Université de Genève, Département de Philosophie, Rue De-Candolle 2, 1205 Genève, Switzerland.
Stud Hist Philos Sci. 2024 Apr;104:109-118. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.02.007. Epub 2024 Mar 18.
The idea that the dynamical properties of quantum systems are invariably relative to other systems has recently regained currency. Using Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) for a case study, this paper calls attention to a question that has been underappreciated in the debate about quantum relativism: the question of whether relativity iterates. Are there absolute facts about the properties one system possesses relative to a specified reference, or is this again a relative matter, and so on? It is argued that RQM (in its best-known form) is committed to what I call the Unrestricted Iteration Principle (UIP), and thus to an infinite regress of relativisations. This principle plays a crucial role in ensuring the communicability and coherence of interaction outcomes across observers. It is, however, shown to be incompatible with the widespread, conservative reading of RQM in terms of relations, instead necessitating the adoption of the more unorthodox notion of perspectival facts. I conclude with some reflections on the current state of play in perspectivist versions of RQM and quantum relativism more generally, underscoring both the need for further conceptual development and the importance of the iteration principle for an accurate cost-benefit analysis of such interpretations.
最近，量子系统的动力学性质总是相对于其他系统的观点重新流行起来。本文以关系量子力学（RQM）为例，提请人们注意一个在量子相对论争论中被低估的问题：相对性是否迭代的问题。一个系统相对于特定参考系所具有的性质是否存在绝对事实，或者这又是一个相对的问题，依此类推？本文认为，RQM（以其最著名的形式）致力于我所谓的“无限制迭代原则”（UIP），从而导致相对性的无限回归。该原则在确保观察者之间的相互作用结果的可传达性和连贯性方面起着至关重要的作用。然而，它与以关系术语对 RQM 的广泛保守解读不兼容，而是需要采用更非正统的视角事实概念。最后，我对 RQM 的视角主义版本和更广泛的量子相对论的当前状况进行了反思，强调了进一步发展概念的必要性以及迭代原则对于此类解释的准确成本效益分析的重要性。
