Quantum Monadology

Hisham Sati, Urs Schreiber

Teruaki Nakagomi

This is an introduction to quantum monadology. First, questions and observations are presented that would lead us to the idea of quantum monadology. Then, the world where we live is pictured as a monadistic system in a series of short but condensed statements without mathematics. You can find here the essence of quantum monadology.

Beloslav Riečan, Tibor Neubrunn

Jane McDonnell

In this thesis I argue that many problems in the philosophy of science and mathematics (in particular, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in physics) can only be addressed within a broader metaphysical framework which provides a coherent world view. I attempt to develop such a framework and draw out its consequences. The attempt is in two parts: first, I develop a speculative framework based on an analogy to set theory; then I combine elements of the framework with ideas from Leibnizian monadology and consistent histories quantum theory to introduce (what I call) quantum monadology. The two parts focus on different aspects of the problem and should be viewed as stages on the way to a final formulation. The inspiration for the thesis came from Plato’s Timaeus and Wigner’s comments on quantum mechanics. As it turned out, Leibniz’s Monadology became a third key source.

María Luisa Dalla Chiara, Roberto Giuntini

Ramona Ardelean

The scientific paradigm which I rely upon in the framework of this article is quantum mechanics, whose “cognitive revolution” consisted of replacing the classical principle of separability with the principle of nonseparability or global intercorrelation. According to this intercorrelation, highlighted at the subatomic level, the part cannot be separated from the whole, because every part has a global and instantaneous connection with the whole universe. For this reason the foundation of the world cannot be the part (elementary particles), but the whole, which is therefore logically and ontologically prior to the part, i.e., self-consistent. Consequently, the principle of global intercorrelation elucidates and validates some of the oldest philosophical problems and intuitions about the unity or self-consistency of the world. An example in this sense is the bootstrap theory of American physicist Geoffrey Chew, which presents such striking similarities to the metaphysical system of Leibniz's Monadology that the two intertwine and mirror each other, like twin souls, to the extent that it could be stated that if Chew’s bootstrap theory represents the explanatory physical level of Leibniz’s metaphysics, then, analogously, Leibniz’s Monadology represents the explanatory metaphysical level of Chew’s physics.