Hermeneutics as a Conceptual Model for an Ontological Evaluation of Quantum Theory

Meinard Kuhlmann

Manuel Bernardo Muñoz Bastias

This article presents the introductory architecture of a doctoral investigation into the hermeneutical interpretation of twentieth-century theoretical physics. Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics are treated first according to their physical structures and then through Neo-Kantianism, Logical Empiricism, Scientific Realism, and the comparatively neglected alternative of Aristotelian-Thomistic Classical Realism. The central hypothesis is that these interpretative horizons can be examined according to predominant tendencies toward univocity, equivocity, and analogy, and that analogy may preserve realist reference without collapsing scientific representation into ontology. The investigation distinguishes physical description, philosophical interpretation, hermeneutical comparison, and ontological evaluation. Its principal constructive test is the Bell-Bohm-Modal-Thomistic (BBMT) model: Bell secures the realist demand for a physical referent; Bohmian mechanics specifies effective physical determination; Modal Interpretation distinguishes dynamical and value states; contextual Boolean algebra may supplement M as a formal control but is not a constitutive fifth component; and the decisive passage from M to T is mediated through Fregean sense/reference, formal abstraction, participation, and a combined analogy of proper proportionality and intrinsic attribution. The broader thesis is that these levels form a tripartite hermeneutical circle whose final evaluation bears on scientific interpretation, ontology, and the existential horizon of the reader1.

Gregg S. Jaeger

Manuel Bernardo Muñoz Bastias

This article presents the methodology of a philosophical investigation into the interpretation of Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics. Its starting point is a methodological asymmetry: modern theoretical physics has generated a stable scientific core together with persistent and mutually incompatible philosophical interpretations, while the analogical realism of the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition has remained comparatively absent from that discussion. The method therefore combines two ordered moments. Description reconstructs the scientific theories and philosophical traditions with methodological restraint, distinguishing physical content from later ontological interpretation. Hermeneutical analysis then examines the relations among competing meanings without presupposing the tripartite classification it seeks to test. Causality and the principle of least action function as transversal analytical coordinates across Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics, while the uncertainty principle provides an additional coordinate specific to the quantum domain. Fregean sense/reference and the degrees of formal abstraction control transitions among logical, physical, and ontological levels. The Bell-Bohm-Modal-Thomistic (BBMT) model is introduced only as a later bridge to be tested, not as a premise of the descriptive stage. The methodological aim is to determine whether analogical realism can enter the hermeneutic circle of theoretical physics without altering the scientific formalism or collapsing distinct levels of discourse.

Kareem Mousa Hussain

Patrick A. Heelan