Redhead M. Incompleteness, Nonlocality and Realism - A Prolegomenon to the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Reprinted 1989 Edition. — Oxford, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1989. — VIII, 191 p. — First published 1987.Aiming to unravel the mystery of quantum mechanics, this book is concerned with questions about action-at-a-distance, holism, and whether quantum mechanics gives a complete account of microphysical reality. With rigorous arguments and clear thinking, the author provides an introduction to the philosophy of physics.This book concentrates on research done during the last twenty years on the philosophy of quantum mechanics. In particular, the author focuses on three major issues: whether quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory, whether it is non-local, and whether it can be interpreted realistically. Much of the book is concerned with distinguishing various senses in which these questions can be taken, and assessing the bewildering variety of answers philosophers and physicists have given up to now. The book is self-contained in that it presents the necessary parts of the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics and also covers other interpretative topics, such as the problem of measurement and the uncertainty relations. A considerable portion of the book is based on original arguments presented by the author in lectures and research papers over the past ten years. However, this material is integrated with a broad coverage of most of the recent research in the field, so as to provide a balanced introduction to the whole subject.Michael Redhead's book will provide a much-appreciated entry to this field for anyone who has a nodding acquaintance with the physics and mathematics of quantum mechanics but a serious interest in probing its conceptual foundations. A very readable and useful overview of the realism debates in quantum mechanics since the Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen argument. The book begins with an exceptionally clear and concise introduction to the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics. Redhead's book is a valuable one the book is meant to help us comprehend the technical details of a very difficult literature, and this it does extremely well. It is to be strongly recommended for anyone seriously intrerested in the foundations of quantum mechanics.This is the Bible for people doing research into the foundations of QM! It starts with the basics and it goes very far into the subject - it is still the only book that has the proof of the Kochen-Specker theorem! Recommended to anyone that has done QM for a couple of years and still hasn't done the Kochen-Specker theorem, the EPR experiment or the Bell inequalities - when people talk about QM being very weird these are what the person is on about - not the wave particle duality, which is only the beginning.This book summarizes many important contributions to the foundations of quantum mechanics, centering on the question of QM's violation of the principle of locality in special relativity. The presentation is excellent, although you should be comfortable with quantum mechanics formalism. Redhead's own contributions to the meaning of locality are important and interesting. The presentation of the Kochen-Specker 'paradox' is excellent.The Formalism of Quantum Mechanics
The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Incompleteness Argument
Nonlocality and the Bell Inequality
The Kochen-Specker Paradox
Nonlocality and the Kochen-Specker Paradox
Realism and Quantum Logic
EnvoiMathematical Appendix
Bibliography
Index