文档介绍：Studies in History and Philosophy of
Modern Physics 33 (2002) 251–267
Reductionism, emergence, and effective field
theories
Elena Castellani
Department of Philosophy, University of Florence, via Bolognese 52, 50139 Firenze, Italy
Abstract
In recent years, a ‘‘change in attitude’’ in particle physics has led to our understanding
current quantumfield theories as effective field theories (EFTs). The present paper is concerned
with the significance of this EFT approach, especially fromthe viewpoint of the debate on
reductionismin science. In particular, I shall show how EFTs provide a new and interesting
case study in current philosophical discussion on reduction, emergence, and inter-level
relationships in general. r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Reductionism; Emergence; Fundamentality; Inter-level relations; Quantum field theory;
Renormalization
1. Introduction: a recent ‘‘change in attitude’’ in particle physics
According to a view dominant in the 1970s and 1980s and still widely accepted,
‘‘fundamental physics’’ is the physics concerned with the search for the ultimate
constituents of the universe and the laws governing their behavior and interactions.
Fundamentality, on this view, is the prerogative of the physics of smaller and smaller
distances (or higher and higher energies), and, accordingly, particle physics and
cosmology are currently identified as the fields where the quest for the ‘‘final theory’’
takes place.
Historically, the rise and establishment in the 1970s of the standard model
(electroweak theory and quantum chromodynamics) marked a pivotal step in this
search: a description of the physical world was obtained in terms of quarks and
leptons as basic constituents of matter and their (nongravitational) interactions,
interpreted in a unified way as controlled by the same principle (the gauge principle)
E-mail address: ******@ (E. Castellani).
1355-2198/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsev