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One of the questions that is haunting the theory of quantum mechanics since its very first beginnings is what the world would be like if this theory were true. And since those beginnings physicists and philosophers have tried to answer this question, which has become known as the question of the interpretation of quantum mechanics. These attempts have led to mixed results. They have generated candidate answers such as the De Broglie-Bohm theory and the consistent histories approach. But they also have led to constraints: the Bell inequalities and the KochenSpecker no-go theorem, for instance, clearly limit what an interpretation of quantum mechanics can offer. Moreover, research has not yet resulted in one generally accepted answer: physicists and philosophers are still divided about the tenability of the De Broglie-Bohm theory, of the consistent histories approach or of any other proposal to interpret quantum mechanics. Hence, the present-day situation is that it is undecided how quantum mechanics should be interpreted. Research is thus still developing and generating new proposals.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-2612-2_15

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