The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics: From Spooky Action at a Distance to Higher Dimensions to Many Worlds

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Join us on Thursday, November 6, 2025, to meet Dr. Alyssa Ney, the 2025 Suppes Prize Winner, as she discusses the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. 

One hundred years after the invention of quantum mechanics, physicists and philosophers continue to debate its meaning. Many see quantum mechanics as supporting a picture of the world according to which objects can affect each other instantaneously over great distances, a puzzling phenomenon Einstein called "spooky action at a distance." But this seems to violate relativity theory. Is there a way to accept the startling experimental results supporting quantum mechanics while denying spooky action at a distance? Indeed there are several ways to do so. This presentation will discuss proposals involving a higher dimensional wave function as well as parallel universes or many worlds.

Dr. Alyssa Ney is Professor and Chair of Metaphysics in the Faculty for Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Religious Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. Dr. Ney will formally receive the Patrick Suppes Prize on November 14, 2025, at the APS General Meeting, held in San Diego, CA.

The American Philosophical Society has awarded the 2025 Patrick Suppes Prize in Philosophy to Dr. Alyssa Ney for her book The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum Physics (Oxford University Press, 2021). The Suppes Prize, which rotates annually between topics in philosophy, psychology, and the history of science and which includes a $20,000 prize, recognizes outstanding contributions to philosophy, and particularly the philosophy of science, published within the preceding five years. 

The selection committee, which includes APS Members, John Dupré (Chair), Anita Allen, Nancy D. Cartwright, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Bruce Kuklick, and Richard Shiffrin, lauded The World in the Wave Function for its exemplary handling of the relation between the scientific and philosophical sides of quantum mechanics, introducing metaphysics in a constructive, informative, and accessible way. In particular, the committee acknowledged the challenges in reconciling the success of quantum mechanics with its implications about the world. Describing Dr. Ney’s work as among the “most outstanding contributions to the philosophy of science” in recent years, the committee hailed The World in the Wave Function as accessible to both experts and to those interested in better understanding a complex world.