(Ebook) On Physics and Philosophy 1st Edition by Bernard d Espagnat ISBN 0691119643 9780691119649

(Ebook) On Physics and Philosophy 1st Edition by Bernard d Espagnat ISBN 0691119643 9780691119649

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ISBN 10: 0691119643 
ISBN 13: 9780691119649
Author: Bernard d Espagnat

Among the great ironies of quantum mechanics is not only that its conceptual foundations seem strange even to the physicists who use it, but that philosophers have largely ignored it. Here, Bernard d'Espagnat argues that quantum physics--by casting doubts on once hallowed concepts such as space, material objects, and causality-demands serious reconsideration of most of traditional philosophy. On Physics and Philosophy is an accessible, mathematics-free reflection on the philosophical meaning of the quantum revolution, by one of the world's leading authorities on the subject. D'Espagnat presents an objective account of the main guiding principles of contemporary physics-in particular, quantum mechanics-followed by a look at just what consequences these should imply for philosophical thinking. The author begins by describing recent discoveries in quantum physics such as nonseparability, and explicating the significance of contemporary developments such as decoherence. Then he proceeds to set various philosophical theories of knowledge--such as materialism, realism, Kantism, and neo-Kantism--against the conceptual problems quantum theory raises. His overall conclusion is that while the physical implications of quantum theory suggest that scientific knowledge will never truly describe mind-independent reality, the notion of such an ultimate reality--one we can never access directly or rationally and which he calls "veiled reality"--remains conceptually necessary nonetheless.

(Ebook) On Physics and Philosophy 1st Table of contents:

Part 1: Physical Facts and Related Conceptual Problems
Chapter 1. Broad Overview
1-1. A General Picture
1-2. Some Useful Definitions
Chapter 2. Overstepping the Limits of the Framework of Familiar Concepts
2-1. Introduction
2-2. From Aristotle’s Ontology to Descartes’ Near Realism and Galilean Ontology
2-3. A Small Digression on Ontology
2-4. A Gradual Overstepping
2-5. Trajectories and Misleading “Pieces of Evidence”
2-6. On the Existence or Nonexistence of Hidden Things: Particles and Dirac’s Sea
2-7. A “Fabricated” Ontology
2-8. Indications for What Follows
Chapter 3. Nonseparability and Bell’s Theorem
3-1. Correlation at-a-Distance: Bell’s Theorem
3-2. Locality and the Bell Theorem
3-3. Discussion and Philosophical Implications
Chapter 4. Objectivity and Empirical Reality
4-1. Strong Objectivity and Weak Objectivity (Alias Intersubjectivity)
4-2. The Measurement Problem and Empirical Reality
4-3. “Quantum Rules” and “von Neumann’s Chain”
Chapter 5. Quantum Physics and Realism
5-1. Strong Objectivity and Realism
5-2. Intersubjective Agreement
5-3. Intersubjective Agreement and Empirical Reality
5-4. Conceptual Glimpses; Carnap, Quine, Primas; Relative Ontologies
Chapter 6. Universal Laws and the “Reality” Question
6-1. The “Theoretical Framework” Notion
6-2. Antiuniversalism and “Realism about Entities”
6-3. “Pythagorism” (“Einsteinism”)
6-4. Remarks Concerning Two “Macrorealisms”
6-5. Quantum Mechanics as a Universal Theoretical Framework
6-6. Antirealism
Chapter 7. Antirealism and Physics; the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Problem; Methodological Operationali
7-1. “Value of a Quantum Physical Quantity” in the Antirealist Framework
7-2. Operationalism (Alias “Instrumentalism”)
7-3. On “Meaning” and “Prediction”
Chapter 8. Measurement and Decoherence, Universality Revisited
8-1. Introduction
8-2. Decoherence
8-3. Decoherence and State Robustness
8-4. The Everett-Zurek Semirealist Approach
8-5. Universality Revisited
Chapter 9. Various Realist Attempts
9-1. Introduction
9-2. On Our Intellectual Craving for Realism
9-3. The Broglie-Bohm Approach
9-4. The So-Called “Modal” Interpretation
9-5. The Heisenberg Representation: It Does Not, by Itself, Yield a Solution
9-6. Feynman’s Reformulation and the Corresponding “Fabricated Ontology”
9-7. A “Realism of Signification”
9-8. Nonlinear Realist Quantum Theories
9-9. Outlook
Chapter 10. Schro¨ dinger’s Cat, Wigner’s Friend, and Veiled Reality
10-1. Introduction
10-2. Of Pointers and Cats
10-3. Wigner’s Friend
10-4. The Veiled Reality Hypothesis
Part 2: A Philosophical Analysis
Chapter 11. Science and Philosophy
11-1. The Impossible Split
11-2. Epistemology in the Late Twentieth Century
11-3. A Critical Glance at Some Claims
11-4. Physics and Linguistics
11-5. Sociologism
11-6. The End of Certainties?
Chapter 12. Materialisms
12-1. Introduction
12-2. Dialectical Materialism
12-3. The So-Called “Scientific” Materialism
12-4. “Neomaterialism” and Physics
12-5. The Purely Philosophical Aspects of Neomaterialism
12-6. Materialism and Wisdom
Chapter 13. Suggestions from Kantism
13-1. Introduction
13-2. A Look at Kantism
13-3. Facing the Refusal of the Independent Reality Notion
13-4. Kant and Our Contemporaries
Chapter 14. Causality and Observational Predictability
14-1. Introduction
14-2. Causes and Laws
14-3. Determinism and Causality
14-4. Determinism and Chaos
14-5. Quantum Indeterminacy
14-6. Predictability and Reliability Revisited
14-7. The Influence Notion Revisited
Chapter 15. Explanation and Phenomena
15-1. Introduction
15-2. The Notion of Explanation
15-3. Back to the “Explanatory Power of Predictive Rules” Question
15-4. Empirical Reality and Abstractions, Explanation, and Empirical Causality
15-5. The Rainbow Analogy
15-6. Removing the “Paradox of the Dinosaurs”
15-7. The “False Explanation” Question
Chapter 16. Mind and Things
16-1. Empiricism, Positivism, and So On
16-2. Phenomenalism
16-3. Ambiguities about Innatism
16-4. Poincare´, Conventionalism, and Structural Realism
Chapter 17. Pragmatic -Transcendental versus Veiled Reality Approaches
17-1. Introduction
17-2. Replies to Michel Bitbol’s and Herve´ Zwirn’s Objections
17-3. The Pragmatic-Transcendental Approach
17-4. A Few Notes on Zwirn’s Approach
Chapter 18. Objects and Consciousness
18-1. Introduction
18-2. Truth: Definitions and Criteria
18-3. Objects and “Orders,” or “Levels,” of Reality
18-4. A Few Remarks Concerning Sensations
18-5. On the Question of the Plurality of Minds
Chapter 19. The “Ground of Things”
19-1. Introduction
19-2. Mystery, Affectivity, and Meaning
19-3. Do Things Have a “Ground”? Pro and Con Received Arguments
19-4. Some Consequences of the Evolution of Physics
19-5. The Veiled Reality Conception Reexamined
Appendix 1. The Bell Theorem
A. Proof
B. A Simplified Proof
C. A Glance at the Experimental State of Things
D. Historical Comments and a Short Bibliography
Appendix 2. Consistent Histories, Counterfactuality, and Bell’s Theorem
Appendix 3. Correlation-at-a-Distance in the Broglie-Bohm Model

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