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Operant Subjectivity

Eight quantum realities redux: Finding David Bohm

Michael Stricklin

Published Jan 1, 2005• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper addresses a basic component of Q methodology, namely, how judgmental rotation of centroid factors empowers the researcher to more thoroughly investigate communicability. A Q study of eight interpretations of quantum facts, genuinely worldviews in themselves, is the vehicle for the exposition, and two rotations, both theoretical, are examined. The first rotation is an exercise in intellectual curiosity (intellectual play) that was carried out in 2001; the second ensued from work published by Simon Watts and Paul Stenner in 2003 and from comments and responses to them by Steven Brown.

DOI
10.22488/okstate.05.100543

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•Jan 1, 2025•0 citations
This
paper addresses a basic component of Q methodology, namely, how
judgmental rotation of centroid factors empowers the researcher to more
thoroughly investigate communicability. A Q study of eight
interpretations of quantum facts, genuinely worldviews in themselves, is
the vehicle for the exposition, and two rotations, both theoretical,
are examined. The first rotation is an exercise in intellectual
curiosity (intellectual play) that was carried out in 2001; the second
ensued from work published by Simon Watts and Paul Stenner in 2003 and
from comments and responses to them by Steven Brown.
Despite scholarly consensus on the empirical facts, ever since its inception in the 1920s there has been deep disagreement about how to interpret quantum theory. “To interpret a physical theory is to say what the world would be like, if the theory were true.” All scientific theories require interpretation, since strictly speaking what they describe are our experiences of the world rather than the world itself. Thus, whether we are trying to explain or merely describe the world, we are always engaged in inference. To make inferences we need a context for interpretation. For any given claim this context is provided locally by related theories, more broadly by disciplinary paradigms, and ultimately by worldview claims about the nature of reality. The challenge in interpreting scientific theories is to integrate them into this hierarchy of knowledge. Usually this is not too difficult. New theories often require adjustments to nearby theories, but in doing so we can rely on paradigms to make them cohere. More rarely paradigmatic assumptions are themselves challenged, but in that case scientists can fall back on their worldview to make sense of the needed changes. By implication, the most difficult interpretive problems arise when our worldview is called into question, which leaves us without any frame of reference on which to fall back. Quantum theory poses a worldview problem. Prior to the quantum revolution the classical worldview could not be tested scientifically and so it was essentially metaphysical. Even though it corresponded to our experience of material objects, we lacked proof that it adequately represented the deep structure of reality. By giving us access to that deep structure for the first time, quantum mechanics made it possible to do such a test, or “experimental metaphysics.” Unfortunately, the results seemed to contradict classical assumptions, at least on the sub-atomic level.
Abstract Quantum theory has presented scientists and philosophers of science with a series of perplexing questions. It seems to many that any attempt to comprehend a world described by quantum theory will require revision in our understanding of the nature of things far more radical than the revision in our understanding of the nature of space and time demanded by the theories of relativity. It has been claimed that to comprehend quantum theory we must revise our very understanding of such matters as the objective nature of reality and its independence from our perception of it, the nature of a complex system and its relation to its components, and the nature of causal and other kinds of determination in the world.
B J Hiley and F David Peat (eds) 1987 London: Routledge and Kegan Paul vii + 455 pp price £25 ISBN 0 7102 0806 5 This weighty volume is a fitting tribute to a gifted and modest physicist, renowned for many things: for key insights in diverse areas of theoretical physics; for the suggestion of penetrating fundamental experiments; for the authorship of influential textbooks that set new standards of depth and clarity of exposition. The intellectual influence of David Bohm can be measured by the impressive line-up of 30 contributors to this volume, including Nobel laureates Feynman, Prigogine and Wilkins.
This is the story of David Bohm's hitherto unpublished notes, uncovered from a series of lectures given in Israel in 1957 to a group of Marxist physicists from the Hashomer Hatsair (young guard) movement. The notes explore quantum theory and dialectical materialism, as well as shedding light on the intellectual and emotional resources of his persistent rebellion against orthodoxies in science. The discussion places his lectures notes in a wider historical, scientific, and philosophical context and traces Bohm's intellectual development from an early attempt to better understand the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to his elaboration of an alternative causal interpretation based on the notion of "hidden variables." As the lecture notes strikingly illustrate, dialectical materialism played a fundamental role for the further development of his understanding of quantum mechanics. Bohm placed the notions of infinity of nature and the unity of opposites in the center of his natural philosophy, drawing from the works of Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The authors also examine Bohm's legacy in the history of quantum mechanics and his contribution to preparing the "second quantum revolution." Bohm's engagement with dialectical materialism and his role as a dissident to the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics were pivotal in bringing about the novel insights and technologies associated with this second quantum revolution. During the 1960s, Bohm developed a growing interest in the nature of consciousness and engaged with the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. In spite of a seemingly fundamental break with earlier philosophical positions, this new phase in Bohm's intellectual odyssey was not completely unrelated to his fascination with and deep understanding of Hegel's philosophy, which the lecture notes amply document for the first time.