I build upon Heisenberg’s proposal in 1958 that quantum states are ontologically real “potentia.” On this view reality consists in ontologically real Possibles and ontologically real Actuals. Then measurement converts Possibles to Actuals. This ontological hypothesis, explicit in Heisenberg’s proposal, suggests a natural place for “mind.” Mind converts Possibles to Actuals. This role for mind is a scientific hypothesis open to test. Modest evidence now supports the hypothesis. If very well confirmed, such results alter the foundations of quantum mechanics and afford a role of mind in the becoming of the universe. More, the ontological proposal is not a substance dualism, for potentia are not substances. Thus, this proposal for the role of mind does not seem to inherit many of the problems raised in a substance dualism such as Descartes’ Res cogitans and Res extensa, (Descartes), or in a substance neutral monism such as Russell, (Russell). The proposal is radical. Far more evidence is needed.
I build upon Heisenberg’s proposal in 1958 that quantum states are ontologically real “potentia.” On this view reality consists in ontologically real Possibles and ontologically real Actuals. Then measurement converts Possibles to Actuals. This ontological hypothesis, explicit in Heisenberg’s proposal, suggests a natural place for “mind.” Mind converts Possibles to Actuals. This role for mind is a scientific hypothesis open to test. Modest evidence now supports the hypothesis. If very well confirmed, such results alter the foundations of quantum mechanics and afford a role of mind in the becoming of the universe. More, the ontological proposal is not a substance dualism, for potentia are not substances. Thus, this proposal for the role of mind does not seem to inherit many of the problems raised in a substance dualism such as Descartes’ Res cogitans and Res extensa, (Descartes), or in a substance neutral monism such as Russell, (Russell). The proposal is radical. Far more evidence is needed.
It is argued that quantum theory is best understood as requiring an ontological duality of res extensa and res potentia, where the latter is understood per Heisenberg's original proposal, and the former is roughly equivalent to Descartes' 'extended substance.' However, this is not a dualism of mutually exclusive substances in the classical Cartesian sense, and therefore does not inherit the infamous 'mind-body' problem. Rather, res potentia and res extensa are proposed as mutually implicative ontological extants that serve to explain the key conceptual challenges of quantum theory; in particular, nonlocality, entanglement, null measurements, and wave function collapse. It is shown that a natural account of these quantum perplexities emerges, along with a need to reassess our usual ontological commitments involving the nature of space and time.
If all aspects of the mind-brain relationship were adequately explained by classical physics, then there would be no need to propose alternative views. But faced with possibly unresolvable puzzles like qualia and free will, other approaches are required. We propose a non-substance dualism theory, following a suggestion by Heisenberg, whereby the world consists of both ontologically real Possibles that do not obey Aristotle’s law of the excluded middle, and ontologically real Actuals, that do obey the law of the excluded middle. Measurement converts Possibles into Actuals. This quantum-oriented approach solves numerous puzzles about the mind-brain relationship, but it also raises the intriguing possibility that some aspects of mind are nonlocal, and that mind plays an active role in the physical world. We suggest that the mind-brain relationship is partially quantum, and we present evidence supporting that proposition.
We propose a non-substance dualism theory, following Heisenberg: The world consists of both ontologically real possibilities that do not obey Aristotle's Law of the Excluded Middle, and ontologically real Actuals that do o0bey the Law of the Excluded Middle. This quantum approach solves five issues in quantum mechanics and numerous puzzles about the mind-brain relationship. It raises the possibility that some aspects of mind are non-local, and that mind plays an active role in the physical world. We present supporting evidence.
Abstract Heisenberg was a very dedicated Kantian, and viewed the discoveries of early twentieth century physics as disqualifying of the Kantian metaphysical worldview. He made an effort – not an especially successful one – to reconfigure the Kantian critique by replacing noumena with the quantum-level reality, and proposed a new entity as mediative between the quantum realm and the subject. The new entity, potentia (borrowed from Aristotle, and altered to serve Heisenberg’s purpose) fulfills that role by means of its hybrid nature: it’s partly mental, partly a reification of probabilities. This dual nature allows epistemic access to the probabilistic nature of quantum-level interactions, out of which our phenomenal world is realized when a measurement is made. How well this notion serves the purpose of rehabilitating the Kantian critique is questionable, as Heisenberg’s conception is problematic and, perhaps, internally inconsistent. My dissertation follows Heisenberg’s development of potentia, examines how well it addresses the failure of the Kantian problem, and asks whether his proposal is an obscurum per obscurius. Thereafter I introduce a number of other, similar proposals to potentia, consider them on their own merits, compare them to Heisenberg’s conception, and use this conjunction of potentia proposals to made a judgment regarding whether the use of potentia is a philosophically defensible way of addressing the recondite problems of quantum mechanics.
The Orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics, which followed the Copenhagen Interpretation but was enhanced by primarily Werner Heisenberg and John von Neumann into a fully developed theory, brought in, among others, the role of measurement, available choices and response of the quantum system.It is, more consistent and clear than other interpretations of quantum mechanics as it provides account of the interactions of observers with the external world.As such, the Orthodox interpretation does a lot more than just account for physical interactions in the atomic world, which was the original goal of quantum mechanics in the early part of the twentieth century.In this article we present several issues that may have been answered or need further development, such as measurement and observation, what is Nature and who the observer is.Extending Orthodox quantum mechanics, leading to universal non-dual Awareness may provide a consistent and integrated view of reality and is consistent with advances in mathematical theory.An issue of paramount importance is what are the philosophical underpinnings or ontological view of the quantum nature of the universe and the role of human minds, observations and choices.
Amid the wide variety of interpretations of quantum mechanics, the notion of a fully coherent ontological interpretation has seen a promising evolution over the last few decades. Despite this progress, however, the old dualistic categorical constraints of subjectivity and objectivity, correlate with the metrically restricted definition of local and global, have remained largely in place – a reflection of the broader, persistent inheritance of these comfortable strictures throughout the evolution of modern science. If one traces this inheritance back to its ancient roots in Plato and Aristotle, it is clear that the coherence, scientific utility, and historical durability of the various natural philosophies that followed have been directly proportional to their commitment, tacit or explicit, to object-oriented realism. As Simondon might put it, it is a commitment to the primacy of individuated substance over the process of individuation. For Whitehead, it is the misplaced assimilation of becoming to being, of potentiality to actuality. Quantum mechanics has challenged this commitment with a combined breadth and depth of force that far exceeds any other theory in the history of science. The theory’s objectively demonstrable empirical application is manifest only by way of a fundamentally subjective, context-dependent mechanism of measurement. More compelling still, actual system states are always actualizations of locally contextualized yet globally conditioned potential system states, such that “globally objective” reality is no longer merely the object of local measurement, but also its product. Thus, any coherent, ontological interpretation of quantum theory must include a conceptual framework by which objectivity and subjectivity, actuality and potentiality, global and local, being and becoming, individuated fact and process of individuation, are no longer understood as merely epistemic, mutually exclusive category pairs descriptive of an already extant, closed reality – but rather as mutually implicative ontological categories explicative of an ontogenetic, open reality-in-process.