Monthly Archives: February 2013

David Wallace

One of the notable things about discussing the interpretation of quantum mechanics with physicists and with philosophers is that it is the physicists who propose philosophically radical ways of interpreting a theory, and the philosophers who propose changing the physics. One might reasonably doubt that the advocates or either strategy are always fully aware of its true difficulty.

David Wallace, The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum Theory according to the Everett Interpretation, Oxford, 2012, p. 35

Jon Elster

[T]here can be no way of justifying the substantive assumption that all forms of altruism, solidarity and sacrifice really are ultra-subtle forms of self-interest, except by the trivializing gambit of arguing that people have concern for others because they want to avoid being distressed by their distress. And even this gambit […] is open to the objection that rational distress-minimizers could often use more efficient means than helping others.

Jon Elster, Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality, Cambridge, 1983, p. 10