QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

substance may be one of the known elements, or whether it has to be something essentially
different, arises in modern physics in a slightly different form. In atomic physics, there is the
question of out of which basic particles matter is composed. From atoms, physicists have moved
to elementary particles and quarks, but ultimately they strive to construct a general and
fundamental equation of motion from which all the characteristics of the particles can be derived
in a mathematical way. This fundamental equation may point to some known wave or particle
types, or to waves that are essentially different in character and have nothing in common with
known types of wave and elementary particle. In the latter case, all the different elementary
particles would have their source in some universal substance, and none of them would be any
more fundamental than the others. Heisenberg believed that this view, which corresponds to the
doctrine of Anaximander, would turn out to be correct. 37
If such a fundamental metaphysical question about the character of reality can be solved, the
questions which the Greek natural philosophers posed on the basis of ontology must be regarded
as being fruitful. It is apparently possible to make progress in rational understanding of the
nature and structure of reality even though basic presuppositions could never be verified in a
direct manner. Hard on the heels of the Milesians, who employed reason and empirical
observation in their investigations, ancient thinkers also resorted to mathematics and logic in
their attempts to understand reality. Opinions concerning the relationship and the importance of
these various ways of acquiring knowledge have changed throughout history, but the
contribution of any factor should not be underestimated.
In addition to Being, the fundamental substance and the structure of existence, the question of
Becoming also demands some type of solution. 38 How can the ever-changing variety of
phenomena that appear to our senses be combined with an unchangeable basis for these same
phenomena? Heraclitus 39 (ca. 535-475 B.C.), whose influence was in Ephesus near Miletus,
proposed that the basic nature of reality is dynamic and creative, as did Anaximander. He
emphasised the change and flux in everything, but unlike the Milesians, Heraclitus did not
attempt to reduce the diversity of reality to anything material. The material world was not
37 Heisenberg 2000, 70-71.
38 None of the Ionians made earth the primary substance. They perhaps wanted a substance which could in some
way explain its own movement like the ceaseless tossing of the water in a sea or the rushing of the air in the wind.
Guthrie 1950, 32.
39 Heracleitus was one of the best-known of the Greek philosophers, whose inscrutable reputation is largely a result
of the broad possibilities in interpreting his teachings. Only 130 aphoristic fragments are left from Heracleitus’
works.
28