Relativistic Constraints on Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

This chapter, from the Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics (Eleanor Knox and Alastair Wilson, eds., 2021), is an overview of the constraints that relativity places on interpretations of quantum theory. It focuses on four main avenues of approach: (i) additional beables theories, which include "hidden-variables" theories and modal interpretations, (ii) dynamical collapse theories, (iii) Everettian, or "many-worlds" interpretations, and (iv) non-realist interpretations, which deny that quantum states represent anything in physical reality independent of considerations of agents and their beliefs.