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HOPOS The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science

What Can Wheeler Tell Us About the Bohr–Høffding Relationship?

Jan Faye, Stefano Furlan, Rasmus Jaksland

Published Aug 25, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

John Wheeler tells us that Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg met with the Danish philosopher Harald Høffding in the summer of 1927 to discuss the philosophy of quantum mechanics—following the disagreement between Bohr and Heisenberg about the uncertainty relations and right before Bohr’s introduction of his complementarity interpretation of quantum mechanics in Como, Italy, in September 1927. Is this evidence that Høffding had an even greater influence on the early development and interpretation of quantum mechanics than hitherto believed? We trace the historical sources of the story, which Wheeler first heard from Casimir, who apparently was present when the episode took place. We argue that the episode cannot have taken place earlier than 1929 and propose an event in November 1929 as its likely origin. What remains true is that Bohr, Casimir, and Høffding did meet, but the meeting is less remarkable than in Wheeler’s retelling. Nonetheless, Casimir’s role in the story adds new evidence for Høffding’s influence on Bohr. Heisenberg presence, though, is entirely of Wheeler’s invention. We use this rendering to illustrate how Wheeler operated as a storyteller of quantum mechanics from the 1980s to his death.

DOI
10.1086/738332

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John Wheeler tells us that Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg met with the Danish philosopher Harald Høffding in the summer of 1927 to discuss the philosophy of quantum mechanics—following the disagreement between Bohr and Heisenberg about the uncertainty relations and right before Bohr’s introduction of his complementarity interpretation of quantum mechanics in Como, Italy, in September 1927. Is this evidence that Høffding had an even greater influence on the early development and interpretation of quantum mechanics than hitherto believed? We trace the historical sources of the story, which Wheeler first heard from Casimir, who apparently was present when the episode took place. We argue that the episode cannot have taken place earlier than 1929 and propose an event in November 1929 as its likely origin. What remains true is that Bohr, Casimir, and Høffding did meet, but the meeting is less remarkable than in Wheeler’s retelling. Nonetheless, Casimir’s role in the story adds new evidence for Høffding’s influence on Bohr. Heisenberg presence, though, is entirely of Wheeler’s invention. We use this rendering to illustrate how Wheeler operated as a storyteller of quantum mechanics from the 1980s to his death.
Of all the many rival interpretations of quantum mechanics, none is more important or influential than the Copenhagen interpretation. Unfortunately, there is no one Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. If one uses the expression, and everyone does, one should not think of the Copenhagen interpretation as a single consistent interpretation of the theory. Philosophers of physics tend to use the expression ‘the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics’ as a label covering a variety of different interpretations all of which either originate with Niels Bohr or were invented by him, his colleagues and guests at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen beginning in the middle 1920s. Perhaps one should say that the Copenhagen interpretation in this diffuse sense goes back farther than this, back even before the rise of the new quantum mechanics. Heisenberg tells the story of a boat trip he, Bohr, and some friends took from Copenhagen to the island of Fyn around the time when the then new quantum mechanics was being developed. Bohr, ‘full of the new interpretation of quantum theory’, talked of ‘the difficulties of language, of the limitations of all our means of expressing ourselves’ and of how these limitations had been expressed ‘in the foundation of atomic theory in a mathematically lucid way’. ‘Finally,’ Heisenberg ends the story, ‘one of the friends remarked drily, “But, Niels, this is not really new, you said exactly the same ten years ago”
The article focuses on the misleading story of the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. The interpretation was allegedly created as unitary or consistent and shared by its founders in 1927 by virtue of the so-called Copenhagen spirit of quantum theory. The paper is based on the role which two leading figures, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, played in this story. The first part of the article introduces variations of what is considered to be Copenhagen interpretation. The second part reveals that while quantum mechanics had originated in the 1920s, the Copenhagen interpretation was mainly a problematic Heisenbergʼs product of the 1950s. One of his main motivations for the introduction of Copenhagen interpretation was to set up a defence against increasing criticism of the supporters of quantum theory. Since there was no unitary or consistent interpretation of quantum mechanics among members of the so-called Copenhagen school, the last part of the paper focuses on several differences primarily between Bohr and Heisenberg’s interpretation.
I: Hoffding as Mentor.- I.- 1. Harald Hoffding, His Life and Thought.- 2. Hoffding and Bohr Senior.- II.- 1. The Ekliptika Circle.- 2. Bohr and William James.- 3. Bohr and Kierkegaard.- 4. The Student Bohr on Formal Logic.- III.- 1. The Friendship.- 2. The Years Around 1927.- 3. Hoffding on Complementarity.- IV.- 1. Hoffding's Theory of Knowledge.- 2. Totality as a Category.- 3. Hoffding's Philosophy of Mind and Psychology of Free Will.- 4. Hoffding on Biology.- 5. Analogy and Scientific Progress.- II: Bohr and the Atomic Description of Nature.- V.- 1. The Principle of Correspondence.- 2. The Search for an Interpretation.- VI.- 1. Complementarity.- 2. Quantum Mechanics and Psychology.- 3. Bohr on Biology.- VII.- 1. The Objectivity of Knowledge.- 2. The EPR Discussion.- 3. The Conditions for Description.- VIII.- 1. Bohr and Realism.- 2. Hoffding on Reality.- 3. Objective Anti-Realism.- Epilogue: The Legacy.- Notes.
Niels Bohr and the Philosophy of Physics: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives examines the philosophical views, influences and legacy of the Nobel Prize physicist and philosophical spokesman of the quantum revolution, Niels Bohr. The sixteen contributions in this collection by some of the best contemporary philosophers and physicists writing on Bohr’s philosophy today all carefully distinguish his subtle and unique interpretation of quantum mechanics from views often imputed to him under the banner of the “Copenhagen Interpretation.” With respect to philosophical influences on Bohr’s outlook, the contributors analyse prominent similarities between his viewpoint and Kantian ways of thinking, the views of the Danish philosopher Harald Høffding, and themes characteristic of American pragmatism. In recognizing the importance of Bohr’s epistemological naturalism they examine his defence of the indispensability of classical concepts from a variety of different perspectives. This collection shows us that Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics, now nearly a century old, still has
Niels Bohr and Philosophy of Physics: Twenty-First Century Perspectives examines the philosophical views, influences and legacy of the Nobel Prize physicist and philosophical spokesman of the quantum revolution, Niels Bohr. The sixteen contributions in this collection by some of the best contemporary philosophers and physicists writing on Bohr's philosophy today all carefully distinguish his subtle and unique interpretation of quantum mechanics from views often imputed to him under the banner of the “Copenhagen Interpretation.” With respect to philosophical influences on Bohr's outlook, the contributors analyse prominent similarities between his viewpoint and Kantian ways of thinking, the views of the Danish philosopher Harald Høffding, and themes characteristic of American pragmatism. In recognizing the importance of Bohr's epistemological naturalism they examine his defence of the indispensability of classical concepts from a variety of different perspectives. This collection shows us that Bohr's interpretation of quantum mechanics, now nearly a century old, still has the power to shed light on a variety of issues that have arisen only since his lifetime, as well as decoherence theory and other non-collapse interpretations. Balancing historical themes with contemporary discussions, Niels Bohr and the Philosophy of Physics establishes Bohr's on-going contribution to the philosophy of physics and examines his place in the history of philosophy.