QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

proved correct by any quantity of experiments. They appeared to be valid as long as research
continued on the old basis. The new experience gained as a result of quantum mechanics forced
a questioning of the correctness of what were earlier fundamental hypotheses. According to
Kuhn, a resort to philosophy is usually connected to a transitory period. 442 The changing of a
paradigm requires both the abandoning of what was previously a fundamental presupposition and
the postulating of new metaphysical propositions. Because of these factors external to physics, it
is not possible to conduct paradigm change or the formation of a new perception of reality inside
physics, any more than normal science can alter its paradigms using its own points of departure.
When the universal principles intended for a frame of reference are thought to be generally
adequate and applicable to all events, a fundamental attempt to also understand the nature of
reality can be made via comprehensive physical frameworks or paradigms. As can be concluded
from the prolonged debate over the interpretation of quantum mechanics, physical theories or
frameworks do not offer direct answers to such wider metaphysical questions. Abstract
mathematical theories do not even reveal the nature of the entities to which the concepts of the
theory can be applied. These problems were already encountered during the birth of classical
physics. Even if in Principia, Newton clearly separated the mathematical and physical sides of
his theory, the relationship between formal theory and its physical interpretation was considered
problematicalduring during the formation stage of the paradigm. For example, the question was
asked whether the theory completely corresponded to empirical reality or if its truth was simply
the result of the truth of its axioms. 443
When physics became differentiated from philosophy at the beginning of the modern era, it was
supported by a strong metaphysical foundation in addition to its mathematical formalism.
Physics began to unravel the structure and conformity to laws of what was assumed be a threedimensional
material world. In questioning the particular nature of this world, Newtonianism
however had, in spite of its mathematical foundations, rather few fixed elements. Its background
assumptions varied. Newton himself supported the neo-Platonic concept of space as the
immanence of God but developments in mechanical and deterministic direction culminated at the
end of the century in Laplace’s concept of an all-knowing demon, an entity able to calculate
everything in the universe by using mechanistic laws. The metaphysical changeability inherent
in the background to Newtonian mechanics is indicative of the fact that projection of the theory’s
442 Kuhn 1994, s.103.
443 Lehti 1988, 67.
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