Katherine Tian - 2019 Mitra Scholar by The Harker School

2018-19 Mitra FAMILY GRANT Recipient Does God Play Dice? Understanding the Role of Uncertainty at the Intersection of Antirealist Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics Katherine Tian

Does God Play Dice? Understanding the Role of Uncertainty at the Intersection of Antirealist Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics

Katherine Tian 2019 Mitra Family Scholar Mentors: Mr. Damon Halback, Mr. Chris Spenner, Mrs. Lauri Vaughan April 12, 2019

Tian 2 Both physics and philosophy seek to uncover a greater understanding of the world. Through different approaches, the two disciplines attempt to answer fundamental questions about the nature of existence and thus, are closely intertwined. For thousands of years, as philosophers have tried to place structure to a conception of reality, physics has similarly examined natural properties to supplement an understanding of the world. Meanwhile, fundamental philosophical beliefs drive the direction and progress of physics by providing interpretations of surprising phenomena uncovered by quantum physics. As Werner Heisenberg said, “In the history of human thinking, the most fruitful developments frequently take place at those points where two different lines of thought meet.”1 The interconnected relationship between the two fields physics and philosophy was formative to their development, and their intersection best illuminates the nature of uncertainty. Without philosophy, physics becomes uninterpretable mathematical formalisms2, and without physics, philosophy lacks grounding in empirical experience. The study of their intersection allows greater insight into the influences that contributed to the development of each individual discipline. Philosophical realism drove scientific discovery and classical physics until the early 20th century, when quantum theory disrupted that certainty. Evidence suggested that the existence of an objective reality depended heavily on observation rather than abstraction. The results of quantum mechanics, informed by antirealist philosophers, used Niels Bohr’s complementarity principle and Werner Heisenberg’s theory of indeterminacy to discredit the underpinnings of realist philosophy in describing observable phenomena—the mind-independent existence.

Aage Petersen, Quantum Physics and the Philosophical Tradition (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1968), 21.

Tim Maudlin, "Physics, Philosophy, and the Nature of Reality," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1361, no. 1 (December 2015): 64, https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12877.

Tian 3 Realism and its Challenges Classical philosophy is centered around the concept of realism, which is rooted in the earliest philosophers of ancient Greece.3 The many forms of realism have a fundamental commonality in the belief of an objective, absolute truth regarding reality.4 The opposite view, of antirealism, idealism, or nominalism, denies that the world is mind-independent and objectively true.5 This contradiction can come in different flavors, such as discounting general theories, idealism, or empiricism. We can understand the realist’s and antirealist’s worlds through two main branches of philosophy that often work in conjunction—metaphysics, the study of first principles of existence; and epistemology, the study of knowledge. Metaphysics The study of metaphysics examines the first principles, or fundamentals, of reality, including considerations of being—what exists?—and causality—do all events have a cause?6 Ontology is the branch of metaphysics concerned with questions of being. Realist ontology posits that there is a mind-independent world in which objects exist and possess their own inherent properties regardless of any observer’s perceptions. Early Ancient Greek philosophy structured their conception of the world using realism. For example, Parmenides proposed the classical “thinking and being” correspondence stating that truth is reality and that reality is then

Alexander Miller, "Realism," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, winter 2016 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016), accessed February 3, 2019.

Miller, “Realism.”

Marián Palenčár, "Metaphysics," in Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, and Culture, ed. H. James Birx (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2009), 2:859. 6

Tian 4 perceived and distorted by the observer’s senses.7 With inspiration from Socrates, Plato built upon this idea with his theory of forms, splitting the world into a noumenon and the fainomenon. The noumenon is true reality, which is perfect, eternal, and guided by reason, such as abstractions or mathematical objects, properties, and relations. The fainomenon is the false world of appearances that people perceive, consisting of specific imperfect instances of forms from the noumenon.8 Plato’s theory demonstrates the fundamental idea behind realism: a belief in a true reality distinct from what can be observed. Furthermore, since Plato’s true reality is perfect and rational, his theory includes a belief in universal truths that guide the workings of the world.9 Although our senses take in a distorted version of this universal truth, deeper scientific and philosophical thinking would be able to make progress in identifying the true reality or universal truth. The opposing antirealist view, which is the idealist philosophy of conceptualism, disputes that a world exists separate from our mental conceptions of it. Espoused by the three British empiricists John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume,10 idealists maintain that what our senses specifically observe is the truth. George Berkeley argues in Principles of Human Knowledge that reality depends on a mind for its existence; esse est percipi, or “to be is to be perceived.”11 Objects are ideas meant to be perceived. Unlike the realist belief in an abstract

Palenčár, "Metaphysics," 2:860.

9 A. D. Woozley, "Universals, A Historical Survey," in Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Donald M. Borchert, 2nd ed. (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006), 9:591. 10

Woozley, "Universals, A Historical," 9:594.

Daniel E. Flage, "George Berkeley (1685—1753)," in Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. James Fieser and Bradley Dowden, accessed February 4, 2019. 11

Tian 5 reality, Berkeley claimed that abstractions are simply ideas or illusions but not reality. In fact, considering abstractions distinct from real-world behavior is inconsistent and unnecessary for understanding the world.12 Similarly, Immanuel Kant contradicted past realist ontological philosophy in his 1781 Critique of Pure Reason when he stated that “existence is not a property,” meaning that it is nonsensical to think of an object, then assign whether it exists or not.13 Leading up to this conclusion, Kant argued that “Space is not something objective and real, nor a substance, nor an accident; instead it is subjective and ideal, and originates from the mind’s nature in accord with a stable law as a scheme, as it were for coordinating everything sensed externally.”14 Here, Kant defines space as subjective and dependent on an observer’s sensory and mental perception of the physical world. Furthermore, Kant posits that observations of space follow the “laws of nature so far as it can be perceived by our senses.”15 Since the laws governing what we observe are inherently tied to our senses, Kant concludes that the search for universal truths seems imaginary and erroneous.16 Ultimately, Kant recognizes that human reality is specific to observation. The ontological mind-dependent reality also has consequences for metaphysical causality.Antirealist causality supports a more uncertain view of the world by rejecting the idea

Flage, "George Berkeley."

Michael Nelson, "Existence," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, spring 2019 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2019), accessed February 5, 2019. 13

Andrew Janiak, "Kant's Views on Space and Time," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, winter 2016 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016), accessed February 4, 2019. 14

Immanuel Kant, Kant's Inaugural Dissertation of 1770, trans. William J. Eckoff (New York: Columbia College, 1894), digital file. 15

Kant, Kant's Inaugural.

Tian 6 that all events have fixed causes. Traditional realism maintains that the world is deterministic: given the current state of the universe, future states are determined by natural laws.17 However, Kant’s key insight that the world follows natural laws only under observation challenges the purely deterministic view; there is no universal set of laws separate from a subjective observer’s perspective that can predict the future. Furthermore, David Hume posits that humans merely “impose causality.”18 Although predictions can be made based on observations to hold true in practicality, one can never directly observe or prove the causal link of the prediction.19 Given one explanation of an apparent cause-effect relationship, another deeper, unknown cause might always exist. Based on Hume’s thinking, the realist principle of causality—that all events have causes—is impossible to prove. Therefore, reality consists of observable facts, not predictive causal laws. Once again, Kant and Hume negates the universal explanation—determinism—to instead tie our reality to empirical observation. Epistemology Two opposing philosophies, realism and idealism, present distinct answers to the central question of metaphysics and ontology: “what exists?” Epistemology furthers both systems by asking, “how do we know what exists?” Epistemology is the branch of philosophy studying knowledge, answering questions about the scope of knowledge—what can we know—and the methods of validating knowledge—how do we know what we know. In antiquity, Plato defined

Carl Hoefer, "Causal Determinism," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, spring 2016 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016), accessed February 5, 2019.

"Knowledge," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. William A. Darity, Jr., 2nd ed. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008), 4:278.

"Knowledge," 4:278.

Tian 7 knowledge as “justified true belief.”20 Epistemology often relies on and is tied closely to science in their mutual pursuit of knowledge as a way to justify fact. In particular, scientific realism uses the results of scientific observation and theories to draw conclusions about both observable and unobservable aspects of the world.21 Thus, scientific realism maintains that theory is acceptable as the basis of knowledge. The predictive and explanatory power of scientific theories supports scientific realism’s efficacy. An opposite view to scientific realism is logical positivism, which is part of the idealist philosophy claiming that nothing can reveal conclusions about the unobservable. Inspired by the success of science during the Enlightenment in explaining significant aspects of our physical world and solar system, logical positivism grounds all of reality in what can be observed empirically with replicable experimental results. Some logical positivists declared metaphysics dead, claiming that nothing other than the empirical, such as results from physics rather than pure philosophy could be used to substantiate reality. However, their epistemological claims were in fact simply taking an extreme antirealist position, contributing to the metaphysical discussion in philosophy and causing some philosophers to consider science’s relation to their work.22 Furthermore, from an epistemological perspective, logical positivism considers statements regarding unobservables as meaningless by themselves, rejecting Plato’s realist belief in an unobservable perfect reality. Instead, they claimed that the ultimate basis of knowledge

"Knowledge," 4:278.

Fred Kronz and Tracy Lupher, “Quantum Theory: von Neumann vs. Dirac,” in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, summer 2012 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2012), accessed September 18, 2018. 21

Michele Marsonet, "Philosophy and Logical Positivism," Academicus, no. 19 (February 19, 2019).

Tian 8 rests upon experimental verification. Since it is impossible to experimentally prove unobservable theory, logical positivist theories discredit philosophical realism. During the 20th century, one group espousing this shift in philosophy was the Vienna Circle, which consisted of people who met to discuss issues in logical-positivist and Neo-Kantian philosophy.23 The movement away from strictly realist belief gained support from many philosophers, including Harald Høffding, a professor of philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, who induced a profound influence on his student Niels Bohr, one of the founding fathers of Quantum Physics.24 Bohr’s and his colleague Heisenberg’s antirealist view towards nature made them more receptive to the quantum results, allowing them to develop key theory and interpret it as a new explanation of real-world behavior. Quantum Physics as a Postmodern Philosophy The fields of theoretical physics and natural philosophy blur the distinction between physics and philosophy. Historically, classical physicists such as Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were interested in questions raised by both fields and viewed them as supporting each other as different means to understand the ambitious questions about reality.25 For example, they analyzed relations of space, time, and objects, and relations in terms of physics and mathematics to distill what properties are philosophically true.

Thomas Uebel, "Vienna Circle," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2016 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016), accessed September 18, 2018.

Jan Faye, Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy: An Anti-realist View of Quantum Mechanics (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1991), 2.

Janiak, "Kant's Views."

Tian 9 Two centuries later down the path towards understanding the physical world, groundbreaking developments in quantum physics research from Heisenberg and Bohr were quickly changing perceptions and raising controversy in the natural sciences by introducing new unexpected atomic results. Just like postmodern philosophy, quantum physics breaks the mold set by classical physics by discovering new boundaries for its course of study. Physicists such as Albert Einstein refused to accept the aspects of quantum mechanics that conflicted with long-held beliefs in realism.26 The debate between Einstein’s realist and Bohr’s antirealist interpretation of physics, a once seemingly objective study, gives rise to postmodern uncertainties in thought. Ultimately, the dominant Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics led by Bohr discredited realism through two central aspects: indeterminacy and measurement. Uncertainty and Indeterminacy in Reality In 1927, physicist Werner Heisenberg came up with one of the key touchstones of modern physics: the uncertainty principle, also called the indeterminacy principle,27 published in the article “Ueber den anschaulichen Inhalt der quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik,” which roughly translates to “On the intuitive content of quantum theoretical kinematics and mechanics.”28 Based on experiments of an electron, the principle states that the position and momentum of a particle are always measured with some uncertainty; as the measurement of one Arthur Fine, The Shaky Game: Einstein, Realism, and the Quantum Theory, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 101.

"Werner Heisenberg," in Scientists: Their Lives and Works (Detroit: UXL, 2006).

28 Jan Hilgevoord and Jos Uffink, "The Uncertainty Principle," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, Winter 2016 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016), accessed September 18, 2018.

Tian 10 value becomes more certain, the value of the other becomes less certain.29 The formal equation derived by Earle Hesse Kennard is ΔpΔx ≥ h/2π, where p is momentum, x is location, and h is the Planck constant or 6.626 x 10^–34 joule-seconds.30 This relation demonstrates the uncertainty in measurement when experiments use values small enough to produce quantum behavior.31 This is due to discretization of physical values on the quantum scale.32 Considering the uncertainty principle brings about novel and different ontological interpretations of the properties of reality that discredit classical realist philosophy. To many physicists, a theory declaring uncertainty to be a fundamental and unavoidable part of nature seemed bizarre and counterintuitive because their belief in scientific realism bases knowledge on observation. When observation is uncertain, the traditional scientific method falters, no longer a viable option to uncover an exact explanation of being and causation in the world. In fact, Albert Einstein, along with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, working at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, published a criticism of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle in 1935.33 Entitled “Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?” their rebuttal lays out several correct yet unintuitive

Bob Doyle, "Indeterminacy," in The Information Philosopher, accessed February 4, 2019.

Doyle, "Indeterminacy."

Werner Heisenberg, "Ueber den Anschaulichen Inhalt der Quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik" [The Actual Content of Quantum Theoretical Kinematics and Mechanics], Zeitschrift für Physik 43, nos. 3-4 (1927): 3. 31

Heisenberg, "Ueber den Anschaulichen."

Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?," Physical Review 47, no. 10 (May 15, 1935). 33

Tian 11 interpretations of Heisenberg’s quantum mechanics before posing the famous Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Paradox. Although Einstein disagreed with the indeterminacy of the antirealist interpretation of quantum physics, he understood and followed Heisenberg’s work as an active participant in the discussion of quantum physics. First, Einstein stresses a new understanding of uncertainty resulting from Heisenberg’s work: “when the momentum of a particle is known, its coordinate has no physical reality.”34 Since the coordinate cannot be measured exactly, the value must not exist. For the first time, the sole act of knowing through observation can impact other properties of the external world. Epistemologically, this claim breaks with traditional conceptions of the relationship between knowledge and the external world, wherein knowledge is constrained to pure beliefs. Metaphysically, the idea that the uncertainty principle causes properties of electrons sometimes to no longer have “physical reality” corroborates idealism, such as Kant’s statement that “existence is not a property” or that the quality of existing cannot be taken for granted. Position and momentum no longer can be considered universal, stable properties of a noumenon. Next, Einstein’s paper concludes that the current quantum theory is incomplete, since “the two quantities [momentum and position] cannot have simultaneous reality” according Heisenberg’s current quantum theory.35 However, reflecting the common belief of the time, Einstein claims that “In quantum mechanics it is usually assumed that the wave function does contain a complete description of the physical reality of the system.”36 In other words, based on the widely-accepted

Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical," 778.

Fine, The Shaky, 101.

Tian 12 realist understanding of science, Einstein believed that in order for the world to be deterministic, there should exist a complete description of physical reality.37 Ultimately, Einstein finalizes his argument by saying, “No reasonable definition of reality could be expected to permit this [incompleteness],”38 a subjective statement based on his philosophically realist definition of existence. Therefore, he believed in the alternative to the uncertainty principle: a theory using hidden variables to complete quantum mechanics. The current wisdom at the time, based on centuries of classical science, could not accept an incomplete description of reality. However, the subsequent failure of the hidden variable theory seems to discredit realism and the EPR paradox. Attempts by leading physicists from Schrödinger to Bohm have been inelegant and unpromising.39 Moreover, in 1964, Bell’s Theorem, based on the Bell Test Experiments, showed that any hidden variable theory must be nonlocal, to explain what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.”40 However, a nonlocal theory would contradict the claim in special relativity that nothing travels faster than the speed of light.41 In summary, the Bell Test Experiments invalidated Einstein’s argument and instead provided strong evidence for a physical theory that implies some fundamental uncertainty in the world. This fundamental uncertainty precludes the possibility of any realist perfect, deterministic, universal world. These incorrect philosophical assumptions about reality hindered the work of Einstein and other realists in

Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical," 778.

Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical," 780.

F. David Peat, From Certainty to Uncertainty: The Story of Science and Ideas in the Twentieth Century (Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2002), 69.

Abner Shimony, "Bell's Theorem," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, fall 2017 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2017), accessed February 5, 2019. 40

Bernard d'Espagnat, "Quantum Physics and Reality," Foundations of Physics 41, no. 1703 (November 2011): 8.

Tian 13 theoretical physics. Instead of objects possessing inherent properties, the current orthodox view of quantum physics states that the act of measuring creates these properties by collapsing the wave function, a function related to the probability distribution of a state, to a single point.42 Here, physics provides a rigorous explanation based on logic and empiricism for the idealist conceptions of the subjective world tied to observation. Simultaneously in 1927, Niels Bohr developed another central result of quantum physics—the principle of complementarity, which also contradicted realism and helped shape efforts to reform the philosophy. Complementarity interprets and generalizes the collapse postulate related to Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, stating that quantum objects can have pairs of complementary properties that cannot be measured simultaneously.43 An instructive example to illustrate complementarity is how it explains the De Broglie wave-particle duality, where an electron, observed using different experimental setups, can exhibit either wave-like or particle-like behavior at different times. Philosophically, Bohr claims that the electron exhibits complementary behaviors of a wave and a particle, but the electron inherently is neither.44 In the quantum world, objects do not possess intrinsic qualities; they only display behavior when observed in some specific way. For example, electrons exhibit wave properties until detected by a particle-detector, after which they behave like particles. Thus, Bohr’s theory disagrees with the

Wayne Myrvold, "Philosophical Issues in Quantum Theory," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, fall 2018 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2018), accessed September 18, 2018. 42

Jan Faye, "Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics," in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta, fall 2014 ed. (Metaphysics Research Lab, 2014), accessed December 7, 2019.

Gordon Leslie Squires, "Quantum Mechanics: The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics," in Encyclopedia Britannica (2018), accessed October 4, 2018.

Tian 14 philosophical realist idea that objects in the world exist and possess their own qualities independent of the observer. After proposing the concept of complementary relations, Bohr never answered specifically how or what causes complementarity to exist.45 Other theoretical scientists who pioneered quantum mechanics, such as Wolfgang Pauli, and contemporary anti-realist philosophers, such as Otto Neurath and Philipp Frank of the Vienna Circle, shared the belief that “physical reality could not be meaningfully referred to as something existing behind the phenomena”46 or that reality is grounded in observable phenomenon. However, as British empiricist David Hume said, it is philosophically impossible to prove causation or any universal explanation. Bohr’s complementary relations are the best explanation of what we observe in our world. Ultimately, the complementarity principle and collapse postulate provide a thoroughly probabilistic view of nature and discount realist philosophy’s belief in a deterministic world and a general external truth. Similarly, Heisenberg stressed that the theory in his 1927 indeterminacy paper was based solely on observed phenomena, not a sense of a universal reality. Instead, Heisenberg focused on the idea that observations are context-dependent, which will be discussed further in the next section.47 In agreement, Heisenberg and Bohr subsequently worked closely together to lead what is called the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics, espousing the ideas of fundamental uncertainty and indeterminacy in physics.48

Faye, "Copenhagen Interpretation."

Jan Faye, Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy: An Anti-realist View of Quantum Mechanics (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1991), 19.

Fine, The Shaky, 114.

Faye, "Copenhagen Interpretation."

Tian 15 Relationship Between the Observer and the System Einstein explains that the reason behind the uncertainty of measurement is that “any attempt to determine the latter experimentally will alter the state of the system in such a way as to destroy the knowledge of the first.”49 In other words, the uncertainty principle implies that any observer’s attempt to measure a system and gain knowledge will impact the system and leave another property unknown. Then, the uncertainty principle must suggest that a mind-independent reality cannot exist if the observer must impact reality itself. As author David Peat explains, “The physicist John Wheeler used the metaphor of a plate glass window. For centuries science viewed the universe objectively, as if we were separated from it by a pane of plate glass. Quantum theory smashed that glass forever. We have reached in to touch the cosmos. Instead of being the objective observers of the universe we have become participators.”50 Bohr’s interpretation of complementarity resolves the dilemma of epistemology; he claimed that what can be known through observation depends on the subject-object partition and the subject’s role in experimentation.51 Contemporary physicists and co-authors of The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, reflected on the current state of philosophy, saying, How can we understand the world in which we find ourselves? How does the universe behave? What is the nature of reality? . . . Traditionally these are questions for philosophy, but philosophy is dead. Philosophy has not kept up with modern

Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, "Can Quantum-Mechanical," 778.

Peat, From Certainty, 5.

Petersen, Quantum Physics, 27.

Tian 16 developments in science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.52 In particular, they believe that data-driven, empirical approaches would be able to reveal more about the world.53 However, philosophy has not become obsolete. Rather, philosophy is revitalized in a new form by the novel, cutting-edge discoveries in quantum physics. The uncertainty principle revealing uncertainty in observation illuminated antirealist metaphysical and epistemological views, while the antirealist attitude of indeterminacy aided the development of theory and interpretation of quantum physics. As philosophy provides thoughtful structure to the trajectory of scientific experiments and theories in uncovering the workings of the universe, these new scientific discoveries will guide and shape the course of metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology in a shift away from realist philosophy. If the ultimate goal of physics and philosophy is to decipher â&#x20AC;&#x153;the nature of reality,â&#x20AC;? then the two fields combined have provided the most insightful explanation, both indispensable to human knowledge.

Maudlin, "Physics, Philosophy," 63.

Matt Warman, "Stephen Hawking Tells Google 'Philosophy Is Dead,'" The Telegraph (London, United Kingdom), May 17, 2011, Technology, accessed February 5, 2019.

Tian 17 Bibliography d'Espagnat, Bernard. "Quantum Physics and Reality." Foundations of Physics 41, no. 1703 (November 2011). doi:10.1007/s10701-011-9582-z. Bernard d'Espagnat was a French theoretical physicist and philosopher of science, who authored Veiled Reality, An Analysis of Present-Day Quantum Mechanical Concepts. In this article, he discusses interpretations of the results of quantum physics in relation to levels of objectivity and the spectrum from realism to idealism, providing thorough objective analysis as well as his own complex stance. This article gives excellent further insight into the relationship between quantum physics and realism. Doyle, Bob. "Indeterminacy." In The Information Philosopher. Accessed February 4, 2019. http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/indeterminacy.html. Einstein, Albert, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen. "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" Physical Review 47, no. 10 (May 15, 1935): 777-80. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777. Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen were prominent physicists who participated in the discussion of quantum mechanics. They espoused a combination of philosophically realist assumptions and idealist interpretations of quantum mechanics in order to present a paradox that criticizes Heisenberg's work with Uncertainty in quantum physics. Examining the philosophical bases and implications of Einstein's insightful writing helps to further our argument. Faye, Jan. "Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Fall 2014 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2014. Accessed December 7, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2014/entries/qm-copenhagen/. ———. Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy: An Anti-realist View of Quantum Mechanics. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1991. Jan Faye is a professor of philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. This book examined the philosophical influences surrounding Bohr and his work. It illuminates philosophical concepts related to Bohr's physical theories of complementarity and subject-object partitions. Fine, Arthur. The Shaky Game: Einstein, Realism, and the Quantum Theory. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. In chapters 1-5, Fine gives an overview of the disagreements between Einstein’s theories in classical physics and Bohr’s development of quantum mechanics. In chapters 6-9, Fine directly discusses the physicists work in conjunction with philosophy: how Bohr’s work contradicted realism and how to then reconcile a nonrealist view of the world. The author, Arthur Fine, is a philosopher of science as well as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy (and Adjunct Professor of History and of Physics) at the University of Washington. Providing a direct comparison between realism and its contractions in

Tian 18 quantum physics, along with supporting anecdotes, the book details some important interactions and responses between physics and philosophy. Flage, Daniel E. "George Berkeley (1685—1753)." In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by James Fieser and Bradley Dowden. Accessed February 4, 2019. https://www.iep.utm.edu/berkeley/. Heisenberg, Werner. "Ueber den Anschaulichen Inhalt der Quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik" [“The Actual Content of Quantum Theoretical Kinematics and Mechanics”]. Zeitschrift für Physik 43, nos. 3-4 (1927). https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19840008978. Heisenberg was one of the most influential quantum physicists who developed groundbreaking physical theories. He published his most important development, the Uncertainty Relation, in the 1927 article “Ueber den Anschaulichen Inhalt der Quantentheoretischen Kinematik und Mechanik” using matrix mechanics mathematical formalisms. Heisenberg provides clear insights into the details of the uncertainty principle, as well as the interpretations and motivations behind the way Heisenberg thought about the physical property in the context of his intuitive understanding of the world. Hilgevoord, Jan, and Jos Uffink. "The Uncertainty Principle." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Winter 2016 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016. Accessed September 18, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-uncertainty/. Hoefer, Carl. "Causal Determinism." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Spring 2016 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016. Accessed February 6, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/determinism-causal/. Janiak, Andrew. "Kant's Views on Space and Time." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Winter 2016 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016. Accessed February 4, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-spacetime/. Kahn, Charles H. "Plato (428/427 BCE–337/336 BCE)." In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Donald M. Borchert, 581-605. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. http://link.galegroup.com.puffin.harker.org/apps/doc/CX3446801597/GVRL?u=harker&s id=GVRL&xid=86cd0f77. Kant, Immanuel. Kant's Inaugural Dissertation of 1770. Translated by William J. Eckoff. New York: Columbia College, 1894. Digital file. Immanuel Kant was a German modern philosopher with long-lasting influences. He espoused transcendental idealism. At the age 45, Kant wrote his Inaugural Dissertation of 1770 when he received the position of Full Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. In this treatise, we examined many of his central ideas in metaphysics and idealism, such as subjectivity.

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"Knowledge." In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by William A. Darity, Jr., 277-81. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. http://link.galegroup.com.puffin.harker.org/apps/doc/CX3045301264/GVRL?u=harker&s id=GVRL&xid=70e2bad8. Marsonet, Michele. "Philosophy and Logical Positivism." Academicus, no. 19 (February 19, 2019): 32-36. https://doi.org/10.7336/academicus.2019.19.02. Maudlin, Tim. "Physics, Philosophy, and the Nature of Reality." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1361, no. 1 (December 2015): 63-68. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12877. ———. "Quantum Mechanics." In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Donald M. Borchert, 206-15. 2nd ed. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Gale Virtual Reference Library (CX3446801691). Miller, Alexander. "Realism." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Winter 2016 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016. Accessed February 3, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/realism/. Myrvold, Wayne. "Philosophical Issues in Quantum Theory." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Fall 2018 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2018. Accessed September 18, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/qt-issues/. Nelson, Michael. "Existence." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Spring 2019 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2019. Accessed February 5, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existence/. Palenčár, Marián. "Metaphysics." In Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, and Culture, edited by H. James Birx, 859-64. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2009. http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3207600364/GVRL?u=harker&sid=GVRL&xid= 4743917a. Peat, F. David. From Certainty to Uncertainty: The Story of Science and Ideas in the Twentieth Century. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press, 2002. In chapters 1-5, Peat discusses important developments and people in quantum mechanics, from its historical origins with Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr to the ideas of more modern physicists Yoichiro Nambu and David Bohm, as well as some of quantum mechanics’ implications in the way we speak about or depict the world. Author F. David Peat was a professor, author, and quantum physicist who wrote numerous books about physics, including Science, Order, and Creativity (1987), which he co-authored with David Bohm. By providing a clear understanding of the theoretical arguments of quantum mechanics, the book helped me make comparisons between principles of

Tian 20 quantum theory and philosophy. Furthermore, the bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elaboration of concurrent trends in thinking provides a solid context for understanding related philosophical ideas. Petersen, Aage. Quantum Physics and the Philosophical Tradition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1968. Aage Petersen once worked as an assistant to Niels Bohr. His book summarizes logical and philosophical, both epistemological and ontological, results of Bohr's work in physics, including complementarity and the subject-object partition. Although he admits that many philosophical insights remain unanswered at the time, Petersen provides clear explanation and insight into the relationship between the interpretation of quantum physics and other fields of human study outside of physics. Shimony, Abner. "Bell's Theorem." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Fall 2017 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2017. Accessed February 5, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bell-theorem/. Squires, Gordon Leslie. "Quantum Mechanics: The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics." In Encyclopedia Britannica. 2018. Accessed October 4, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/science/quantum-mechanics-physics/The-interpretation-of-q uantum-mechanics. Uebel, Thomas. "Vienna Circle." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Spring 2016 ed. Metaphysics Research Lab, 2016. Accessed September 18, 2018. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vienna-circle/. Warman, Matt. "Stephen Hawking Tells Google 'Philosophy Is Dead.'" The Telegraph (London, United Kingdom), May 17, 2011, Technology. Accessed February 5, 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8520033/Stephen-Hawking-tells-Googlephilosophy-is-dead.html. Matt Warman is a Consumer Technology Editor of The Telegraph national British newspaper. The article describes Stephen Hawking's speech at the Google Zeitgeist Conference, wherein Hawking states that philosophy is dead and the future of physics lay in improving data collection. We address Hawking's stance through a philosophical lens to make our paper more comprehensive. "Werner Heisenberg." In Scientists: Their Lives and Works. Detroit: UXL, 2006. http://link.galegroup.com.puffin.harker.org/apps/doc/K2641500240/MSIC?u=harker&sid =MSIC&xid=41a14c07. Woozley, A. D. "Universals, a Historical Survey." In Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Donald M. Borchert, 587-603. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. http://link.galegroup.com.puffin.harker.org/apps/doc/CX3446802062/GVRL?u=harker&s id=GVRL&xid=c4502bf8.

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