Objectivity, retrocausation, and the experiment of Englert, Scully, and Walther

In a recent contribution to this journal [Am. J. Phys. 64, 1468–1475 (1996)] I wrongly asserted that retrocausation in the Englert, Scully, and Walther (ESW) experiment (a double-slit interference experiment with atoms) can occur only until the atom arrives at the screen. In their response, Englert, Scully, and Walther [preceding paper] point out my fallacy but give an incomplete analysis of its origin. In this paper I trace this fallacy to a deep-seated preconception about time and reality. I show that among the two possible realistic interpretations of standard quantum mechanics, the reality-of-states view and the reality-of-phenomena view, only the latter is viable. It follows that retrocausation is a necessary feature of any realistic account of the ESW experiment based on standard quantum mechanics. Finally I eludicate the sense in which the spatial properties of quantum systems are objective, and show that they are extrinsic rather than intrinsic.