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Next: 10.2 Probabilities and Propensities Up: 10. Quantum Substances Previous: 10. Quantum Substances
Continuants, or substances with the natures described in the previous
chapter, are particularly relevant to modern quantum physics. For there,
it is found that the concept of a corpuscle with definite `extension,
hardness, impenetrability, mobility, and inertia of parts' (from the
beginning of Bk. III of Newton's Principia) is markedly
inadequate, yet for which no philosophically adequate replacement has been
hit upon. Despite the influence of a positivistic approach to metaphysics,
which did not encourage people to look for new concepts, there have been a
number of developments since 1926 in the interpretation of quantum physics
that lead to concepts of propensities, etc., though with varying degrees
of clarity. In this chapter, I will show how progress in understanding
quantum physics has lead to ideas of `particles' that are similar to what
have developed in the philosophy of nature. We can then begin to
understand some of the more mysterious quantum features, such as the
nature of `measurements' and the reasonableness of `non-localities'.
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