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Routledge eBooks

Bohm-Biederman Correspondence

Charles Biederman, David Böhm

Published Mar 11, 2002• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

"It was sheer chance that I encountered David Bohm's writing in 1958 ... I knew nothing about him. What struck me about his work and prompted my initial letter was his underlying effort to seek for some larger sense of reality, which seemed a very humanized search." - Charles Biederman, from the foreword of the bookThis book marks the beginning of a four thousand page correspondence between Charles Biederman, founder of Constructivism in the 1930s, and David Bohm the prestigious physicist known for his interpretation of quantum theory. Available for the first time, we are given a rare opportunity to read through and engage in a remarkable transatlantic, intellectual discussion on art and science, creativity and theory.

DOI
10.4324/9780203008034

Related papers

Conciencia, Creatividad y Libertad. Sobre la naturaleza creativa libre de la conciencia en la correspondencia entre David Bohm y Charles Biederman

Manuel Béjar Gallego

La fluida correspondencia mantenida por el físico David Bohm y el artista Charles Biederman en la década de los sesenta sobre la naturaleza creativa de la conciencia humana esboza el origen de un nuevo paradigma epistemológico en la historia del pensamiento del siglo XX. En contra de las corrientes positivistas del sujeto y el objeto, disonantes con la experiencia consciente fenomenológica, Bohm y Biederman pugnaron por adecuar las epistemologías reinantes en la ciencia y el arte al realismo ontológico vivencial percibido por los seres humanos. Sus cartas están repletas de intuiciones metafísicas acerca de la conciencia, creatividad y libertad humanas. Este artículo recoge algunos de los pensamientos transcendentales más destacados de sus cartas publicadas y los expone ordenadamente en el contexto del marco epistemológico de cada autor, con discusiones personales que se desprenden de una lectura entre líneas.

•Mar 1, 2015•0 citations

Beyond relativity and quantum theory

David Böhm

OUR EDITOR caught up with physicist David Bohm for a few days at Bailey Farm, a “think-tank” for lawyers in New York state. Autumn was crisp in the air with golden leaves and agreeable conversation as they walked together through the local woods. Bohm was in the middle of writing several books simultaneously with a number of his colleagues on the brood implications of his view of quantum physics for current ideas in psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In this wide-ranging interview, Bohm talks for the first time about his early scientific development, his relations with Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, and his idealistic struggles to actualize heightened states of being within a creative community. He also talks about imagery, stress, and the difficult evolutionary struggle in which we are currently engaged to free our minds from the negative conditioning of the past and the conceptual blind alleys of the present. David Bohm takes us on a journey into the post-modern world, a cultural step beyond relativity and quantum theory.

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This is the story of David Bohm's hitherto unpublished notes, uncovered from a series of lectures given in Israel in 1957 to a group of Marxist physicists from the Hashomer Hatsair (young guard) movement. The notes explore quantum theory and dialectical materialism, as well as shedding light on the intellectual and emotional resources of his persistent rebellion against orthodoxies in science. The discussion places his lectures notes in a wider historical, scientific, and philosophical context and traces Bohm's intellectual development from an early attempt to better understand the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to his elaboration of an alternative causal interpretation based on the notion of "hidden variables." As the lecture notes strikingly illustrate, dialectical materialism played a fundamental role for the further development of his understanding of quantum mechanics. Bohm placed the notions of infinity of nature and the unity of opposites in the center of his natural philosophy, drawing from the works of Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The authors also examine Bohm's legacy in the history of quantum mechanics and his contribution to preparing the "second quantum revolution." Bohm's engagement with dialectical materialism and his role as a dissident to the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics were pivotal in bringing about the novel insights and technologies associated with this second quantum revolution. During the 1960s, Bohm developed a growing interest in the nature of consciousness and engaged with the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. In spite of a seemingly fundamental break with earlier philosophical positions, this new phase in Bohm's intellectual odyssey was not completely unrelated to his fascination with and deep understanding of Hegel's philosophy, which the lecture notes amply document for the first time.

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In 1951, David Bohm created a realistic interpretation of quantum theory.His theory stood in contradiction to the hegemonic standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, in which the quantum mechanical wave function describes a purely mathematical probability amplitude.Bohm's worldview, based on dialectical materialism, contributed substantially to the construction of new physical entities in his theory and led him to work intensively on the philosophy of science.His example shows that the ideology and political attitude of a physicist can play a major role in the construction of scientific theories and entities, with the important reservation that a change in social context was the necessary impulse for Bohm's work.

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The day I finished my schooling I said to a friend, 'That wasn’t an education that was an accumulation'. I felt at 18, that something vital was amiss in how society and culture were looking at life, and my education had been a reflection of that. So began a tortuous journey with the usual dead ends and “car crashes”. If it’s the travelling that matters not the arriving, an important point in my endless journey to make sense of my 37 years of life came in 1983 when I first encountered David Bohm. I had just started work as a physics teacher at Brockwood Park School where Bohm regularly visited to dialogue with the founder, J. Krishnamurti, and to talk to the school about his ideas on the processes of thought.

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Dialectical Materialism and Quantum Physics

Hanoch Gutfreund, Jürgen Renn

Abstract This book tells the story of Bohm’s hitherto unpublished lecture notes on quantum theory and dialectical materialism. It places his lecture notes in a wider historical, scientific, and philosophical context and traces Bohm’s intellectual development from an early attempt to better understand the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to his elaboration of an alternative causal interpretation based on the notion of “hidden variables.” As the lecture notes strikingly illustrate, dialectical materialism played a fundamental role in the further development of his understanding of quantum mechanics. Bohm placed the notions of the infinity of nature and the unity of opposites at the center of his natural philosophy, drawing from the works of Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The book also examines Bohm’s legacy in the history of quantum mechanics and his contribution to preparing the “second quantum revolution.” Bohm’s engagement with dialectical materialism and his role as a dissident from the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics were pivotal in bringing about the novel insights and technologies associated with this second quantum revolution. During the 1960s, Bohm developed a growing interest in the nature of consciousness and engaged with the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. But this new phase in Bohm’s intellectual odyssey was, in spite of a seemingly fundamental break with earlier philosophical positions, not completely unrelated to his fascination with, and deep understanding of, Hegel’s philosophy, which the lecture notes amply document for the first time.

•Oct 3, 2025•1 citation
"It was sheer chance that I encountered David Bohm's writing in 1958 ... I knew nothing about him. What struck me about his work and prompted my initial letter was his underlying effort to seek for some larger sense of reality, which seemed a very humanized search." - Charles Biederman, from the foreword of the bookThis book marks the beginning of a four thousand page correspondence between Charles Biederman, founder of Constructivism in the 1930s, and David Bohm the prestigious physicist known for his interpretation of quantum theory. Available for the first time, we are given a rare opportunity to read through and engage in a remarkable transatlantic, intellectual discussion on art and science, creativity and theory.
La fluida correspondencia mantenida por el físico David Bohm y el artista Charles Biederman en la década de los sesenta sobre la naturaleza creativa de la conciencia humana esboza el origen de un nuevo paradigma epistemológico en la historia del pensamiento del siglo XX. En contra de las corrientes positivistas del sujeto y el objeto, disonantes con la experiencia consciente fenomenológica, Bohm y Biederman pugnaron por adecuar las epistemologías reinantes en la ciencia y el arte al realismo ontológico vivencial percibido por los seres humanos. Sus cartas están repletas de intuiciones metafísicas acerca de la conciencia, creatividad y libertad humanas. Este artículo recoge algunos de los pensamientos transcendentales más destacados de sus cartas publicadas y los expone ordenadamente en el contexto del marco epistemológico de cada autor, con discusiones personales que se desprenden de una lectura entre líneas.
OUR EDITOR caught up with physicist David Bohm for a few days at Bailey Farm, a “think-tank” for lawyers in New York state. Autumn was crisp in the air with golden leaves and agreeable conversation as they walked together through the local woods. Bohm was in the middle of writing several books simultaneously with a number of his colleagues on the brood implications of his view of quantum physics for current ideas in psychology, sociology, and philosophy. In this wide-ranging interview, Bohm talks for the first time about his early scientific development, his relations with Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, and his idealistic struggles to actualize heightened states of being within a creative community. He also talks about imagery, stress, and the difficult evolutionary struggle in which we are currently engaged to free our minds from the negative conditioning of the past and the conceptual blind alleys of the present. David Bohm takes us on a journey into the post-modern world, a cultural step beyond relativity and quantum theory.
This is the story of David Bohm's hitherto unpublished notes, uncovered from a series of lectures given in Israel in 1957 to a group of Marxist physicists from the Hashomer Hatsair (young guard) movement. The notes explore quantum theory and dialectical materialism, as well as shedding light on the intellectual and emotional resources of his persistent rebellion against orthodoxies in science. The discussion places his lectures notes in a wider historical, scientific, and philosophical context and traces Bohm's intellectual development from an early attempt to better understand the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to his elaboration of an alternative causal interpretation based on the notion of "hidden variables." As the lecture notes strikingly illustrate, dialectical materialism played a fundamental role for the further development of his understanding of quantum mechanics. Bohm placed the notions of infinity of nature and the unity of opposites in the center of his natural philosophy, drawing from the works of Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The authors also examine Bohm's legacy in the history of quantum mechanics and his contribution to preparing the "second quantum revolution." Bohm's engagement with dialectical materialism and his role as a dissident to the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics were pivotal in bringing about the novel insights and technologies associated with this second quantum revolution. During the 1960s, Bohm developed a growing interest in the nature of consciousness and engaged with the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. In spite of a seemingly fundamental break with earlier philosophical positions, this new phase in Bohm's intellectual odyssey was not completely unrelated to his fascination with and deep understanding of Hegel's philosophy, which the lecture notes amply document for the first time.
In 1951, David Bohm created a realistic interpretation of quantum theory.His theory stood in contradiction to the hegemonic standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, in which the quantum mechanical wave function describes a purely mathematical probability amplitude.Bohm's worldview, based on dialectical materialism, contributed substantially to the construction of new physical entities in his theory and led him to work intensively on the philosophy of science.His example shows that the ideology and political attitude of a physicist can play a major role in the construction of scientific theories and entities, with the important reservation that a change in social context was the necessary impulse for Bohm's work.
The day I finished my schooling I said to a friend, 'That wasn’t an education that was an accumulation'. I felt at 18, that something vital was amiss in how society and culture were looking at life, and my education had been a reflection of that. So began a tortuous journey with the usual dead ends and “car crashes”. If it’s the travelling that matters not the arriving, an important point in my endless journey to make sense of my 37 years of life came in 1983 when I first encountered David Bohm. I had just started work as a physics teacher at Brockwood Park School where Bohm regularly visited to dialogue with the founder, J. Krishnamurti, and to talk to the school about his ideas on the processes of thought.
Abstract This book tells the story of Bohm’s hitherto unpublished lecture notes on quantum theory and dialectical materialism. It places his lecture notes in a wider historical, scientific, and philosophical context and traces Bohm’s intellectual development from an early attempt to better understand the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics to his elaboration of an alternative causal interpretation based on the notion of “hidden variables.” As the lecture notes strikingly illustrate, dialectical materialism played a fundamental role in the further development of his understanding of quantum mechanics. Bohm placed the notions of the infinity of nature and the unity of opposites at the center of his natural philosophy, drawing from the works of Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Lenin. The book also examines Bohm’s legacy in the history of quantum mechanics and his contribution to preparing the “second quantum revolution.” Bohm’s engagement with dialectical materialism and his role as a dissident from the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics were pivotal in bringing about the novel insights and technologies associated with this second quantum revolution. During the 1960s, Bohm developed a growing interest in the nature of consciousness and engaged with the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. But this new phase in Bohm’s intellectual odyssey was, in spite of a seemingly fundamental break with earlier philosophical positions, not completely unrelated to his fascination with, and deep understanding of, Hegel’s philosophy, which the lecture notes amply document for the first time.