Kantian causality and quantum quarks: the compatibility between quantum mechanics and Kant's phenomenal world

Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 28 (2):283-302 (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Quantum indeterminism seems incompatible with Kant’s defense of causality in his Second Analogy. The Copenhagen interpretation also takes quantum theory as evidence for anti-realism. This article argues that the law of causality, as transcendental, applies only to the world as observable, not to hypothetical (unobservable) objects such as quarks, detectable only by high energy accelerators. Taking Planck’s constant and the speed of light as the lower and upper bounds of observability provides a way of interpreting the observables of quantum mechanics as empirically real even though they are transcendentally (i.e., preobservationally) ideal.El indeterminismo cuántico parece incompatible con la defensa de la causalidad que hace Kant en su Segunda Analogía. La interpretación de Copenhague de la mecánica cuántica también considera a esta teoría como evidencia a favor del antirrealismo. Este artículo defiende que la ley (trascendental) de la causalidadse aplica solamente al mundo en tanto que observable, y no a objetos hipotéticos (inobservables) como los quarks, detectables solo mediante aceleradores de altas energías. Tomar la constante de Planck y la velocidad de la luz como límites inferior y superior de la observabilidad nos ofrece un modo de interpretar losobservables de la mecánica cuántica como empíricamente reales, incluso aunque estos sean trascendentalmente, es decir, preobservacionalmente, ideales.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 92,758

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Transcendental Philosophy and Quantum Theory.Patricia Kauark-Leite - 2010 - Manuscrito – Rev. Int. Fil 33 (1):243-267.
Individuación y mal. Una lectura de Schelling.Pilar Fernández Beites - 1993 - Revista de Filosofía (Madrid) 10:413.
Causality and Determinism in Modern Physics.Grzegorz Bugajak - 2011 - In Adam Świeżyński (ed.), Knowledge and Values. Selected Issues in the Philosophy of Science. Warszawa / Warsaw: Wydawnictwo UKSW / CSWU Press. pp. 73–94.
Retrocausality and Quantum Measurement.David T. Pegg - 2008 - Foundations of Physics 38 (7):648-658.
Tragweite und grenze der transzendentalphilosophie zur grundlegung der quantenphysik.Ingeborg Strohmeyer - 1987 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 18 (1-2):239-275.
Schwinger and the ontology of quantum field theory.Edward MacKinnon - 2007 - Foundations of Science 12 (4):295-323.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-12-01

Downloads
96 (#183,119)

6 months
10 (#305,705)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Stephen R. Palmquist
Hong Kong Baptist University

Citations of this work

Why critical realists ought to be transcendental idealists.Guus Duindam - 2018 - Journal of Critical Realism 17 (3):297-307.
Temporality Naturalized.Koichiro Matsuno - 2018 - Philosophies 3 (4):45--0.

Add more citations