Faye, Jan (Author)
Rasmus Jaksland (Author)
Niels Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics is often cast as positivist and sometimes explicitly claimed to be influenced by logical positivists due to some similarities in their thinking. While it is certainly the case that some logical positivists attempted to recruit Bohr, this paper argues that Bohr had interests of his own in the logical positivists. Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics focuses on observation, the use of classical concepts in quantum mechanics, and indeterminacy of quantum processes as opposed to uncertainty of measurement. His view thereby shares some common ground with the logical positivists' views on verification, the observation language, and anti-metaphysics. But Bohr also emphasized complementarity: that certain pairs of concepts – such as position and momentum – are mutually exclusive in quantum mechanics since they, according to Bohr, are only meaningful relative to different experimental arrangements. Bohr believed that complementary brought a general epistemological lesson for all of science that an objective description of nature is not separable from the observational and experimental conditions under which we explore nature. Motivated by the common ground between himself and logical positivism, Bohr tried to persuade the logical positivists and Carnap in particular to adopt and champion complementarity as well as part of their unity of science program. Though his efforts ultimately proved in vain, Bohr's attempts to influence logical positivism disprove the claim that his engagement with them was reluctant and purposefully limited.
...More
Article
Maleeh, Reza;
Amani, Parisa;
(2013)
Pragmatism, Bohr, and the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
(/isis/citation/CBB001201240/)
Book
Camilleri, Kristian;
(2009)
Heisenberg and the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: The Physicist as Philosopher
(/isis/citation/CBB000951622/)
Article
Bokulich, Alisa;
(2008)
Paul Dirac and the Einstein-Bohr Debate
(/isis/citation/CBB000831776/)
Book
Stenholm, Stig;
(2011)
The Quest for Reality: Bohr and Wittgenstein: Two Complementary Views
(/isis/citation/CBB001500296/)
Article
Adele La Rana;
Paolo Rossi;
(2020)
The blossoming of quantum mechanics in Italy: The roots, the context and the first spreading in Italian universities (1900–1947)
(/isis/citation/CBB731364406/)
Book
Uebel, Thomas E.;
(2007)
Empiricism at the Crossroads: The Vienna Circle's Protocol-Sentence Debate
(/isis/citation/CBB001230414/)
Book
Hardcastle, Gary L.;
Richardson, Alan W.;
(2003)
Logical Empiricism in North America
(/isis/citation/CBB000410522/)
Article
(2000)
Relations between Philosophy of Science and Sociology of Science in Central Europe, 1914-1945
(/isis/citation/CBB000110567/)
Article
Giuseppina D'Oro;
(2015)
Unlikely Bedfellows? Collingwood, Carnap and the Internal/External Distinction
(/isis/citation/CBB326639460/)
Article
Marij van Strien;
(2020)
Pluralism and anarchism in quantum physics: Paul Feyerabend's writings on quantum physics in relation to his general philosophy of science
(/isis/citation/CBB348944318/)
Article
Shomar, Towfic;
(2008)
Bohr as a Phenomenological Realist
(/isis/citation/CBB001230072/)
Book
Plotnitsky, Arkady;
(2010)
Epistemology and Probability: Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and the Nature of Quantum-Theoretical Thinking
(/isis/citation/CBB001230453/)
Article
Rigden, John S.;
Stuewer, Roger H.;
(2012)
Understanding of Quantum Mechanics Eludes Physicists for Eighty-Six Years
(/isis/citation/CBB001221642/)
Article
Cuffaro, Michael;
(2010)
The Kantian Framework of Complementarity
(/isis/citation/CBB001024225/)
Book
Pietro Greco;
(2020)
Quanti. La straordinaria storia della meccanica quantistica
(/isis/citation/CBB247197978/)
Book
Federico Laudisa;
(2023)
Dalla fisica alla filosofia naturale : Niels Bohr e la cultura scientifica del Novecento
(/isis/citation/CBB968309483/)
Thesis
Lee, Jeongmin;
(2006)
Bohr vs. Bohm: Interpreting Quantum Theory through the Philosophical Tradition
(/isis/citation/CBB001561463/)
Book
John L. Heilbron;
Finn Aaserud;
(2013)
Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom: Niels Bohr's 1913 Trilogy Revisited
(/isis/citation/CBB698955890/)
Article
Blai Pié i Valls;
Enric Pérez;
(2016)
The Historical Role of the Adiabatic Principle in Bohr's Quantum Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB403893431/)
Article
Perovic, Slobodan;
(2013)
Emergence of Complementarity and the Baconian Roots of Niels Bohr's Method
(/isis/citation/CBB001213353/)
Be the first to comment!