Indetermination and Potentiality in Quantum Physics
ISSN: 0212-8365, 2253-900X
Year of publication: 2018
Issue: 58
Pages: 11-29
Type: Article
More publications in: Thémata: Revista de filosofía
Abstract
One of the main philosophical problems of quantum mechanics is understanding in what manner Schödinger’s wave function can said to be real. In this paper I explore the ways in which the Aristotelian notion of potentiality could be used to understand the reality of the wave function, as suggested by Heisenberg in some of his writings. For this reason I sketch some of the potential complications in the interpretation of wave function while trying to develop Aristotle’s philosophy of potentiality in relation to quantum mechanics. I will also attempt to demonstrate the connections of Popper’s account of propensities with the notion of potentiality.
Bibliographic References
- Dirac, P.A.M.: The Principles of Quantum Mechanics. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.
- Born, M.: Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949.
- D’Espagnat, B.: On Physics and Philosophy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2006
- Jammer, M.: The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. New-York: Wiley-Interscience, 1974
- Bohr, N.: La théorie atomique et la description des phénomènes. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1932
- See Folse, H. J.: The Philosophy of Niels Bohr, the Framework of Complementarity. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1985.
- Bohm, D.-Hiley, B. J.: The Undivided Universe. An Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Theory. London and New York: Routledge, 1993
- See Bohr, N.: “Le postulat des quanta et le nouveau dévelppement de l’atomistique”, in: Électrons et photons. Rapports et discussions (Solvay 1927), Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1928
- Bunge, M.: “Strife about Complementarity” in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 6, 1955-1956
- Holton, G.: Concepts and Theories in Physical Science. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1973
- Hendry, J.: The Creation of Quantum Mechanics and the Bohr-Pauli Dialogue. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1984
- De Broglie, L.: The Current Interpretation of Wave Mechanics. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1964
- D’Espagnat, B.: On Physics and Philosophy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2006
- Schrödinger, E.: Science, Theory and Man. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1957
- De Broglie, L.: “On the True Ideas Underlying Wave Mechanics” in De Broglie, L.: Heisenberg’s Uncertainties and the Probabilistic Interpretation of Wave Mechanics. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1990
- Schrödinger, E.: Science and Humanism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951
- Bitbol, M.: Schrödinger’s Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1996
- Popper, K.: Quantum Theory and the Schism in Physics. Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1982 (1956)
- Heisenberg, W.: Physics and Philosophy. New York: Harper Perennial, 2007
- Diels, H.-Kranz, W.: Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Berlin, 1954
- Heisenberg, W.: “The Development of the Interpretation of the Quantum Theory” in Pauli, W.: Niels Bohr and the Development of Physics. Oxford: Pergamon, 1962
- Heisenberg, W.: “Über den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik” in Zeitschrift für Physik 43, 1927
- Popper, K,: The Open Society and its Enemies. Vol. I. The Spell of Plato. London: Routledge, 1945
- Popper, K.: “Indeterminism in Quantum Physics” in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 1, 1950
- Hughes, R. I. G.: The Structure and Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge: Harvard Univesity Press, 1989
- Heissenberg, W.: Across the Frontiers. New York: Harper & Row, 1974
- Heisenberg, W.: Physics and Beyond. New York: Harper & Row, 1971
- Popper, K.: A World of Propensities. Bristol: Thoemes, 1990