Eddy Keming Chen
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Book

Laws of Physics [Book Website] [Video Abstract]
​Cambridge University Press, 2024
[Reviewed by Dustin Lazarovici in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews]
[Discussed in a two-part deep-dive video in Italian by Davide De Biasio on his popular science YouTube channel Spazi Attorcigliati]

Articles


The Simplicity of Physical Laws [Journal] [Abstract] [Video]
Noûs, 2025

Decoherence, Branching, and the Born Rule in a Mixed-State Everettian Multiverse (with Eugene Y. S. Chua) [Abstract] [Journal]
Synthese, 2025

The Decoherent Arrow of Time and the Entanglement Past Hypothesis (with Jim Al-Khalili) [Abstract] [Journal]
Foundations of Physics, 2024
[Featured in two 2024 New Scientist articles "
Quantum Arrow of Time Suggests Early Universe Had no Entanglement" and "Physicists in 2024 Searched the Quantum Realm for the Truth about Time"]

The Preordained Quantum Universe [Journal] 
Nature, 21 December 2023

[Republished and translated in Spektrum (German) and Gazete Bilim (Turkish). Featured in the 2024 Scientific American article "Does Quantum Physics Rule Out Free Will?"]
-American Philosophical Association Public Philosophy Op-Ed Prize

Strong Determinism [Abstract] [Journal] [Video]
Philosophers' Imprint, 2024
[Featured in the 2024 Scientific American article "Does Quantum Physics Rule Out Free Will?"]

Evil and the Quantum Multiverse (Daniel Rubio)
Australasian Journal of Philosophy, forthcoming

Fundamental Nomic Vagueness [Abstract] [Journal] [Video] 
The Philosophical Review, 2022
-Selected by The Philosopher's Annual as "one of the ten best articles in philosophy from 2022"

Welcome to the Fuzzy-Verse [Penultimate] [Magazine]
[F
eatured as the New Scientist cover story "The Flaw at the Heart of Reality: Why precise mathematical laws can never fully explain the universe"; popular version of "Fundamental Nomic Vagueness"]
New Scientist, Issue 3298, Sep 5th, 2020 


Governing without a Fundamental Direction of Time: Minimal Primitivism about Laws of Nature (with Sheldon Goldstein) [Abstract] [Video] [Book]
Yemima Ben-Menahem (ed.), Rethinking the Concept of Law of Nature, Springer, 2022


Density Matrix Realism [Abstract]
Cuffaro, M. E., and Hartmann, S. (eds.), The Open Systems View: Physics, Metaphysics and Methodology, Oxford University Press, forthcoming


The Wentaculus: Density Matrix Realism Meets the Arrow of Time [Abstract][Video]
Angelo Bassi, Sheldon Goldstein, Roderich Tumulka, and Nino Zanghì (eds.), Physics and the Nature of Reality: Essays in Memory of Detlef Dürr, Springer, 2024

The Quantum Wave Function Isn't Real [IAI TV website] [Popular article about the Wentaculus view of quantum mechanics]
The Institute of Art and Ideas, 2022

Uniform Probability Distribution Over All Density Matrices (with Roderich Tumulka) [Abstract] [Journal]
Quantum Studies: Mathematics and Foundations, 2022

Time's Arrow and Self-Locating Probability [Abstract]​ [Journal]
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2021 [2022]

The Past Hypothesis and the Nature of Physical Laws [Abstract] [Book]
Barry Loewer, Eric Winsberg, and Brad Weslake (eds.), The Probability Map of the Universe: Essays on David Albert's Time and Chance, Harvard University Press, 2021 [2023]

Bell's Theorem, Quantum Probabilities, and Superdeterminism [Abstract] [Book]
Eleanor Knox and Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Physics, Routledge, 2021

The Cosmic Void [Abstract] [Book]
Sara Bernstein and Tyron Goldschmidt (eds.), Non-Being: New Essays on the Metaphysics of Nonexistence, Oxford University Press, 2021

From Time Asymmetry to Quantum Entanglement: The Humean Unification [Abstract] [Journal]
Noûs, 2020 [2022]
​

​Time's Arrow in a Quantum Universe: On the Status of Statistical Mechanical Probabilities [Abstract] [Book]
Valia Allori (ed.), 
Statistical Mechanics and Scientific Explanation: Determinism, Indeterminism and Laws of Nature, World Scientific, 2020

Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State [Abstract] [Journal] [Audio Summary] [Interview in "Author Meets Physics" on YouTube] [IAITV]
The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2018 [2021]
 -Awarded the 2021 BJPS Popper Prize as "the article judged to be the best published in that year's volume of the Journal, as determined by the Editors-in-Chief and the BSPS Committee"

​
​Realism about the Wave Function [Abstract] [Journal]
Philosophy Compass, 2019


Surreal Decisions (with Daniel Rubio) [Abstract] [Journal]
​​Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2018 [2020]

​​Our Fundamental Physical Space: An Essay on the Metaphysics of the Wave Function [Abstract] [Journal]
The Journal of Philosophy, 2017


​From Ants to Quantum Non-Locality (with Isaac Wilhelm)
The Daily Ant, 2017
​
​​Great Expectations: Introducing Surreal Decision Theory (with Daniel Rubio) [Proceedings]
​​Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Logic, Rationality, and Interaction (LORI-V), ​Springer-Verlag, 2015
​​
Book Reviews:

Richard Healey, The Quantum Revolution in Philosophy [Abstract] [Journal]
The Philosophical Review, 2020

Preprints


Typical Quantum States of the Universe are Observationally Indistinguishable (with Roderich Tumulka) [Abstract] [Video]

Algorithmic Randomness and Probabilistic Laws (with Jeffrey A. Barrett) [Abstract]

The Intrinsic Structure of Quantum Mechanics [arXiv]

Other Works in Progress: 

Philosophy of Physics, Philosophy of Science, and Metaphysics:
Varieties of Intrinsicality and the Hardest Road to Nominalism [Video][Slides]
The Best Summary of the Quantum World: The Universal Wave Function as a Humean Law 

Decision Theory:
Surreal Decisions II: Infinite State Space (with Daniel Rubio) 


Chinese Philosophy: 
A Hybrid Voluntarist Interpretation of Xunzi 


Philosophy of Mind: 
Comparativism about the Mind: From Metaphysics of Quantities to the Nature of Mentality  

Master's Thesis: 

Quantum States of a Time-Asymmetric Universe: Wave Function, Density Matrix, and Empirical Equivalence (Supervisor: Sheldon Goldstein) [Rutgers University Repository] ​ [arXiv]
Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 2019

Doctoral Dissertation: 

Essays on the Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics (Supervisors: Barry Loewer and David Albert) [Rutgers University Repository]
Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, 2019
Erdős number
4 (E.K. Chen>S. Goldstein>P.A. Ferrari>P.E. Ney>P. Erdős). 

Citation Information
Please cite my last name as "Chen."
Example of an in-text citation: "Chen (2019) discusses several realist interpretations of the wave function."
Example of a bibliographic entry: Chen, E. K. (2019). Realism about the wave function. Philosophy Compass, 14(7): e12611. 
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​9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0119 
  • Home
  • Publications
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Public Engagement
  • Events
    • UCSD Mini Workshop on Quantum Foundations
    • Science Without Numbers, 40 Years Later
    • UCSD Workshop on Time's Arrows
    • Rutgers-Columbia Workshop on Metaphysics of QFT
    • Rutgers Workshop on Structural Realism
    • MAPS
  • Contact
  • Resources