Valia Allori (2021), Synthese 199(5–6), 12271–12293 (2021) — DOI-10.1007/s11229-021-03332-z
Key takeaways
- The wave function is best understood functionally, as whatever plays its empirical, nomological and explanatory roles in the theory. This makes it non-material, non-epistemic and non-representational, yet ontic, multiply realizable (by a phase-shifted ψ or a density matrix), and part of the law, which avoids the main objections to nomological, epistemic and pragmatist views.
Seeded from the abstract and a skim, before the reading in NOTE-154. What follows is what the work says about itself.
Allori proposes treating the wave function as a non-material, non-epistemic, non-representational entity, defined functionally by the roles it plays in quantum theory. The view shares features with the nomological account of the wave function and with pragmatist and epistemic approaches. She argues that it avoids the main objections each of those faces.
Standing in the record
Filed from the 2026-09-26 sweep of the papers-feed tracker for philosophy: 5 seconds of active reading over 1 session. It was filed Deferred, unread. NOTE-154 is the close reading of 2026-09-26, and it placed the work: Proposed — a distinct and clearly placed option in the ψ-as-law family (LIT-204 §4.2). It is unproven until “part of the law” and “non-representational yet ontic” are given content that separates the view from Humean nomologism, and until it answers the “too cheap” objection it invites.
When seeded, before the reading in NOTE-154, the entry gave a priority for a deeper reading: low — only glanced at (t=5s), and the skim captures the proposal and the replies. Its value is as a node in the wave-function cluster.
What the seeding asked a deeper reading to check (NOTE-154 is that reading):
- A distinct option in Chen’s taxonomy (LIT-204). It is close to his weak nomological reading, so check whether it escapes the “too cheap” objection Chen raises there.
- It contrasts with Gao’s ψ-ontic RDM view (LIT-121) and Dorato’s dispositional reading (LIT-176). A deeper reading should ask whether “ontic but non-representational” is a stable position.
- Its functionalism parallels Wallace’s math-first strategy (LIT-151) of defining theoretical content by role and structure.
Access when seeded: The Springer page was blocked by a bot challenge. I read the author’s final preprint (“wfunctionalism - final.pdf”, 25 pp.) from PhilSci-Archive 19355 (deposited 2021-07-23, which I used as first appearance). Crossref gives journal online 2021-08-04, plus volume, issue and pages. Keywords are the paper’s own. Page numbers below are the preprint’s.