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Science and irrationalism or the generalized complementarity principle of Bohr

Alexander Klimets

Published Jan 1, 2004• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The article formulates and substantiates the philosophical epistemological principle, which generalizes the principle of complementarity of Bohr to all phenomena of reality. The general complementarity principle is formulated as follows: the rational side of reality and its cognition and its associated irrational side of reality and its cognition are complementary to each other. The general principle of complementarity allows one to search for phenomena of duality in various fields, grouping them according to rational and irrational signs.

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The article formulates and substantiates the philosophical epistemological principle, which generalizes the principle of complementarity of Bohr to all phenomena of reality. The general complementarity principle is formulated as follows: the rational side of reality and its cognition and its associated irrational side of reality and its cognition are complementary to each other. The general principle of complementarity allows one to search for phenomena of duality in various fields, grouping them according to rational and irrational signs.
The article is devoted to the problem of scientific and philosophical status of complementarity principlef. The author analyzes its explication by N. Bohr and its comprehension by scientists and epistemologists. It is shown that generally, the complementarity principle is a set of ideas, which allows comprehending of specific situation in quantum mechanics. Some of ideas – the role of language of classical physics, the role of macro-instrument, the integrity of scientific experiment, the integrity of micro-object – could be seen as general scientific and epistemological principles. The prohibition of ontologisation of quantum phenomenon, which necessarily leads to contradictions is considered as the semantic core of Bohr’s approach. However, the attempts of its generalization in science and philosophy were not successful. The complementarity postulate is viewed as methodological principle of foundations of quantum mechanics in its Copenhagen interpretation.
This article explores Bohr's argument, advanced under the heading of 'complementarity,' concerning quantum phenomena and quantum mechanics, and its physical and philosophical implications.In Bohr, the term complementarity designates both a particular concept and an overall interpretation of quantum phenomena and quantum mechanics, in part grounded in this concept.While the argument of this article is primarily philosophical, it will also address, historically, the development and transformations of Bohr's thinking, under the impact of the development of quantum theory and Bohr's confrontation with Einstein, especially their exchange concerning the EPR experiment, proposed by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in 1935.Bohr's interpretation was progressively characterized by a more radical epistemology, in its ultimate form, which was developed in the 1930s and with which I shall be especially concerned here, defined by his new concepts of phenomenon and atomicity.According to this epistemology, quantum objects are seen as indescribable and possibly even as inconceivable, and as manifesting their existence only in the effects of their interactions with measuring instruments upon those instruments, effects that define phenomena in Bohr's sense.The absence of causality is an automatic consequence of this epistemology.I shall also consider how probability and statistics work under these epistemological conditions.
Abstract: Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics has been criticized as incoherent and opportunistic, and based on doubtful philosophical premises. If so Bohr’s influence, in the pre-war period of 1927-1939, is the harder to explain, and the acceptance of his approach to quantum mechanics over de Broglie’s had no reasonable foundation. But Bohr’s interpretation changed little from the time of its first appearance, and stood independent of any philosophical presuppositions. The principle of complementarity is itself best read as a conjecture of unusually wide scope, on the nature and future course of explanations in the sciences (and not only the physical sciences). If it must be judged a failure today, it is not because of any internal inconsistency. Despite the expenditure of much effort, I have been unable to obtain a clear understanding of Bohr’s principle of complementarity (Einstein). Bohr’s point- and the central point of quantum mechanics- is that no elemen-
The theory of complementarity became prominent during the last century (primarily as a result of the ideas of Niels Bohr and quantum physics). It gradually developed into a dominant paradigm un-derlying research into the nature of existence. Bohr’s exposition of the principle also emphasized its epistemological value for providing more accurate information regarding what seem to be paradoxical aspects of reality. The principle of complementarity has proven to have far reaching philosophical im-plications concerning such basic notions as subject and object, space-time and causality, chance and necessity, and more. However, scholars also acknowledge that it contributes to resolving the problem of the discontinuity between underlying reality and the human ability to conceptualize the ontological nature of existence. It has grown in popularity because it seems to off er a means of addressing dichoto-mies in other sciences and in philosophy.When analysts scrutinize the factors that infl uenced Bohr’s understanding of the principle of comple-mentarity they fi nd that one source clearly stems from the infl uence of American Pragmatism. Although the Pragmatist infl uence is traced primarily to William James there is at the roots of the philosophy of Pragmatism reference made to concepts that refl ect the principle of complementarity explicating how to gain reliable knowledge concerning the nature of existence. From the very inception of American Prag-matism there was the recognition that Western philosophy faced a problem connected with