This course is about philosophical issues in quantum mechanics. The first half will be devoted to learning the basic theory. This will involve working through Gillespie, A Quantum Mechanics Primer. (Copies of this out of print book will be provided.) Those in the course shall take turns solving problems. The second part will be devoted to various chapters from A. Ney and D. Albert (eds.) The Wave Function (available in the Bookstore).

During the weeks when mainly working through Gillespie, we will also read some older, non-technical philosophical work on QM by Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Einstein.

There will be short presentations and discussions of this material. Copies of chapters/articles will be provided. A physics background is not required, but elementary calculus will be assumed. The course is aimed at those who want to learn something about QM and its philosophical problems and are willing to put in quite a bit of work learning the technicalities. Those who come with a background in QM might find the first half of the course boring.

Jim Brown and Bill Seager
Office: JHB 514 (JB); JHB510 (BS).
E-mail: Jim Brown / Bill Seager
Office Hrs: ???, by appointment.

D. Gillespie A Quantum Mechanics Primer: An Elementary Introduction to the Formal Theory of Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics (1970, Intext) (find it here)
W. Heisenberg Physics and Philosophy (chapters from; find it here)
N. Bohr ‘Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics’ (find it here)
E. Schrödinger ‘The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics’ (the ‘cat paper’; find it here)
A. Einstein, B. Podolsky, N. Rosen ‘Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete’ (find it here)
A. Ney and D. Albert (eds.) The Wave Function: Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics (2013, Oxford)