Author(s)

Edward MacKinnon

Philosophy Department (Emeritus), California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA, USA.

This article probes the question of what interpretations of quantum mechanics actually accomplish. In other domains, which are briefly considered, interpretations serve to make alien systematizations intelligible to us. This often involves clarifying the status of their implicit ontology. A survey of interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics supports the evaluation that these interpretations make a contribution to philosophy, but not to physics. Interpretations of quantum field theory are polarized by the divergence between the Lagrangian field theory, which leads to the Standard Model of Particle physics and the Algebraic quantum field theory that discounts an ontology of particles. Ruetsche’s interpretation offers a potential for loosening the sharp polarization that presently obtains. A brief evaluation focuses on the functional ontology of quantum field theory considered as an effective theory.

Interpretation, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Field Theory, Ontology

MacKinnon, E. (2016) Why Interpret Quantum Physics?. Open Journal of Philosophy, 6, 86-102. doi: 10.4236/ojpp.2016.61009.