Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal

This is not a Festschrift in honor of David Bohm or a collection of papers simply stating uncritically a particular interpretation of quantum mechanics. Rather, it is a contribution to the serious and ongoing critical analysis, extension and application of the central ideas of David Bohm's version of quantum mechanics to test them for consistency, empirical adequacy and fruitfulness in generating new avenues of research. The papers in this volume are grouped around four main topics: the essentials of Bohmian mechanics; detailed applications and extensions of these basics; historical and conceptual analyses of the program; comparisons and contrasts with other formulations of quantum mechanics. This book will be of interest to physicists and to philosophers and historians of science - really to anyone concerned with foundational issues in quantum mechanics.