Determinism and Indeterminism as Model Artefacts: Toward a Model-Invariant Ontology of Physics
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
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2025
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| author | Nolland, David |
| author_facet | Nolland, David |
| contents | This paper argues that the traditional opposition between determinism and indeterminism in physics is representational rather than ontological. Deterministic-stochastic dualities are available in principle, and arise in a non-contrived way in many scientifically important models. When dynamical systems admit mathematically equivalent deterministic and stochastic formulations, their observable predictions depend only on the induced structure of correlations between preparations and measurement outcomes. I use this model-equivalence to motivate a model-invariance criterion for ontological commitment, according to which only structural features that remain stable across empirically equivalent representations, and whose physical effects are invariant under such reformulations, are candidates for realism. This yields a fallibilist form of structural realism grounded in modal robustness rather than in the specifics of any given mathematical representation. Features such as conservation laws, symmetries, and causal or metric structure satisfy this criterion and can be encoded in observable relations in mathematically intelligible ways. By contrast, the localisation of modal selection -- whether in initial conditions, stochastic outcomes, or informational collapse mechanisms -- is not invariant under empirically equivalent reformulations and is therefore best understood as a gauge choice rather than an ontological feature. The resulting framework explains how certain long-standing problems in the foundations of physics, including the measurement problem and the perceived conflict between physical determinism and free agency, arise from the reification of representational artefacts. By distinguishing model-invariant structure from modelling conventions, I offer a realist ontology for modern physics that combines empirical openness with resistance to metaphysical overreach. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_22540 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Determinism and Indeterminism as Model Artefacts: Toward a Model-Invariant Ontology of Physics Nolland, David History and Philosophy of Physics Quantum Physics This paper argues that the traditional opposition between determinism and indeterminism in physics is representational rather than ontological. Deterministic-stochastic dualities are available in principle, and arise in a non-contrived way in many scientifically important models. When dynamical systems admit mathematically equivalent deterministic and stochastic formulations, their observable predictions depend only on the induced structure of correlations between preparations and measurement outcomes. I use this model-equivalence to motivate a model-invariance criterion for ontological commitment, according to which only structural features that remain stable across empirically equivalent representations, and whose physical effects are invariant under such reformulations, are candidates for realism. This yields a fallibilist form of structural realism grounded in modal robustness rather than in the specifics of any given mathematical representation. Features such as conservation laws, symmetries, and causal or metric structure satisfy this criterion and can be encoded in observable relations in mathematically intelligible ways. By contrast, the localisation of modal selection -- whether in initial conditions, stochastic outcomes, or informational collapse mechanisms -- is not invariant under empirically equivalent reformulations and is therefore best understood as a gauge choice rather than an ontological feature. The resulting framework explains how certain long-standing problems in the foundations of physics, including the measurement problem and the perceived conflict between physical determinism and free agency, arise from the reification of representational artefacts. By distinguishing model-invariant structure from modelling conventions, I offer a realist ontology for modern physics that combines empirical openness with resistance to metaphysical overreach. |
| title | Determinism and Indeterminism as Model Artefacts: Toward a Model-Invariant Ontology of Physics |
| topic | History and Philosophy of Physics Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.22540 |