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IV. Does a generalized Heisenberg principle operate in the social sciences?

Garrison Sposito

Published Jan 1, 1969• 5 citations
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Abstract

It is argued that a generalization of Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy is possible in the social sciences. The empirical grounds for this contention lie with interference phenomena induced by transference distortions that may occur when human beings investigate the behaviour of one another.
DOI
10.1080/00201746908601571

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This article deals with the problems of studying communication links in a digital society. An analysis is made of the heuristic possibilities of the classical causal model for describing the dependencies of social phenomena. In the world of quantum phenomena, however, any measurement affects the system. The mere fact that we measure, for example, the location of a particle, leads to an unpredictable change in its speed. The same phenomena can be observed in the social system: any empirical study of social phenomena automatically produces in itself, some changes in this system. Modern physics has discovered the quantum structure of the material world. And human beings, as material objects, really are quantum. Therefore, social life requires a quantum structure for its proper understanding. This means that we need to develop a “quantum social science”. The principles of quantum mechanics are relevant for social theory, and therefore quantum theory cannot be ignored in the social sciences. The quantum effect can be described as the propensity of certain individuals to modify their conduct due to their consciousness of being observed. This effect refers to the fact that people will modify their behavior simply because they are being observed. The new approaches are proposed for using the quantum dependence model of theoretical physics in relation to the human phenomena in the modern digital space.
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