Abstract
AbstractAccounts of quantum theory that bring to the fore the relationship between the system and the observer, or measuring device, include Everett’s ‘Many Worlds’ interpretation and Rovelli’s ‘Relational Quantum Mechanics’, both of which are considered in Chapter 9. The former understands the state of a system as relative to that of the observer and in Everett’s original formulation, the definite outcomes obtained through measurement were manifested via the observer’s memory sequences. The subjectivist aspect of this interpretation is made even more explicit in the so-called ‘Many Minds’ variant. Relational Quantum Mechanics likewise adopts a relational or perspectival approach to the states of the system under observation. In this chapter both approaches are considered as offering a way of aligning quantum theory with the correlationist feature of phenomenology. Both are then compared with QBism and the pros and cons of all three are considered in terms of possible avenues for developing a phenomenological form of quantum theory.
Publisher
Oxford University PressOxford
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