Popper’s Propensity Interpretation of Quantum Physics as a form of Modal Metaphysics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ejps.1528Keywords:
Instrumentalism, Realism, Quantum Physics, Unobservables, Metaphysics of Modality and PropensityAbstract
With the emergence of quantum physics in the 1920s, the major philosophical question was, do the unobservables in quantum system have ontological status or are mere instruments for scientific prediction? The Copenhagen interpretation developed an instrumentalist thesis, contending that the unobservables are tools for making predictions concerning the observables. Thus, we cannot have knowledge of the quantum particles. However, Popper attempts a realist and an objective interpretation. As such, he criticizes the Copenhagen interpretation, developing the propensity view, which accords ontological status to subatomic particles. The main thrust of our argument in this paper is that by replacing probability possibilities with propensities, Popper positions himself as a proponent of the metaphysics of modality. It is then our objective to establish the parallelism between Popper’s Propensity Interpretation and Modal Metaphysics. To establish this contention we proceeded analytically: firstly by situating the seismic shift from macro to quantum physics, secondly by examining Popper’s critique of the Copenhagen Interpretation and thirdly by attempting a demonstration of the correlation between Popper’s propensity interpretation and modal metaphysics. The merit of this paper resides in its elucidation of the importance of metaphysics in science. It is a double challenge at the same time for antimetaphysical philosophy of science and for antiscientific metaphysics, to rethink the relationship between Metaphysics and science and invest in finding how both disciplines nurture each other. Finally, it is hoped that policy makers in Philosphy and science uses our findings to revamp the conceptualisation and practice of interdisciplinarity.
Downloads
References
Aristotle, Physics, 1936), Trans. ROSS W. D, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Atkins Peter (2010), The Laws of Thermodynamics: A very short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Ayer Alfred Jules, (1936), Language, Truth and Logic, New York, Penguin Books.
Brandt Siegmund (2009), The Harvest of a Century Discoveries of Modern Physics in 100 Episodes, Oxford, Oxford university press.
Bunch Bryan & Hellemans Alexander (2004), The History of Science and Technology,A Browser’s Guide to the great Discoveries and People who made them, from the dawn of time to today, New York, Houghton Mifflin.
Dapprich Jan Phillip &Annika Schuster (2016), Philosophy and Logic of Quantum Physics: An Investigation of the Metaphysical Implications of Quantum Physics, New York, Peter Lang
David K. David (1986), On the Plurality of Worlds (2001), Oxford, Wiley Blackwell.
De Broglie Louis, (1990)Heisenberg's Uncertainties and the Probabilistic Interpretation of Wave Mechanics, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. .
De Broglie Louise, (1930) Introduction to the study of waves, London, Methuem and Co. LTD.
Descartes Rene,(2004), The World and Other Writings, Trans. Tephen Gaukroger, Cambridge, Cambridge university Press.
Dzelajei S. Basilis & Shang Nelson (2022), “The opposition between realism and non-justificationism in Karl Popper’s rationality of science: In search of the conditions for the growth of knowledge”, in Central Asian Journal of literature, Philosophy and Culture, Asian studies, Vol. 3, No5, pp. 55-67
Einstein Albert, (1920), Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, (1920), Trans. Robert w. lawson, New York, penguin books.
Eposito Giampiero et al., (2004), From Classical to quantum Mechanics: An Introduction to the Formalisation, Foundations and Applications, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Eric N Hatleback (2017), “The Protoscience of Cybersecurity” in Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, pp. 1-8.
Heinemann G. et al., (2020), Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Presocratic Natural Philosophy in Later Classical Thought, Leidon-Boston, Brill.
Heisenberg Weiner, (1958) Physics and Philosophy, (2000), London, Penguin Books.
Howard Don, (2022) “Popper and Bohr on realism in Quantum Mechanics”,Vol.1, No.1, in Quanta, pp.33–57.
Lewis David (1986), On the Plurality of Worlds, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Newton Isaac, (1681), The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, (2016), Trans. I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman assisted by Julia Budenz, California University of California Press.
Omnès Richard (1999), Understanding an Interpreting Contemporary Science, Trans. Autoro Sangalli, Pinceton, Princeton University Press.
Phillips A.C, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, (2003) New York, John Wiley and sons Ltd.
Pigliucci Massimo & Boudry Maarten, (2013), Philosophy of Pseudoscience; Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem, Chicago, University of Chicago press.
Planck Max, The Theory of Heat Radiation, (1914), Philadelphia, P. Blakiston’s Son & Co.
Plato, Timaeus and Critias, (2009) Trans. Robin Waterfield, Oxford, Oxford university Press.
Popper Karl (1979), the Two Problems of Theory of Knowledge, (2009), Trans. Andreas Pickel, New York-London, Routledge.
Popper Karl, (1947), The Open Society and its Enemies, The High Tights of Plato,(1966), London, Routledge.
Popper Karl, (1955), A World of Propensities, Bristol, Thoemmes Press.
Popper Karl,(1957) The Poverty of Historicism, Boston, Beacon Press.
Popper Karl,(1974), Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach (1974), Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Popper Karl,(1982), Quantum Theory and Schism in Physics, The Postscript to the logic of Scientific discovery, London, Rowman and Little Field.
Shestakova Tatyana P., (2020), “Is the Copenhagen Interpretation Inapplicable to Quantum Cosmology?” Vol.6, No.128., in universe, pp. 1-20.
Sinclair Mark, et al, (2017), the actual and the possible, Modality and metaphysics in Modern Philosophy, New York, Oxford University Press.
Schlick Moritz (1936), “Meaning and Verification”, Vol.45, No.4, in Philosophicl Review, 339-369.
Stuart C. I. J. M Stuart, (1991), “Inconsistency of the Copenhagen Interpretation” , Vol. 21, No. 5, in Foundations of Physics, pp. 591-622.
Vermass E. Pieter, et. al., (1996), The Modal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Dordrecht, Springer.
Wang Jian’an. The Modification of Newton's Gravitational Law and its Application in the Study of Dark Matter and Black Hole, 30 March 2021, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-373969/v1 , consulted on the 27 of august 2022 at 8:20 pm.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Basilis S. Dzelajei
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
