The exclusion principle, chemistry and hidden variables

Eric Scerri

pp. 165-169

in: Synthese 102 (1), 1995.

Abstract

The Pauli Exclusion Principle and the reduction of chemistry have been the subject of considerable philosophical debate, The present article considers the view that the lack of derivability of the Exclusion Principle represents a problem for physics and denies the reduction of chemistry to quantum mechanics. The possible connections between the Exclusion Principle and the hidden variable debate are also briefly criticised.