“…What I have in mind is a case in which detailed inspection of a quantized successor theory (with native structures that disappear in the classical limit) precludes from descriptive relevance certain states of affairs in the classical limit that might otherwise have been kinematically plausible as part of a classical predecessor theory. This is an ongoing project by Benjamin Feintzeig concerning systems of mechanics with finite degrees of freedom; here I will focus on the line of argument developed in just two recent articles (Feintzeig 2020a(Feintzeig , 2020b.…”

“…Hence facts about a quantized theory may plausibly delimit the descriptive scope of a classical theory applied to any such quantum systems. Second, requiring that the quantized theory account for the descriptive successes of its classical predecessor theory constrains the activity of constructing the quantized theory as a successor theory , given an interpretation of the classical one (Feintzeig 2020b).…”

A Role for the Fauxrizon in the Semiclassical Limit of a Fuzzball

“…Hence, facts about a quantized theory may plausibly delimit the descriptive scope of a classical theory applied to any such quantum systems. Second, requiring that the quantized theory accounts for the descriptive successes of its classical predecessor theory constrains the activity of constructing the quantized theory as a successor theory, given an interpretation of the classical one [Feintzeig, 2020b].…”