Talk:TFNR - 2.3 The principle of individuation

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The principle of individuation, or principium individuationis,[1] describes the manner in which a thing is identified as distinguished from other things.[2]

In philosophy Philosophically, "individuation" expresses the general idea of how a thing is identified as an individual thing that "is not something else". This includes how an individual person is held to be distinct from other elements in the world and how a person is distinct from other persons.

In physics Two quantum entangled particles cannot be understood independently. Two or more states in quantum superposition, e.g., as in Schrödinger's cat being simultaneously dead and alive, is mathematically not the same as assuming the cat is in an individual alive state with 50% probability. The Heisenberg's uncertainty principle says that complementary variables, such as position and momentum, cannot both be precisely known - in some sense, they are not individual variables. A natural criterion of individuality has been suggested.[5]

For Schopenhauer the principium individuationis constituted of time and space, being the ground of multiplicity. In his view, the mere difference in location suffices to make two systems different, with each of the two states having its own real physical state, independent of the state of the other.

This view influenced Einstein.[6] Schrödinger put the Schopenhaurian label on a folder of papers in his files “Collection of Thoughts on the physical Principium individuationis.”[7] John Earman, John D. Norton (1997). The Cosmos of Science: Essays of Exploration. Univ of Pittsburgh Pr. p. 131. ISBN 0822939304. Schrödinger's biographer, Walter Moore, details the lifelong influence of Schopenhauer on Schrödinger ... or the Schopenhauerian label that Schrödinger put on one folder of papers in his files: "Sammlung der Gedanken über das physikalische Principium individuationis".

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