Schrödinger’s Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Michel Bitbol

Tiantian Yang, Hailiang Che

Quantum mechanics is an important understanding of modern physics, and one of China’s first quantum experimental satellites is also launched in July of this year, but around the confusion about the interpretation of quantum philosophy, yet there has not a perfect answer today. “Schrodinger’s cat” is put forward by the Austrian physicist Schrodinger in 1935; it is a name for a quantum state, its production not only has its specific physical incentives, but also has the corresponding philosophical roots. Everett, the author of the “multi-world explanation”, explains that the explanation of “multi-world explanation” to the quantum philosophy from the point of view of Schrodinger’s cat in physics has not only helped us understand the nature of quantum mechanics, to solve the philosophical controversy that has revolved around quantum mechanics, but also deepened our understanding of multi-world interpretations where physics and philosophy blend. This article starts with the famous experiment Schrödinger’s Cat and then tells us two well-known answers to quantum mechanics in the history, that is the Copenhagen Interpretation and the Multi-World Interpretation. By comparing the differences between the two, it emphasis on the correctness of the “multi-world interpretation”. Then it can deepen our understanding of the concept of “Schrodinger’s Cat”, “Quantum Mechanics” and multi-world interpretations.

G.-C Rota

Abner Shimony

Many of the pioneers of quantum mechanics – notably Planck, Einstein, Bohr, de Broglie, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Born, Jordan, Landé, Wigner, and London – were seriously concerned with philosophical problems. In each case one can ask a question of psychological and historical interest: was it a philosophical penchant which drew the investigator towards a kind of physics research which is linked to philosophy, or was it rather that the conceptual difficulties of fundamental physics pulled him willynilly into the labyrinth of philosophy? I shall not undertake to discuss this question, but shall cite an opinion of Peter Bergmann, which I find congenial: he learned from Einstein that “the theoretical physicist is … a philosopher in workingman's clothes” ([1], q. v.). The problems with which I am preoccupied concern the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics – either epistemological, bearing on the extent, validity, and character of human knowledge; or metaphysical, bearing on the character of reality. Although quantum mechanics is not a system of philosophy, one can wonder whether it is susceptible to coherent incorporation in a philosophical system. I propose to examine the thought of three masters of quantum mechanics – Bohr, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger – not with a critical or historical intention, but in hope of finding some enlightenment concerning the problems posed by contemporary physics. I can say in advance that enlightenment will continue to elude us; nevertheless, the ideas of Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrödinger are rich and evocative for new studies.

D. I. Blokhint︠s︡ev

Max Jammer