Open AccessCalculation, Bookkeeping, Representation, and Explanation: A Parable
Author(s) -
Tim Maudlin
Publication year - 2021
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.101
H-Index - 6
ISSN - 1870-4905
DOI - 10.22201/iifs.18704905e.2021.1293
Subject(s) - formalism (music) , aside , rendering (computer graphics) , calculus (dental) , computer science , mathematics , epistemology , theoretical physics , linguistics , philosophy , physics , artificial intelligence , art , literature , medicine , musical , dentistry
Our topic is a basic discussion of what it is to regard a bit of mathematics as referring to something physical, and the different options one has for explaining —and hence rendering non-miraculous— the empirical success of a mathematical formalism. In order to strip away as much extraneous distraction as possible, we will leave the particular case of the wavefunction in quantum theory aside and tell a simpler tale. A fairy tale, in fact. The aim is to foreground some possible relations between a mathematical formalism and the physical system it is used to represent.