Single Idea 17577

[catalogued under 9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 7. Intermittent Objects]

Full Idea

Is the 'new' electron in the lower orbit the one that was in the higher orbit? Physics, as far as I can tell, has nothing to say about this.

Gist of Idea

When an electron 'leaps' to another orbit, is the new one the same electron?

Source

Peter van Inwagen (Material Beings [1990], 14)

Book Reference

Inwagen,Peter van: 'Material Beings' [Cornell 1995], p.159


A Reaction

I suspect that physicists would say that philosophers are worrying about such questions because they haven't grasped the new conceptual scheme that emerged in 1926. The poor mutts insist on hanging on to 'objects'.