QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

eality. 847
Quantum mechanics makes possible the thought that humans play a greater and more active role
in the drama of existence than has formerly been accepted. Within the indeterministic frame of
reference of quantum physics, humans can be viewed as having true evolutionary influence. By
actively reflecting and shaping their environment, humans work inside nature: we create new
models and tools using the possibilities permitted by nature, actualising potential opportunities
contained within the system on the basis of our own understanding and will. This kind of actor
capable of making choices can be understood as an responsible and autonomous subject whose
existence philosophers such as Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, Husserl and Heidegger have striven to
defend.
Even if it is now possible to defend human autonomy at the same time as humans with all their
subjective states, knowledge and beliefs, values and intentions are ontologically immersed within
nature, it should also be understood that a comprehensive portrayal or theory that incorporates
this kind of activity cannot be provided. Even though, via the concept of state, the quantum
frame of reference offers improved possibilities of modelling conformity to laws in the
development of our internal state, it is essential to note that even in the best models or
descriptions of the world, something external remains. Portrayal is not able to address the
portrayer, the conscious factor, who by modelling strives to achieve an ever better understanding
of themselves and the environment. In the final analysis, the maker of models has to be separated
from the models which are created.
On the basis of quantum mechanics, Roger Penrose and David Hodgson have pointed out that the
computational, mechanical model is not adequate to explain human consciousness. 849 Like
computers, we are capable of arriving at logical conclusions in a formal manner according to
specific algorithms, but formal reasoning only represents part of the overall capacity of our
imagination. Our minds also employ rational ways of proceeding that cannot be reduced to
logical or formal methods of reaching conclusions. Machines always operate on the basis of a
847 In a complementary quantum framework, the dualism between science and humanism as well as between mind
and matter can be reconciled without either losing their special characteristics. All descriptions aspire to different
aspects of a single complex whole.
849 If consciousness emerges from the complexity of the neuron system and brain, it is difficult to explain why all
parts of the brain are not conscious. According to Hodgson, mere processing of information does not imply
consciousness. In many cases, the brain can function like a machine and the task of consciousness could be the
capability to observe, evaluate and interrupt mental functions and reactions that have become automatic. Hodgson
1991,157-168.
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