Concept of quantum entanglement, its role in physics, philosophy, and in updating general worldview are studied in this article. It is pointed out that Schrodinger introduced this concept and some derivatives from it into description of physical reality in the 1935 article in the context of discussion around the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment, but in the related 1936 publication he did not use them. Taking into account the concepts of a mixture and statistical operator, which were introduced by von Neumann and borrowed by Schrödinger, it is shown that the concept of entanglement is not necessary in quantum mechanics unconditionally. At a certain moment of development of the complex quantum systems theory, this concept and its derivatives served as not very successful substitutes for the concepts of a mixture, situation of a mixture. Comparative analysis of some Schrödinger’s, von Neumann’s, and Landau’s theoretical works concludes that imagination of a complex quantum system as a quasi-mechanical aggregate was gradually being overcome; its objective wholeness was being substantiated instead. Therefore, wholeness is inherent not only to quantum phenomena, but also to quantum systems by itself, objectively. By the essence, just the attempt to think this circumstance had brought into life the concept of quantum entanglement. The concept of a mixture and its substitutes – the concepts of entangled state, entanglement, etc. – have not only the scientific but some metaphysical meaning as well: they prove the possibility of rational thinking of wholeness, the reasonableness and effectiveness of rational holism. Therefore, the metaphysics of quantum entanglement in its correct understanding is a manifestation of the rational holism metaphysics. Complete explanation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment requires consideration of both these appearances of the quantum wholeness. One can say the essential result of long-term discussion of the EPR experiment is the exhaustive recognition of the quantum reality wholeness. A row of generalizations achieved by A. Alexandrov, I. Tsekhmistro, and D.Bohm are considered. Together with the completed study of the concept of quantum entanglement or Bohr's substantiation of the concept of undivided quantum phenomenon, they support irreducibility of physical reality, the Universe in general to any set of Democritian atoms and their countless combinations, aggregates. All this enriches and improves the understanding of the Universe as a real wholeness. Perhaps, this understanding will be newest substitution for the hitherto popular worldview in the spirit of Democritus.
Concept of quantum entanglement, its role in physics, philosophy, and in updating general worldview are studied in this article. It is pointed out that Schrodinger introduced this concept and some derivatives from it into description of physical reality in the 1935 article in the context of discussion around the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment, but in the related 1936 publication he did not use them. Taking into account the concepts of a mixture and statistical operator, which were introduced by von Neumann and borrowed by Schrödinger, it is shown that the concept of entanglement is not necessary in quantum mechanics unconditionally. At a certain moment of development of the complex quantum systems theory, this concept and its derivatives served as not very successful substitutes for the concepts of a mixture, situation of a mixture. Comparative analysis of some Schrödinger’s, von Neumann’s, and Landau’s theoretical works concludes that imagination of a complex quantum system as a quasi-mechanical aggregate was gradually being overcome; its objective wholeness was being substantiated instead. Therefore, wholeness is inherent not only to quantum phenomena, but also to quantum systems by itself, objectively. By the essence, just the attempt to think this circumstance had brought into life the concept of quantum entanglement. The concept of a mixture and its substitutes – the concepts of entangled state, entanglement, etc. – have not only the scientific but some metaphysical meaning as well: they prove the possibility of rational thinking of wholeness, the reasonableness and effectiveness of rational holism. Therefore, the metaphysics of quantum entanglement in its correct understanding is a manifestation of the rational holism metaphysics. Complete explanation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment requires consideration of both these appearances of the quantum wholeness. One can say the essential result of long-term discussion of the EPR experiment is the exhaustive recognition of the quantum reality wholeness. A row of generalizations achieved by A. Alexandrov, I. Tsekhmistro, and D.Bohm are considered. Together with the completed study of the concept of quantum entanglement or Bohr's substantiation of the concept of undivided quantum phenomenon, they support irreducibility of physical reality, the Universe in general to any set of Democritian atoms and their countless combinations, aggregates. All this enriches and improves the understanding of the Universe as a real wholeness. Perhaps, this understanding will be newest substitution for the hitherto popular worldview in the spirit of Democritus.
Genesis of concept of quantum entanglement is explored in context of the controversy regarding the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment and, more broadly, the debate about the completeness of quantum mechanics. Taking into account the concepts of mixture and statistical operator, which were introduced by von Neumann and borrowed by Schrödinger, it is argued that the concept of entanglement is not necessary in quantum physics. The in-depth comparative analysis of some Schrödinger’s, von Neumann’s, and Landau’s theoretical works concludes that presentation of a complex quantum system as a quasi-mechanical aggregate was gradually being overcome. Its objective wholeness was being substantiated. Therefore, wholeness is inherent not only to quantum phenomena, but also to quantum systems themselves. Complete explanation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment requires consideration of both these appearances of the quantum wholeness. Therefore, main result of the long-term discussion of the EPR thought experiment is the exhaustive recognition of wholeness of quantum reality. Study of "the rise and fall" of the quantum entanglement concept, as well as Bohr's substantiation of the concept of wholeness of phenomenon, confirm irreducibility of the Universe to a set of Democritus' atoms and their combinations, aggregates. Moreover, all these enrich picture of the Universe as an undivided wholeness, which is revolutionary replacement for the still popular worldview in the spirit of Democritus. Analysis of contemporary use of the concept of entanglement finds out that, on the one hand, it grasps undividedness, wholeness of complex quantum systems of various kinds and, thus, is an instrument of rational holism. However, on the other hand, the concept of entanglement was call into life within the framework of imagining quantum systems as quasi-classical aggregates. Until now, this results in a shallow everyday-descriptive understanding of it, in principally limited attempts to model or think holistic systems as a set of separate objects, albeit in any entangled states.
Idea of quantum entanglement is discussed in the context of debate about the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen thought experiment and some theoretical studies of quantum systems. It is noted that Schrödinger invented this idea in 1935 in order to fix some features of the quantum-mechanical description of two systems with temporary interaction. However, he did not grasp essence of these features really. In view of the concepts of mixture and statistical operator proposed by von Neumann and adopted by Schrödinger in 1936, it is argued that the idea of entanglement and related terminology are not necessary in quantum mechanics. One can use this idea and terms "entanglement" etc. as "visual" surrogates for the "mixture – statistical operator" pair. Deeper comparative analysis of several theoretical works by Schrödinger, von Neumann, and Landau showed that the modeling of non-trivial complex quantum systems as quasi-classical aggregates has been gradually overcome. Instead, wholeness of such quantum systems was actually recognized step by step. Thus, wholeness is immanent not only to quantum phenomena, as Niels Bohr had argued, but also to the quantum systems themselves, objectively. The pair "mixture – statistical operator" and especially the pair "mixed state – density matrix" similar to it appear to be adequate tools to comprehend and describe wholeness of diverse quantum reality. It is insisted, it is advisable to understand the surrogate idea of entanglement and relevant terminology in the same sense. In mature quantum paradigm, they are possible but not necessary theoretical tools to grasp wholeness of reality. Respectively, acceptable understanding of quantum entanglement must be based on recognition of quantum wholeness. Philosophically speaking, the idea of entanglement is understandable and conditionally acceptable in the view of contemporary rational holism, or holistic rationality. The clarified understanding of quantum entanglement, as well as Bohr's substantiation of wholeness of quantum phenomena, demonstrates irreducibility of the Universe to any quasi-classical aggregate. Moreover, all this supports the view of the Universe as real wholeness, which rational holism intends to grasp. It is concluded, further development and regular implementation of rational holism have the undoubted potential for revolutionary replacement of the hitherto widespread worldview in the spirit of Democritus and pure analytical methodology of knowledge.
How it all began In 1935, a decade after the invention of quantum theory by Heisenberg (1925) and Schrödinger (1926), three papers appeared, setting the stage for a new concept, quantum entanglement. The previous decade had already seen momentous discussions on the meaning of the new theory, for example by Niels Bohr (see his contribution to Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist in Further reading); but these new papers opened up the gates for a new, very deep philosophical debate about the nature of reality, about the role of knowledge, and about their relation. Since the 1970s, it has become possible for experimenters to observe entanglement directly in the laboratory and thus test the counter-intuitive predictions of quantum mechanics whose confirmation today is beyond reasonable doubt. Since the 1990s, the conceptual and experimental developments have led to new concepts in information technology, including such topics as quantum cryptography, quantum teleportation, and quantum computation, in which entanglement plays a key role. In the first of the three papers, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) realized that, if two particles had interacted in their past, their properties will remain connected in the future in a novel way, namely, observation on one determines the quantum state of the other, no matter how far away. Their conclusion was that quantum mechanics is incomplete and they expressed their belief that a more complete theory may be found. Niels Bohr replied that the two systems may never be considered independent of each other, and observation on one changes the possible predictions on the other. Finally, Erwin Schrödinger, in the paper which also proposed his famous cat paradox, coined the term “entanglement” (in German Verschränkung ) for the new situation and he called it “not one, but the essential trait of the new theory, the one which forces a complete departure from all classical concepts.”
This article presents a general discussion of several aspects of our present understanding of quantum mechanics. The emphasis is put on the very special correlations that this theory makes possible: They are forbidden by very general arguments based on realism and local causality. In fact, these correlations are completely impossible in any circumstance, except for very special situations designed by physicists especially to observe these purely quantum effects. Another general point that is emphasized is the necessity for the theory to predict the emergence of a single result in a single realization of an experiment. For this purpose, orthodox quantum mechanics introduces a special postulate: the reduction of the state vector, which comes in addition to the Schrödinger evolution postulate. Nevertheless, the presence in parallel of two evolution processes of the same object (the state vector) may be a potential source for conflicts; various attitudes that are possible to avoid this problem are discussed in this text. After a brief historical introduction, recalling how the very special status of the state vector has emerged in quantum mechanics, various conceptual difficulties are introduced and discussed. The Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) theorem is presented with the help of a botanical parable, in a way that emphasizes how deeply the EPR reasoning is rooted into what is often called “scientific method.” In another section the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger argument, the Hardy impossibilities, as well as the Bell–Kochen–Specker theorem are introduced in simple terms. The final two sections attempt to give a summary of the present situation: One section discusses nonlocality and entanglement as we see it presently, with brief mention of recent experiments; the last section contains a (nonexhaustive) list of various attitudes that are found among physicists, and that are helpful to alleviate the conceptual difficulties of quantum mechanics.
The “spooky action at a distance” and consequently quantum entanglement of physical systems/particles has been debated ever since the famous paper of Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen-EPR Paradox (Einstein et al., 1935). In spite of being considered of highly controversial, there has been a considerable amount of work so far addressing the issue and many scientifically successful experiments were recently carried out proving that the entanglement is a physical reality (Horodecki et al., 2009). The influence of quantum mechanics and entanglement has been far from the imagination of most scientists, eventually reaching to the ultimate concept of consciousness/mind. The entanglement theory, its connection to the consciousness/mind and finally the entanglement theory of consciousness/mind therefore demands pure scientific interest. In order to maintain the requirements, the present work firstly summarizes the quantum entanglement theory together with its relations with Bell’s inequality and finally describes an “entanglement model of consciousness/mind”.
Metaphysics, as discipline dealing with the most fundamental aspects of reality, studies the essence of entities, leaving to particular sciences the study of empirical, specific, changeable and unstable aspects. In this sense metaphysics is close to ontology, tackling problems as the existence of God, the being in himself, the immortality of consciousness, the origin and meaning of the universe. Speculative physics pushes its interest to metaphysical questions too, both at atechnical (mathematical) level, and at the level of thought (in relation to philosophy). In recentyears interesting concepts and ideas have been considered and developed, involving the latest unified quantum-relativistic theories and the consequences on reality deriving from them.The search for a meaning of life, one of Anscombe’s themes, finds ferment in the search for meaning about the existence of our universe in itself and as a possible part of a multiverse containing it.The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics appears from the application of themathematical formalism to macroscopic situations and the central position of the observer in this process has produced a deviation towards a metaphysical subjectivism. There are controversial aspects about the role of consciousness in the process of reducing the wave function of quantum mechanics. This narrows the field of validity of some fundamental principles during the interaction between microsystems and macrosystems, with consequent diversification of thedefinition of the ontological state of consciousness and reality. (Local) holism has often been linked to Wittgenstein. From Wittgenstein’s answers to the paradoxes of communication and conceptual relativism, a tension emerges in his vision of linguistic games and in his mental experiments, traditionally interpreted in contrasting ways. This tension can be better understoodthrough some reflections by Wittgenstein on Einstein and his theory of relativity.