In Search for an Ontology of Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

The core of my doctoral thesis consists in the establishment and evaluation of different ontological interpretations of quantum field theory. I thus seek for an ontological picture of the most fundamental level of the physical world, under the assumption that quantum field theory provides a true description. I defend the view that algebraic quantum field theory is the most important formulation when ontological questions are concerned. Some of my more extensive studies deal with different substance ontologies as well as with process-ontological approaches. Eventually, I propose a dispositional trope ontology, according to which particularized properties and not substances are the most basic entities, in terms of which all other entities are to be analysed.