Statistics, symmetry, and the conventionality of indistinguishability in quantum mechanics

The question to be addressed is, In what sense and to what extent do quantu m statistics for, and the standard formal quantum-mechanical description of , systems of many identical particles entail that identical quantum particl es are indistinguishable? This paper argues that whether or not we consider identical quantum particles as indistinguishable is a matter of theory cho ice underdetermined by logic and experiment.