QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

Describing reality as a complex quantum system obviously permits an attempt to forecast the
development and formation of our whole ”psycho-physical” reality by incorporating the possible
consequences of the contents of the human mind into the wave function that describes the
system. The accomplishment of any specific quantum level possibility in either the material
world or in somebody’s mind changes both reality itself and, at the same time, the distribution of
the system’s future development possibilities. In such a frame of reference, the linkage between
psychic and physical sides become clearer. The solving of psycho-physical problems does not
demand the adoption of a position on whether humans or reality are, in the final ontological
analysis, formed of matter or spirit. The world has degrees of freedom whose recognition makes
their employment possible.
5.3.3. The psycho-physical problem and free will revisited
Some kind of interaction or unification between (so-called) mind and matter can basically be
taken as a prerequisite for all our activities, 834 even though a more-accurate understanding of this
connection has not really advanced within the mechanistic-deterministic framework of classical
physics. We do not know how the neural processes in our brains and the contents of our
conscious experience are connected. In philosophy, the discussion concerning human free will
and its influences has culminated in the opposing views of the Compatibilists and the
Incompatibilists about whether free will and the deterministic operation of nature can be
reconciled. Combatibilists simply take practical freedom and responsibility as consistent with
Determinism, whereas for scientifically-orientated thinkers it is usually evident that Determinism
prevents freedom. 835 From a narrow Materialist and natural-science viewpoint, unification of free
will to natural order will not succeed within a mechanistic-deterministic frame of reference.
Since alternative possibilities of action require contingency, the determinism of classical physics
poses insurmountable problems for free will.
If natural laws are considered to be universal, no external factor can affect the closed processes
of the material world. In the quantum frame of reference, ”external factors” are however a
natural system component. The abstract notion of the wave-function refers to a complex quantum
834 Descartes was also careful not to stretch the transcendency of soul to complete dualism. Mind and matter had to
interact in some way. In cosmological terms, the relationship was guaranteed by God. In individuals, the pineal
gland (for which no other function in anatomy was known) served as mediator. Collingwood 1960, 7.
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