Skip Navigation

		COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES PHILOSOPHY HOME PAGE CHAIR'S STATEMENT
CHAIR'S STATEMENT FACULTY GRADUATE STUDENTS COLLOQUIUM CALENDAR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM GRADUATE PROGRAM GRADUATE PLACEMENT MASTER SCHEDULE UNDERGRADUATE BULLETIN GRADUATE BULLETIN ACADEMIC CALENDARS USC LIBRARIES CAS COMPUTING & IT USC COMPUTER SERVICES ABOUT COLUMBIA SC RESTRICTED ACCESS: Faculty | Graduate Students Search USC   THIS SITE		COLLOQUIA & CONFERENCES CAN CLASSICAL STRUCTURES EXPLAIN QUANTUM PHENOMENA?   Alisa Bokulich Department of Philosophy Boston University   January 26, 2007 Thursday, 3:30pm-5:30pm Nursing, Room 127   In semiclassical mechanics one finds explanations of quantum phenomena that appeal to classical structures. These explanations are prima facie problematic in so far as the classical structures they appeal to do not exist. Here I defend the view that fictional structures can be genuinely explanatory by introducing a model-based account of scientific explanation. Applying this framework to the semiclassical phenomenon of wavefunction scarring, I argue that not only can the fictional classical trajectories explain certain aspects of this quantum phenomenon but that an explanation that does not make reference to these classical structures is, in a certain sense, deficient.
RETURN TO TOP		USC LINKS: DIRECTORY MAP EVENTS VIP	SITE INFORMATION
Last updated 4/8/08 10:33 PM • burke@sc.edu   © 2006 University of South Carolina Board of Trustees