QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

time. 24 Even a speculation as abstract as this has received new actuality from the consideration of
identical particles in quantum mechanics. In addition to connections between individual issues,
the whole of the change in the present conception of nature has been compared to the transition
from substance to form in ancient thought when the teachings of the Atomists were replaced by
Pythagoras’ and Plato’s ways of thinking. 25 During this Socratic “golden age”, philosophers also
made human beings, rather than nature, the focus of their attention. If historical cycles and the
spiral nature of development are to be trusted, there is hope that the current reassessment of the
mechanical way of thinking contains the seeds for a new cultural blooming. 26
Although analogies and connections to ancient times may be useful in conceptualising the
current situation, this does not imply that nothing new has been learned along the way and that
no new thinking is required to overcome the present crisis in our world-view. Mathematics has
made enormous developments since ancient times, and the number of results and facts from
empirical experiments is greater than ever. To overcome ways of viewing and analysing that
have their roots in ancient thought, it is, however, necessary to know and recognise them. In spite
of its fundamental character, the current interpretative debate has seldom, until now, reached the
depths that were plumbed in ancient times. Of the physicists who have attempted to interpret
quantum mechanics, Werner Heisenberg is exceptional. He has discussed the connections
between modern physics and ancient thought in many of his works, one of which, Physics and
Philosophy 27 , has become a classic of popular science literature.
The survey of the history of natural philosophy and science conducted in this chapter is an
attempt to describe those methods of grasping reality that earlier thinking has bequeathed to us.
2.1. Natural Philosophy in Ancient Times
Typically, Greek thought searched for clarifying universal and archetypal principles that helped
in understanding the manifold phenomena found in the world. 28 This endeavour took on different
forms and was developed to a peak during the era of Plato and Aristotle, but it was clearly
apparent in pre-Socratic thinkers. In their detailed natural philosophy, which was a search for
24
Sorabji 1988, 44-124.
25
E.g. Heisenberg 1958 and 2000.
26
In his book The Theology of the Natural Philosophers, Werner Jaeger makes the same point.
27
Heisenberg 1958.
24