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QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

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mechanistic-deterministic framework of classical physics. The survey in Section 4.3. casts light<br />

on the discussion concerning interpretation, revealing how the Copenhagen interpretation<br />

required a radical reappraisal of both the previous conception of reality and the role of human<br />

beings, while subsequent interpretations have in many ways attempted to find a route back to the<br />

classical concept of reality by postulating a variety of auxiliary hypotheses. In spite of the<br />

problems, there is a persistent desire to represent nature as deterministic and mechanistic, and to<br />

see humans as observers who can provide an objective view of the processes of reality while<br />

occupying and preserving an external viewpoint.<br />

Through analysis of the research material, i.e. the structure and interpretations of quantum<br />

mechanics, the author seeks to assess the credibility of presuppositions adopted by the classical<br />

paradigm. In the spirit of the Thomas Kuhn's philosophical approach, the prolonged problems<br />

concerning the interpretation of quantum mechanics could be seen as signifying the confusion<br />

and bewilderment associated with the collapse of the modern era’s megaparadigm, the<br />

metaphysical ”normal-view” of reality. Bohr refused to accept the assumption in classical<br />

physics that theory directly and without problems reflects or corresponds to reality. He tied the<br />

basis for scientific description to human experience and language, maintaining that we attempt to<br />

create unambiguous descriptions of our experiences, of all the phenomena that we encounter.<br />

The complementary descriptions that are available to us approach reality, but none of them can<br />

achieve it completely. A “God’s eye view “ of reality is impossible since the observing subject<br />

is ontologically part of reality and has an effect on its formation. The obvious advantage of<br />

Bohr’s approach concerning the relationship between man and nature becomes clear when<br />

discussing the so-called 'measurement problem' in quantum physics. While the classical way of<br />

thinking has been unable to provide a satisfactory answer, the whole problem vanishes within<br />

Bohr’s framework of complementarity.<br />

In the concluding chapter the author extends Niels Bohr’s philosophy of complementarity and<br />

outlines an onto-epistemological framework within which the apparent paradoxes of quantum<br />

mechanics could be understood and solved. The proposed model questions the traditional<br />

particle-mechanistic ontology of as well as the idea of a detached observer. The question of<br />

whether complex quantum state-functions could also be used for the modelling of our internal<br />

mental states is posed. As reality is considered to be a multi-layered monistic process which can<br />

be influenced by human beings, the external observer of classical physics becomes able to exert a<br />

qualitative influence on evolution. All our human capabilities, knowledge, values and goals, can<br />

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