International Studies in the Philosophy of Science

Schlick and Popper on Causality and Quantum Physics: Origins and Perspectives of the Debate

Manuel Cruz Ortiz de Landázuri

Published Jul 2, 2024• 0 citations

Abstract

In this article I will focus on the debate on the causality principle that originated in the light of quantum mechanics concerning Moritz Schlick and Karl Popper. The discovery of quantum mechanics led to a broad debate on the interpretation of the principle of causality. Schlick proposed that it should be understood as an empirically verifiable postulate, and therefore with limits regarding causal indeterminacy in quantum physics. This approach had an influence on some scientists, especially Werner Heisenberg. However, Popper would develop a different way of understanding science because of the role played by unverifiable elements in theories that can nevertheless be falsified. It is precisely the discussion around the principle of causality that opens up different ways of understanding science. I will first try to analyse Schlick’s argument in the context of the debate that was taking place in the late 1920s in the light of the new quantum mechanics; secondly, I will look at the reception that Schlick’s idea of causality had in Heisenberg and the Copenhagen Interpretation; thirdly, I will analyse Popper’s argument against Schlick’s interpretation; finally, I will try to see the resonances of this debate in Heisenberg and other physicists.

DOI: 10.1080/02698595.2024.2379742

Related papers

Heisenberg and the Problem of Causality

Manuel Cruz Ortiz de Landázuri

The discovery of quantum physics opened a broad debate on the epistemological status of the principle of causality. In this article, I analyze the problem of causality in Heisenberg by distinguishing two levels of philosophical explanation in his thought. As a philosopher of science, his understanding of causality is closely linked to Moritz Schlick, although he will later adopt a neo-Kantian view of the a priori. As a philosopher of nature, Heisenberg recovers the notion of potency to understand the wave function. My thesis is that this notion of potency could have allowed him to elaborate a realistic and nondeterministic theory of causality, but the identification of causality and determinism (in Schlick’s line) did not lead him to such a conclusion.

HOPOS The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of ScienceDec 16, 20240 citations

Anti Bohr — Quantum Theory and Causality

Internist. Horandstrasse, DE-26441 Jever, Germany, Ilija Barukčić

The political attitude and the ideology of a very small elite of physicists (Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and view other) played a major role in the construction of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics in the 1920s.Lastly, the hegemonic standard acausal Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics abandoned the principle of causality in quantum mechanics and opened a very wide door to mysticism, logical fallacies and wishful thinking in physics and in science as such.Historically, the Second International Congress for the Unity of Science (Copenhagen, June 21-26, 1936) tried to solve the problem of causality within physics but without a success.Thus far, 80 years after the Second International Congress for the Unity of Science this publication will expel Bohr's and Heisenberg's dogma of non-causality out of quantum mechanics and re-establish the unrestricted validity of the principle of causality at quantum level and under conditions of relativity theory by mathematizing the relationship between cause and effect in the form of the mathematical formula of the causal relationship k.In contrast to Bohr, Heisenberg and other representatives of the Copenhagen interpretation quantum mechanics, a realistic interpretation of quantum theory grounded on the unrestricted validity of the principle of causality will expel any kind of mysticism from physics and enable a quantization of the gravitational field too.

International Journal of Applied Physics and MathematicsJan 1, 201711 citations

Why Moritz Schlick’s View on Causality Is Rooted in a Specific Understanding of Quantum Mechanics

Richard Dawid

Moritz Schlick’s interpretation of the causality principle is based on his understanding of quantum mechanics and on his conviction that quantum mechanics strongly supports an empiricist reading of causation in his sense. The present chapter compares the empiricist position held by Schlick with Bas van Fraassen’s more recent conception of constructive empiricism. It is pointed out that the development of philosophy of science from Schlick’s understanding of logical empiricism to constructive empiricism reflects a difference between the understanding of quantum mechanics endorsed by Schlick and the understanding that had been established by the time of van Fraassen’s writing.

Routledge eBooksMar 2, 20210 citations

Moritz Schlick and Bas van Fraassen:Two Different Perspectives on Causality and Quantum Mechanics

Richard Dawid

Moritz Schlick’s interpretation of the causality principle is based on Schlick’s understanding of quantum mechanics and on his conviction that quantum mechanics strongly supports an empiricist reading of causation in his sense. The present paper compares the empiricist position held by Schlick with Bas van Fraassen’s more recent conception of constructive empiricism. It is pointed out that the development from Schlick’s understanding of logical empiricism to constructive empiricism reflects a difference between the understanding of quantum mechanics endorsed by Schlick and the understanding that had been established at the time of van Fraassen’s writing.

Jan 1, 20081 citation

A Historical Survey of Sir Karl Popper's Contribution to Quantum Mechanics

William M. Shields

Sir Karl Popper (1902-1994), though not trained as a physicist and embarrassed early in his career by a physics error pointed out by Einstein and Bohr, ultimately made substantial contributions to the interpretation of quantum mechanics. As was often the case, Popper initially formulated his position by criticizing the views of others - in this case Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Underlying Popper's criticism was his belief that, first, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics abandoned scientific realism and second, the assertion that quantum theory was complete (an assertion rejected by Einstein among others) amounted to an unfalsifiable claim. Popper insisted that the most basic predictions of quantum mechanics should continue to be tested, with an eye towards falsification rather than mere adding of decimal places to confirmatory experiments. His persistent attacks on the Copenhagen interpretation were aimed not at the uncertainty principle itself and the formalism from which it was derived, but at the acceptance by physicists of an unclear epistemology and ontology that left critical questions unanswered. Quanta 2012; 1: 1–12.

QuantaNov 15, 201210 citations

Karl Popper's Quantum Ghost

William M. Shields

Karl Popper, though not trained as a physicist and embarrassed early in his career by a physics error pointed out by Einstein and Bohr, ultimately made substantial contributions to the interpretation of quantum mechanics. As was often the case, Popper initially formulated his position by criticizing the views of others—in this case Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Underlying Popper’s criticism was his belief that, first, the “standard interpretation” of quantum mechanics, sometimes called the Copenhagen interpretation, abandoned scientific realism and second, the assertion that quantum theory was “complete” (an assertion rejected by Einstein among others) amounted to an unfalsifiable claim. Popper insisted that the most basic predictions of quantum mechanics should continue to be tested, with an eye towards falsification rather than mere adding of decimal places to confirm atory experiments. His persistent attacks on the Copenhagen interpretation were aimed not at the uncertainty principle itself and the formalism from which it was derived, but at the acceptance by physicists of an unclear epistemology and ontology that left critical questions unanswered.

APSMay 1, 20040 citations