LFU:online

Getting familiar with the philosophical problem of agency, the theory of quantum mechanics, and how they are connected. 

The course gives an introduction into the philosophical problem of agency and how it represents itself before the background of modern physics. We will revisit the basic statements of quantum mechanics and develop a reading of quantum mechanics in which agency is integrated in a natural way. This reading is close to a current philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics called QBism. We plan to review the basic tenets of QBism and discuss where we agree and disagree. From a methodological point of view theoretical modelling, as it is used in physics, plays a central role for our approach. We will give an introduction into the model of Projective Simulation (PS) and some of its applications. We will discuss the role PS plays for the understanding of agency and the possibility of artificial agency. We will also show how the PS model offers a phenomenological reading of agency, which connects quantum physics with basic structures of phenomenology.

1. Agency
2. Quantum mechanics
3. QBism: Integrating Agency and Quantum Mechanics
4. Projective simulation
5. Phenomenology

Lecture, assessment is based on a single examination at the end of the course.

Will be discussed in the first lesson. The course is based on a book with a similar title by Briegel and Müller, Springer Synthese, forthcoming (2024).

Basic knowledge of Quantum Mechanics.