Why quasi-sets?

• Main Author: Décio Krause
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Matemática 2002-11-01
• Series: Boletim da Sociedade Paranaense de Matemática
• Subjects: Quasi-set theory; quantum physics; Heinz Post.
• Online Access: http://www.periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/BSocParanMat/article/view/7524/4340

Quasi-set theory was developed to deal with collections of indistinguishable objects. In standard mathematics, there are no such kind of entities, for indistinguishability (agreement with respect to all properties) entails numerical identity. The main motivation underlying such a theory is of course quantum physics, for collections of indistinguishable (’identical’ in the physicists’ jargon) particles cannot be regarded as ’sets’ of standard set theories, which are collections of distinguishable objects. In this paper, a rationale for the development of such a theory is presented, motivated by Heinz Post’s claim that indistinguishability ofquantum entities should be attributed ’right at the start’.