CRITIQUE OF PUTNAM QUANTUM LOGIC

Putnam gives a strongly realist account of quantum logic. This has bee n criticised as suggesting a hidden variable interpretation for quantu m mechanics. Friedman and Glymour have done this in the framework of n oncontextual hidden variable theories, which, however, does not fully represent Putnam's ideas. Here Putnam's approach to quantum logic is u nderstood in terms of contextual truth-value assignments. The concept of a measurement is discussed. It follows that in order to reproduce q uantum mechanical predictions a kind of disturbance is necessary, whic h is then analyzed. Finally, it is shown that the Putnam approach does not escape proofs of nonlocality, and thus shares, indeed, the unwelc ome features of a hidden variable theory.