Volume 10, 2001
Philosophy of Science
Tian Yu Cao
Pages 115-123
Representation or Construction?
An Interpretation of Quantum-Ffield Theory
In this essay, I argue that the basic entities in the causally organized hierarchy of entities that quantum field theory describes are not particles but fields. Then I move to discuss, from the perspective of a structural realist, in what sense and to what degree this theoretical construction of fields can be taken as an objective representation of physical reality.