Notes on a future quantum event-ontology

TL;DR

This paper explores the ontological nature of quantum events, examining probabilistic models and their adequacy in describing quantum phenomena, ultimately highlighting unresolved philosophical questions.

Contribution

It offers a two-step philosophical reflection on quantum event ontology and assesses probabilistic models' adequacy for describing quantum phenomena.

Findings

Probabilistic event models are examined for their suitability in quantum contexts.

Quantum phenomena are characterized within the ontological category of statistical phenomena.

The reflection concludes with unresolved philosophical questions about quantum events.

Abstract

This essay is a two-step reflection on the question 'Which events (can be said to) occur in quantum phenomena?' The first step regiments the ontological category of "statistical phenomena" and studies the adequacy of "probabilistic event models" as descriptions thereof. Guided by the conviction that quantum phenomena are to be circumscribed within this same ontological category, the second step highlights the peculiarities of probabilistic event models of some non-relativistic quantum phenomena, and thereby of what appear to be some plausible answers to our initial question. The reflection ends in an aporetic state, as it is by now usual in encounters between ontology and the quantum.