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- Title
Invariance, Interpretation, and Motivation.
- Authors
Møller-Nielsen, Thomas
- Abstract
In this article I assess the Invariance Principle, which states that only quantities that are invariant under the symmetries of our theories are physically real. I argue, contrary to current orthodoxy, that the variance of a quantity under a theory's symmetries is not a sufficient basis for interpreting that theory as being uncommitted to the reality of that quantity. Rather, I argue, the variance of a quantity under symmetries only ever serves as a motivation to refrain from any commitment to the quantity in question.
- Subjects
SYMMETRY (Physics); PRINCIPLE of relativity (Physics); INTERPRETATION (Philosophy); DIRAC, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984; PHYSICISTS
- Publication
Philosophy of Science, 2017, Vol 84, Issue 5, p1253
- ISSN
0031-8248
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1086/694087