Scientific Realism and the Quantum

我们大多数人都有“科学现实主义”的信念，即科学为我们提供了肉眼无法观察到的微观世界的知识。我们无法看到或直接观察到分子、原子或电磁场--更不用说夸克或希格斯玻色子了！但高级物理学，凭借其得到充分证实的理论和令人印象深刻的实验仪器，通常被描绘成(例如在大众媒体中)提供关于基本现实的真实本质的知识。这个项目的目的是在量子物理的背景下评估这种科学现实主义态度的凭据。科学实在论虽然被广泛认同，是常识性的，并得到科学成功的支持，但被许多人视为对基础科学的正当态度。同样多的人站出来捍卫现实主义，自70年代末以来，科学实在论者和反实在论者之间的辩论在科学哲学中一直很激烈。与许多哲学一样，这场辩论在很大程度上是以非常笼统和抽象的术语进行的，完全独立于具体的科学细节。哲学家们在一般考虑的基础上提出了越来越复杂的支持和反对科学实在论的论点(例如，涉及激进的理论--一方面是科学史上的转变，另一方面是科学令人印象深刻的工具、解释性和预测性的成功)。最近，哲学家们开始承认这种一般性论点的局限性，以及针对具体案例的科学细节的重要性。但是，这种针对具体案例的科学实在论研究尚未与我们最先进的科学之一--量子物理--联系起来。这个项目根据量子物理、科学实在论的历史和现状，系统地重新思考支持和反对科学实在论的论点，从而填补了这一空白。为此，我们将普通科学哲学和物理哲学的研究人员聚集在一起，进行富有成效的互动。首先，我们考察了量子物理的实际细节对实在论辩论产生影响的各种方式。更具体地说，我们根据量子物理的具体特征，对支持和反对科学实在论的现有论点进行了比较评估，明确了这些论点在这一特定背景下的前景和问题。我们还考虑了在量子物理的背景下提出支持和反对现实主义的新论点的可能性。其次，根据现实主义的争论，我们评估了我们对量子世界的知识的程度和地位，通过检查与现实主义立场相关的在这种背景下是可以辩护的，我们可以声称知道的关于量子物理所描述的现实的各种特征。(例如，我们能知道量子粒子和场的性质吗？量子波函数是否代表现实？世界是否是不确定的？)该项目更广泛的意义来自于所涉及的科学知识主张的文化重要性。为此，我们旨在提高公众对基础物理面值阅读所面临的哲学问题的理解，并组织了一系列工作坊，使A-Level物理教师和科学记者意识到这些哲学问题。

Most of us share the 'scientific realist' belief that science provides us knowledge of the microscopic world that is unobservable to our naked senses. We can't see or directly observe molecules, atoms, or electromagnetic fields -- never mind quarks or the Higgs boson! But advanced physics, with its well-confirmed theories and impressive experimental instruments, is typically portrayed (in the mass media for example) as providing knowledge of the true nature of fundamental reality. The aim of this project is to evaluate the credentials of this scientific realist attitude in the context of quantum physics. Scientific realism, although widely shared, commonsensical, and supported by the success of science, has been viewed by many as a justified attitude towards fundamental science. Equally many have stepped up in defence of realism, and the debate between scientific realists and anti-realists has raged in the philosophy of science since the late 70s. Like much of philosophy, the debate has been largely conducted in very general and abstract terms, quite independently of specific scientific detail. Philosophers have advanced increasingly sophisticated arguments both for and against scientific realism on the basis of general considerations (involving, for example, radical theory-shifts in the history of science, on the one hand, and the impressive instrumental, explanatory, and predictive success of science, on the other). Recently philosophers have started to acknowledge the limitations of such general arguments and the importance of case-specific scientific details. But such case-specific study of scientific realism has yet to be done in connection with one of our most advanced sciences: quantum physics. This project fills this gap by systematically reconsidering the arguments for and against scientific realism in the light of quantum physics, its history and its current state of play. To do this we bring together researchers from general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics for fruitful interaction. We examine, first of all, the various ways in which the actual details of quantum physics matter to the realism debate. More specifically, we conduct a comparative evaluation of existing arguments both for and against scientific realism in light of specific features of quantum physics, clearly pinning down the prospects and problems of these arguments in this particular context. We also consider the possibility of advancing novel arguments for and against realism in the context of quantum physics. Secondly, we evaluate the extent and status of our knowledge of the quantum world in light of the realism debate by examining, in relation to realist positions that are defensible in this context, what we can claim to know about the various features of reality described by quantum physics. (e.g. Can we know the nature of quantum particles and fields? Whether or not quantum wave function represents reality? Whether or not the world is indeterministic?) The project's wider significance derives from the cultural importance of the scientific knowledge claims at stake. To this end we aim to enhance the general public's appreciation of the philosophical issues challenging a face-value reading of fundamental physics, and we organise a series of workshops that bring the philosophical issues to the consciousness of A-level physics teachers and science journalists.