Veiled Reality: An Analysis of Present-Day Quantum Mechanical Concepts

Horst-Heino von Borzeszkowski, Renate Wahsner

Bernard d’Espagnat

By questioning the validity of some of our basic concepts, such as space, object, and causality, quantum physics contributes quite decisively to the dramatic changes now taking place in our world picture.This book is addressed not only to physicists at an early stage in their careers (the first or second year graduate student) but also to philosophers, as well as to all the senior physicists interested in the interpretation problem. Beginning with a chapter that could be described as ?philosophy for physicists,? it presents an in-depth analysis of present-day quantum mechanical concepts, an analysis of physicists and philosophers alike. Specifically, it first offers an extensive critical analysis of such topics as the Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen reality criterion, nonseparatability, the quantum measurement riddle, decoherence theory, consistent histories approaches and ontologically interpretable theories. All this then naturally leads to philosophical questions concerning, in particular, intersubjective agreement and the limit of realism. And a thorough examination of this whole material finally leads to the view that distinguishing between empirical reality and a veiled man-independent reality yields an acceptable answer to the perplexing question of how to interpret quantum physics. Veiled Reality offers nonspecialists, including students in physics, philosophy and the history of science, an accessible perspective on basic problems in the foundations of physics.

Clifford Alan Hooker

Bernard d’Espagnat

It is interesting that ideas showing affinities with the veiled reality concept were independently developed by thinkers working in the field of pure philosophy of science, which means that they did not base their conceptions on detailed physical knowledge of any sort. There can, of course, be no question of presenting a balanced account of these subtle and often quite sophisticated theories. Indeed it is only possible to mention briefly two or three examples, concentrating only on one of them. Difficulty 4a is one facet of the so-called Schrodinger cat paradox, and it may be said to constitute the central riddle of quantum measurement theory, nay, even of the whole of quantum mechanics. Difficulty 4b, the "and-or" difficulty, though often overlooked, is also intriguing. The chapter argues against "nonseparability of empirical reality" by using the idea that in the empirical view ontological considerations should be barred.

Bryce Seligman DeWitt

Subhash C. Kak, Deepak Chopra, Menas C. Kafatos

Our sense of reality is different from its mathematical basis as given by physical theories. Although nature at its deepest level is quantum mechanical and nonlocal, it appears to our minds in everyday experience as local and classical. Since the same laws should govern all phenomena, we propose this difference in the nature of perceived reality is due to the principle of veiled nonlocality that is associated with consciousness. Veiled nonlocality allows consciousness to operate and present what we experience as objective reality. In other words, this principle allows us to consider consciousness indirectly, in terms of how consciousness operates. We consider different theoretical models commonly used in physics and neuroscience to describe veiled nonlocality. Furthermore, if consciousness as an entity leaves a physical trace, then laboratory searches for such a trace should be sought for in nonlocality, where probabilities do not conform to local expectations.