QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

of the conception of reality is also possible. Via the creation and subsequent refutation of new
paradigms, metaphysics is not beyond the reach of rational criticism.
3.5.3. Form and content in the thoughts of Niels Bohr
Bohr skirted the role of metaphysics, paradigms and discussion concerning the theoretical
content of observations by talking about form and content. He stressed that content could not be
available and no experience could be described in the absence of form, a logical framework in
which these can be placed. On the other hand, when the world we are operating in yields new
observations and we examine these on the basis of a theoretical symbol-world based on what
existed previously, every one of these earlier created forms can turn out to be too constricted to
face the new experience. A unity of knowledge and harmonious comprehension of ever wider
aspects of our situation can only be gained by an appropriate widening of the conceptual
framework.. 425 In this way, scientific research and the whole of our attempt to perceive our
environment and our experiences can be seen as a continual struggle between form and content.
When a new experience, i.e. new content, cannot be accommodated within the old structure, a
new and wider framework must be created: a new system of symbols and way of shaping
through which we can also understand our new experiences. The pursuit of knowledge is an
endless striving for harmony in structure and content. Knowledge is increased by a process of
trial and error operating within a framework formed out of basic assumptions. 426
A consequence of the increased number of experiences and new content is gradual change in the
symbol-world in which our collective knowledge is stored, and the consequence of this is that
our conception of the world develops. When earlier basic presuppositions become subject to
sufficiently deep questioning, the result could be that the whole of the structure used up to that
point would be revealed as too limited, and a change of paradigm is needed. Bohr saw that both
classical physics and its associated conception of reality were the creation of men. Quantum
mechanics, a more-comprehensive physical theory, made the preceding concept of reality appear
limited. This showed Bohr that a framework of any type, however useful it had proved up to any
particular point in time, could be considered to be too narrow when attempting to understand
new experience. If new experience arising out of quantum mechanics is not forced in advance to
425 Bohr 1958, 82.
426 Bohr 1958, 65, 67.
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