Scientific Objectivity and its Limits
Abstract
Measurement outcomes provide data for a physical theory. Unless they are objective they support no objective scientific knowledge. So the outcome of a quantum measurement must be an objective physical fact. But recent arguments purport to show that if quantum theory is universally applicable then there is no such fact. This calls for a reappraisal of the notions of fact and objectivity. If quantum theory is universally applicable the facts about the physical world include a fact about each quantum measurement outcome. These physical facts lack an ideal kind of objectivity but their more modest objectivity is all that science needs.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2010.01013,
title = {Scientific Objectivity and its Limits},
author = {Richard Healey},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.01013},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
20 pages, no figures. To appear in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science: manuscript without copy editing or final corrections available online at https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/716169