Dear all,
our next speaker in the Philosophy of Science Colloquium organized by
the Institute Vienna Circle is Jose Alejandro Fernandez Cuesta
(Complutense University of Madrid), who will give a talk on November 13,
4.45-6.15 pm.
All are welcome!
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*Philosophy of Science Colloquium TALK: Jose Alejandro Fernandez Cuesta
(Complutense University of Madrid)*
Quantum Propositions and Logical Monism
Philosophy of Science Colloquium
The Institute Vienna Circle holds a Philosophy of Science Colloquium
with talks by our present fellows.
*Date:* 13/11/2025
*Time:*16h45
*Venue:*New Institute Building (NIG), Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Wien, HS 2i
*Abstract:*
In this talk, I will briefly present the formalism of standard quantum
logics (QLs) and examine /sui generis/ features that seem to set them
apart from other non‑classical logics. I will focus on their being
plausibly "discovered" and on their apparent lack of interpretative
utility in the philosophy of physics. On the usual presentation, QLs are
introduced via a set of experimental propositions ("physical
qualities"), informally specified in natural language as a response to
these peculiarities; this apparatus has been used to draw a tenuous link
between the semantics of QLs and the interpretation of certain
experimentally obtained yet conceptually problematic results in quantum
mechanics. I argue that this apparatus is philosophically relevant only
under a prior commitment to logical monism –indeed, logical monism holds
iff the experimental‑propositions apparatus is in place– and I offer
several critiques of both. Rejecting both the monist commitment and the
apparatus allows a reassessment of the sui generis properties of QLs and
their philosophical interpretation.