scholarly journals Quantum Mechanics and an Ontology of Intersubjectivity: Perils and Promises

Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-341
Author(s):  
Marc A. Pugliese
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Relativity Theory ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Experimental Procedure ◽  
Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Ontological Categories ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Many

AbstractContemporary theology has realized the importance of integrating what we know from the “new physics”-quantum mechanics and relativity theory-into the metaphysical and ontological categories used by theology to consider God, the world, and the God-world relationship. The categories of subjectivity and relationality have risen to prominence in these discussions. Both academic and popular presentations can obscure the vital distinction between what physicists agree on concerning quantum mechanics and the contested interpretation of quantum mechanics, or what quantum mechanics reveals about reality. After (1) summarizing the significant distinction between quantum mechanics per se and the interpretations of quantum mechanics and (2) the agreed upon quantum mechanical experimental procedure and its attendant mathematical formalism, as well as a few of the foremost interpretations, this paper (3) attempts a minimalist culling of some rudimentary but clear ontological principles and categories from what is agreed upon in quantum mechanics, without appeals-tacit or explicit-to one of the many controversial interpretations or to contestable philosophical assumptions and deductions, and these are: experience, subjectivity, relationship, and event. The paper closes by (4) commending one speculative scheme that is especially conducive to developing an interpretation of quantum mechanics consonant with the ontological principles and categories so derived, that of Alfred North Whitehead

scholarly journals Barad, Bohr, and quantum mechanics

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Faye ◽  
Rasmus Jaksland
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Niels Bohr ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Strict Sense ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Feminist Science ◽  
Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Agential Realism

AbstractThe last decade has seen an increasing number of references to quantum mechanics in the humanities and social sciences. This development has in particular been driven by Karen Barad’s agential realism: a theoretical framework that, based on Niels Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics, aims to inform social theorizing. In dealing with notions such as agency, power, and embodiment as well as the relation between the material and the discursive level, the influence of agential realism in fields such as feminist science studies and posthumanism has been profound. However, no one has hitherto paused to assess agential realism’s proclaimed quantum mechanical origin including its relation to the writings of Niels Bohr. This is the task taken up here. We find that many of the implications that agential realism allegedly derives from a Bohrian interpretation of quantum mechanics dissent from Bohr’s own views and are in conflict with those of other interpretations of quantum mechanics. Agential realism is at best consistent with quantum mechanics and consequently, it does not capture what quantum mechanics in any strict sense implies for social science or any other domain of inquiry. Agential realism may be interesting and thought provoking from the perspective of social theorizing, but it is neither sanctioned by quantum mechanics nor by Bohr’s authority. This conclusion not only holds for agential realism in particular, it also serves as a general warning against the other attempts to use quantum mechanics in social theorizing.

Quantum mechanics, interpretation of

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Stairs
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Microscopic Level ◽  
Quantum States ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Quantum Superposition ◽  
Ordinary Objects ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
The World

Quantum mechanics developed in the early part of the twentieth century in response to the discovery that energy is quantized, that is, comes in discrete units. At the microscopic level this leads to odd phenomena: light displays particle-like characteristics and particles such as electrons produce wave-like interference patterns. At the level of ordinary objects such effects are usually not evident, but this generalization is subject to striking exceptions and puzzling ambiguities. The fundamental quantum mechanical puzzle is ’superposition of states’. Quantum states can be added together in a manner that recalls the superposition of waves, but the effects of quantum superposition show up only probabilistically in the statistics of many measurements. The details suggest that the world is indefinite in odd ways; for example, that things may not always have well-defined positions or momenta or energies. However, if we accept this conclusion, we have difficulty making sense of such straightforward facts as that measurements have definite results. Interpretations of quantum mechanics are, in one way or another, attempts to understand the superposition of quantum states. The range of interpretations stretches from the metaphysically daring to the seemingly innocuous. But, so far, no single interpretation has commanded anything like universal agreement.

scholarly journals A Phenomenological Reading of the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquin Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
Wave Function ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Measurement Problem ◽  
Copenhagen Interpretation ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Many Worlds ◽  
Standard Interpretation ◽  
Hermeneutic Phenomenological ◽  
Many Worlds Interpretation ◽  
The Many

The articles provides a phenomenological reading of the Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics and its answer to the measurement problem, or the question of “why only one of a wave function’s probable values is observed when the system is measured.” Transcendental-phenomenological and hermeneutic-phenomenological approaches are employed. The project comprises four parts. Parts one and two review MWI and the standard (Copenhagen) interpretation of quantum mechanics. Part three reviews the phenomenologies. Part four deconstructs the hermeneutics of MWI. It agrees with the confidence the theory derives from its (1) unforgiving appropriation of the Schrödinger equation and (2) association of branching universes with the evolution of the wave function insofar as that understanding comes from the formalism itself. Part four also reveals the hermeneutical shortcomings of the standard interpretation.

scholarly journals Additional information and clarifications surrounding the Many dimensions interpretation of quantum mechanics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John joseph Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Previous Article ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
The Many

Throughout this article the many dimensions interpretation of quantum mechanics , which was created in the previous article shall be revisited, with more clarity, and include better explanations for certain parts of the previous article which were deemed as being poorly explained.

Constructing deterministic models for quantum mechanical systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (supp01) ◽  
pp. 2040007
Author(s):  
Gerard ’t Hooft
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Quantum Mechanical ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Final States ◽  
Deterministic Models ◽  
Quantum Theories ◽  
Initial States ◽  
Quantum Mechanical Systems ◽  
Entire Theory

A sharper formulation is presented for an interpretation of quantum mechanics advocated by the author. We claim that only those quantum theories should be considered for which an ontological basis can be constructed. In terms of this basis, the entire theory can be considered as being deterministic. An example is illustrated: massless, noninteracting fermions are ontological. Subsequently, as an essential element of the deterministic interpretation, we put forward conservation laws concerning the ontological nature of a variable, and the uncertainties concerning the realization of states. Quantum mechanics can then be treated as a device that combines statistics with mechanical, deterministic laws, such that uncertainties are passed on from initial states to final states.

scholarly journals Agent Inaccessibility as a Fundamental Principle in Quantum Mechanics: Objective Unpredictability and Formal Uncomputability

Entropy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Walleczek
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Random Sequence ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Formal Proof ◽  
Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Dynamical Chaos ◽  
Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Fundamental Limit ◽  
Formal Limit ◽  
Complete Quantum

The inaccessibility to the experimenter agent of the complete quantum state is well-known. However, decisive answers are still missing for the following question: What underpins and governs the physics of agent inaccessibility? Specifically, how does nature prevent the agent from accessing, predicting, and controlling, individual quantum measurement outcomes? The orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics employs the metaphysical assumption of indeterminism—‘intrinsic randomness’—as an axiomatic, in-principle limit on agent–quantum access. By contrast, ontological and deterministic interpretations of quantum mechanics typically adopt an operational, in-practice limit on agent access and knowledge—‘effective ignorance’. The present work considers a third option—‘objective ignorance’: an in-principle limit for ontological quantum mechanics based upon self-referential dynamics, including undecidable dynamics and dynamical chaos, employing uncomputability as a formal limit. Given a typical quantum random sequence, no formal proof is available for the truth of quantum indeterminism, whereas a formal proof for the uncomputability of the quantum random sequence—as a fundamental limit on agent access ensuring objective unpredictability—is a plausible option. This forms the basis of the present proposal for an agent-inaccessibility principle in quantum mechanics.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document