QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

Even though the philosophical premises which form the basis for quantum theory have been a
subject of discussion for almost a hundred years, the discussion itself has not touched the
mainstream of physical research. Quantum mechanics does not directly produce a new concept
of reality, but, as will be described in more detail in Section 4.3. of this thesis, can be said to
disprove the basic principles of classical physics and the mechanistic-deterministic concepts of
nature associated with these. At the same time, quantum theory offers reasonable material for the
formation of a new and more-credible concept concerning reality. The structure of the quantum
frame of reference and its new presuppositions clearly shuts out not only the mechanisticdeterministic
conception of reality but also many other possible world-views. Just as quantum
mechanics is a more all-embracing and precise theory than classical mechanics, with the result
that it can be used to address a larger body of real phenomena, so its corresponding concept of
reality can be thought of as being wider and more fundamental. Newtonian mechanics and the
quantum frame of reference are not completely incommensurable. Since the applicability of the
new frame of reference is wider, areas and ways in which the previous viewpoint was too limited
become clear and cumulative growth in the knowledge concerning reality can take place. 447
Classical physics gave birth to differential equations, but quantum mechanics brought with it
complex numbers, multi-dimensional spaces and probabilities. While the equations of Newtonian
mechanics were a natural way interpreted as describing the movement of point masses in space,
many of the new features of quantum mechanics such as new commutation rules for conjugate
variables or non-local connections remain incomprehensible in the current frame of reference.
The holistic features revealed by quantum theory cannot be understood by attempting to reduce
them to movements of particles in space-time.
For almost a century, the particlemechanistic view of reality has no more supported the advance
of physical research, but quantum mechanics still lacks a generally-accepted ontological
interpretation. Chapter 4 of this thesis examines the painstaking process of scrutinizing the
plausibility of the fundamental premises of the prevailing conception of reality in the light cast
by the interpretion process of quantum mechanics. The purpose of the study is to find out
whether quantum mechanics requires a reassessment of the mechanistic-deterministic conception
447 Kuhn also points out that transformation from the later paradigm to the previous one can be executed afterwards
even though he has elsewhere defended the incommensurability of different paradigms. See Kuhn 1970, 114.
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