Could the quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered causal?

pp. 187-206

in: Arkady Plotnitsky, The principles of quantum theory, from Planck's quanta to the Higgs boson, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept and principle of "quantum causality," and makes suggestions toward rethinking the nature of causality in view of the possibility of such a concept and principle, in juxtaposition to the classical concept and principle of causality, as defined in Chap. 1. Sec. 5.1 serves as a general introduction. Sec. 5.2 offers a discussion of the classical philosophical understanding of causality. Sec. 5.3 considers classical physics and relativity as classically causal theories, with a particular emphasis on qualifications that the use of classical causality in these theories requires. Sec. 5.4 considers quantum mechanics, in nonrealist, RWR-principle-based, interpretations, which preclude classical causality, and proposes the concept and the principle of "quantum causality."