Interpretation of Reality and Quantum Theory

Walter R.J. Baets

Given the insight into complexity that we have developed and its consequences for management the way we have discussed it, we are now ready to explore an alternative interpretation of the managerial reality that would allow us a different managerial approach. In this chapter we explore the quantum interpretation of reality in general, before, in Chapter 9, applying this quantum interpretation to economic theory and reality.

Benjamin Liebowitz

Bunge, Mario

‎Louis Marchildon

All investigators working on the foundations of quantum mechanics agree that the theory has profoundly modified our conception of reality. But there ends the consensus. The unproblematic formalism of the theory gives rise to a number of very different interpretations, each of which has consequences on the notion of reality. This paper analyses how the Copenhagen interpretation, von Neumann's state vector collapse, Bohm and de Broglie's pilot wave and Everett's many worlds modify, each in its own way, the classical conception of reality, whose local character, in particular, requires revision.

Dennis Dieks

Abstract We argue that the formalism of quantum theory can be given an empirical interpretation (in the sense of a connection with observable phenomena) in the same way as in any other empirical theory. In particular, there is no need to supplement the unitary time evolution governed by a Schrödinger‐type of equation with a “projection postulate” that applies only to measurements. As a consequence, the quantum formalism has the same status as the formalisms of older physical theories, and is capable of the same philosophical interpretations. The most natural interpretation, we argue, is to conceive of the formalism as an objective – although highly abstract – description of reality.

David Hodgson