Quantum Mechanics And Objectivity

Author : Patrick A. Heelan
Publisher : Springer
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401508315

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Quantum Mechanics and Objectivity by Patrick A. Heelan Pdf

Quantum mechanics has raised in an acute form three problems which go to the heart of man's relationship with nature through experimental science: (r) the public objectivity of science, that is, its value as a universal science for all investigators; (2) the empirical objectivity of scientific objects, that is, man's ability to construct a precise or causal spatio-temporal model of microscopic systems; and finally (3), the formal objectivity of science, that is, its value as an expression of what nature is independently of its being an object of human knowledge. These are three aspects of what is generally called the "crisis of objec tivity" or the "crisis of realism" in modern physics. This crisis is. studied in the light of Werner Heisenberg's work. Heisenberg was one of the architects of quantum mechanics, and we have chosen his writings as the principal source-material for this study. Among physicists of the microscopic domain, no one except perhaps Bohr has expressed himself so abundantly and so profoundly on the philosophy of science as Heisenberg. His writings, both technical and non-technical, show an awareness of the mysterious element in scientific knowledge, far from the facile positivism of Bohr and others of his contemporaries. The mystery of human knowledge and human SUbjectivity is for him an abiding source of wonder.

Author : Patrick A. Heelan
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 1965
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:250919958

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Quantum Mechanics and Objectivity by Patrick A. Heelan Pdf

Author : Patrick A. Heelan (S.J.)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1965
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:1100324999

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Quantum Mechanics and Objectivity by Patrick A. Heelan (S.J.) Pdf

Author : Michael Bitbol,Pierre Kerszberg,Jean Petitot
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 527 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2009-03-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781402095108

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Constituting Objectivity by Michael Bitbol,Pierre Kerszberg,Jean Petitot Pdf

In recent years, many philosophers of modern physics came to the conclusion that the problem of how objectivity is constituted (rather than merely given) can no longer be avoided, and therefore that a transcendental approach in the spirit of Kant is now philosophically relevant. The usual excuse for skipping this task is that the historical form given by Kant to transcendental epistemology has been challenged by Relativity and Quantum Physics. However, the true challenge is not to force modern physics into a rigidly construed static version of Kant’s philosophy, but to provide Kant’s method with flexibility and generality. In this book, the top specialists of the field pin down the methodological core of transcendental epistemology that must be used in order to throw light on the foundations of modern physics. First, the basic tools Kant used for his transcendental reading of Newtonian Mechanics are examined, and then early transcendental approaches of Relativistic and Quantum Physics are revisited. Transcendental procedures are also applied to contemporary physics, and this renewed transcendental interpretation is finally compared with structural realism and constructive empiricism. The book will be of interest to scientists, historians and philosophers who are involved in the foundational problems of modern physics.

Author : Hernán Pringe
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2011-10-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783110971750

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Critique of the Quantum Power of Judgment by Hernán Pringe Pdf

The Critique of the Quantum Power of Judgement analyzes the a priori principles which underlie the empirical knowledge provided by quantum theory. In contrast to other transcendental approaches to quantum physics, none of the transcendental principles established by Kant is modified in order to cope with the new epistemological situation that arises with the asumption of the quantum postulate. Rather, by considering Bohr’s views, it is argued that classical concepts provide the mathematical formalism of quantum theory with physical reference through symbolic analogies in the strict Kantian sense. The main result of the investigation is the determination of the highest principle under which quantum objects are subsumed. This principle states that the conditions of the possibility of the systematic unity of contextual experience are at the same time the conditions of the possibility of quantum objects. Upon this principle rests the possibility of any a priori synthetic knowledge of quantum objects. Therefore, the Critique of the Quantum Power of Judgement yields the prolegomena to any future quantum metaphysics.

Author : Talal A. Debs,Michael L. G. Redhead
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2009-07
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674034139

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Objectivity, Invariance, and Convention by Talal A. Debs,Michael L. G. Redhead Pdf

From the Publisher: "What does it mean to be lonely?" Thomas Dumm asks. His inquiry, documented in this book, takes us beyond social circumstances and into the deeper forces that shape our very existence as modern individuals. The modern individual, Dumm suggests, is fundamentally a lonely self. Through reflections on philosophy, political theory, literature, and tragic drama, he proceeds to illuminate a hidden dimension of the human condition. His book shows how loneliness shapes the contemporary division between public and private, our inability to live with each other honestly and in comity, the estranged forms that our intimate relationships assume, and the weakness of our common bonds. A reading of the relationship between Cordelia and her father in Shakespeare's King Lear points to the most basic dynamic of modern loneliness-how it is a response to the problem of the "missing mother." Dumm goes on to explore the most important dimensions of lonely experience-Being, Having, Loving, and Grieving. As the book unfolds, he juxtaposes new interpretations of iconic cultural texts-Moby-Dick, Death of a Salesman, the film Paris, Texas, Emerson's "Experience," to name a few-with his own experiences of loneliness, as a son, as a father, and as a grieving husband and widower. Written with deceptive simplicity, Loneliness as a Way of Life is something rare-an intellectual study that is passionately personal. It challenges us, not to overcome our loneliness, but to learn how to re-inhabit it in a better way. To fail to do so, this book reveals, will only intensify the power that it holds over us

Author : Luis de la Peña,Ana María Cetto,Andrea Valdés Hernández
Publisher : Springer
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2014-07-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319078939

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The Emerging Quantum by Luis de la Peña,Ana María Cetto,Andrea Valdés Hernández Pdf

This monograph presents the latest findings from a long-term research project intended to identify the physics behind Quantum Mechanics. A fundamental theory for quantum mechanics is constructed from first physical principles, revealing quantization as an emergent phenomenon arising from a deeper stochastic process. As such, it offers the vibrant community working on the foundations of quantum mechanics an alternative contribution open to discussion. The book starts with a critical summary of the main conceptual problems that still beset quantum mechanics. The basic consideration is then introduced that any material system is an open system in permanent contact with the random zero-point radiation field, with which it may reach a state of equilibrium. Working from this basis, a comprehensive and self-consistent theoretical framework is then developed. The pillars of the quantum-mechanical formalism are derived, as well as the radiative corrections of nonrelativistic QED, while revealing the underlying physical mechanisms. The genesis of some of the central features of quantum theory is elucidated, such as atomic stability, the spin of the electron, quantum fluctuations, quantum nonlocality and entanglement. The theory developed here reaffirms fundamental scientific principles such as realism, causality, locality and objectivity.

Author : Gregg Jaeger
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2013-08-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783642376290

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Quantum Objects by Gregg Jaeger Pdf

This monograph identifies the essential characteristics of the objects described by current quantum theory and considers their relationship to space-time. In the process, it explicates the senses in which quantum objects may be consistently considered to have parts of which they may be composed or into which they may be decomposed. The book also demonstrates the degree to which reduction is possible in quantum mechanics, showing it to be related to the objective indefiniteness of quantum properties and the strong non-local correlations that can occur between the physical quantities of quantum subsystems. Careful attention is paid to the relationships among such property correlations, physical causation, probability, and symmetry in quantum theory. In this way, the text identifies and clarifies the conceptual grounds underlying the unique nature of many quantum phenomena.

Author : Michael Bitbol,Pierre Kerszberg,Jean Petitot
Publisher : Springer
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2009-06-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 1402095090

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Constituting Objectivity by Michael Bitbol,Pierre Kerszberg,Jean Petitot Pdf

In recent years, many philosophers of modern physics came to the conclusion that the problem of how objectivity is constituted (rather than merely given) can no longer be avoided, and therefore that a transcendental approach in the spirit of Kant is now philosophically relevant. The usual excuse for skipping this task is that the historical form given by Kant to transcendental epistemology has been challenged by Relativity and Quantum Physics. However, the true challenge is not to force modern physics into a rigidly construed static version of Kant’s philosophy, but to provide Kant’s method with flexibility and generality. In this book, the top specialists of the field pin down the methodological core of transcendental epistemology that must be used in order to throw light on the foundations of modern physics. First, the basic tools Kant used for his transcendental reading of Newtonian Mechanics are examined, and then early transcendental approaches of Relativistic and Quantum Physics are revisited. Transcendental procedures are also applied to contemporary physics, and this renewed transcendental interpretation is finally compared with structural realism and constructive empiricism. The book will be of interest to scientists, historians and philosophers who are involved in the foundational problems of modern physics.

Author : F. J. Belinfante
Publisher : Elsevier
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2016-02-09
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781483155067

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Measurements and Time Reversal in Objective Quantum Theory by F. J. Belinfante Pdf

Measurements and Time Reversal in Objective Quantum Theory is a three-chapter book that begins with a discussion on the fundamentals of conventional quantum theory. The second chapter focuses on the time arrow of quantum theory. It specifically presents a schematized account of the results of an interesting paper on time reversal in quantum theory published by Aharonov, Bergmann, and Lebowitz. The last chapter presents the authors' conclusions and additional comments in this field. This book will be valuable to students of wave mechanics and will serve as a supplement to textbooks, which fail to present an appropriate discussion of these matters.

Author : Robert J. Howell
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2013-06-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191662652

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Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity by Robert J. Howell Pdf

In Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity Robert J. Howell argues that the options in the debates about consciousness and the mind-body problem are more limited than many philosophers have appreciated. Unless one takes a hard-line stance, which either denies the data provided by consciousness or makes a leap of faith about future discoveries, one must admit that no objective picture of our world can be complete. Howell argues, however, that this is consistent with physicalism, contrary to received wisdom. After developing a novel, neo-Cartesian notion of the physical, followed by a careful consideration of the three major anti-materialist arguments—Black's 'Presentation Problem', Jackson's Knowledge Argument, and Chalmers' Conceivability Argument—Howell proposes a 'subjective physicalism' which gives the data of consciousness their due, while retaining the advantages of a monistic, physical ontology.

Author : Richard Healey
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2017-06-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191023446

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The Quantum Revolution in Philosophy by Richard Healey Pdf

Quantum theory launched a revolution in physics. But we have yet to understand the revolution's significance for philosophy. Richard Healey opens a path to such understanding. Most studies of the conceptual foundations of quantum theory first try to interpret the theory - to say how the world could possibly be the way the theory says it is. But, though fundamental, quantum theory is enormously successful without describing the world in its own terms. When properly applied, models of quantum theory offer good advice on the significance and credibility of claims about the world expressed in other terms. This first philosophical lesson of the quantum revolution dissolves the quantum measurement problem. Pragmatist treatments of probability and causation show how quantum theory may be used to explain the non-localized correlations that have been thought to involve "spooky" instantaneous action at a distance. Given environmental decoherence, a pragmatist inferentialist approach to content shows when talk of quantum probabilities is licensed, resolves any residual worries about whether a quantum measurement has a determinate outcome, and solves a dilemma about the ontology of a quantum field theory. This approach to meaning and reference also reveals the nature and limits of objective description in the light of quantum theory. While these pragmatist approaches to probability, causation, explanation and content may be independently motivated by philosophical argument, their successful application here illustrates their practical importance in helping philosophers come to terms with the quantum revolution.

Author : Bernard D'Espagnat
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1989-01-27
Category : Science
ISBN : 0521338468

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Reality and the Physicist by Bernard D'Espagnat Pdf

This book investigates the nature of reality from the viewpoint of a physicist.

Author : Robert Nozick
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 444 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674006313

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Invariances by Robert Nozick Pdf

Casting cultural controversies in a whole new light, an eminent philosopher presents bold, new theories that take into account scientific advances in physics, evolutionary biology, economics, and cognitive neurosience.

Author : Arnold Neumaier
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2019-10-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783110667363

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Coherent Quantum Physics by Arnold Neumaier Pdf

This book introduces mathematicians, physicists, and philosophers to a new, coherent approach to theory and interpretation of quantum physics, in which classical and quantum thinking live peacefully side by side and jointly fertilize the intuition. The formal, mathematical core of quantum physics is cleanly separated from the interpretation issues. The book demonstrates that the universe can be rationally and objectively understood from the smallest to the largest levels of modeling. The thermal interpretation featured in this book succeeds without any change in the theory. It involves one radical step, the reinterpretation of an assumption that was virtually never questioned before - the traditional eigenvalue link between theory and observation is replaced by a q-expectation link: Objective properties are given by q-expectations of products of quantum fields and what is computable from these. Averaging over macroscopic spacetime regions produces macroscopic quantities with negligible uncertainty, and leads to classical physics. - Reflects the actual practice of quantum physics. - Models the quantum-classical interface through coherent spaces. - Interprets both quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. - Eliminates probability and measurement from the foundations. - Proposes a novel solution of the measurement problem.