Operational Theories as Structural Realism
History and Philosophy of Physics
2022-01-25 v1 Quantum Physics
Abstract
We undertake a reconstruction of the epistemic significance of research on operational theories in quantum foundations. We suggest that the space of operational theories is analogous to the space of possible worlds employed in the possible world semantics for modal logic, so research of this sort can be understood as probing modal structure. Thus we argue that operational axiomatisations of quantum mechanics may be interpreted as a novel form of structural realism; we discuss the consequences of this interpretation for the philosophy of structural realism and the future of operational theories.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2201.09316,
title = {Operational Theories as Structural Realism},
author = {Emily Adlam},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.09316},
year = {2022}
}