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Counterfactual Histories: The Beginning of Quantum Physics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.
Osvaldo Pessoa Jr.*
Affiliation:
Bahia Federal University
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Inst. de Fisica, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40210–340. Salvador, BA, Brazil; email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This paper presents a method for investigating counterfactual histories of science. A central notion to our theory of science are “advances” (ideas, data, etc.), which are units passed among scientists and which would be conserved in passing from one possible history to another. Advances are connected to each other by nets of causal influence, and we distinguish strong and weak influences. Around sixty types of advances are grouped into ten classes. As our case study, we examine the beginning of the Old Quantum Theory, using a computer to store and process historical information. We describe four plausible possible histories, along with six other implausible ones.

Type
History and Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 68 , Issue S3: No. 3 Supplement: Proceedings of the 2000 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 2001 , 2001 , pp. S519 - S530
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001

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