Noncontextuality, Finite Precision Measurement and the Kochen-Specker Theorem

Meyer recently queried whether non-contextual hidden variable models can, despite the Kochen-Specker theorem, simulate the predictions of quantum mechanics to within any fixed finite experimental precision. Clifton and Kent have presented constructions of non-contextual hidden variable theories which, they argued, indeed simulate quantum mechanics in this way. These arguments have evoked some controversy. One aim of this paper is to respond to and rebut criticisms of the MCK papers. We thus elaborate in a little more detail how the CK models can reproduce the predictions of quantum mechanics to arbitrary precision. We analyse in more detail the relationship between classicality, finite precision measurement and contextuality, and defend the claims that the CK models are both essentially classical and non-contextual. We also examine in more detail the senses in which a theory can be said to be contextual or non-contextual, and in which an experiment can be said to provide evidence on the point. In particular, we criticise the suggestion that a decisive experimental verification of contextuality is possible, arguing that the idea rests on a conceptual confusion.