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Quantum Physics and Ordinary Language

T. Bergstein

Published Jan 1, 1972• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The part of ordinary language dealing with external phenomena is the primary means of description in scientific investigations where the principal objects are so large that they can easily be observed by the naked eye. Obvious examples are zoology, botany, and geology. But the more the observed phenomena differ from the occurrences of everyday life, the more ordinary language is replaced by scientific terminology. The shift of the central part of communication from ordinary language through specialized technical languages towards abstract mathematical meta-languages seems to be inherent in the scientific method itself. The primary objects for scientific examination must necessarily be directly observable and the point of departure must be the description afforded by ordinary language. But the idea of scientific experimentation is precisely to obtain an insight that transcends the mere verbal description of phenomena, and hence ordinary language alone cannot produce an adequate analysis of experimental recordings.

DOI
10.1007/978-1-349-02590-9_4

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The part of ordinary language dealing with external phenomena is the primary means of description in scientific investigations where the principal objects are so large that they can easily be observed by the naked eye. Obvious examples are zoology, botany, and geology. But the more the observed phenomena differ from the occurrences of everyday life, the more ordinary language is replaced by scientific terminology. The shift of the central part of communication from ordinary language through specialized technical languages towards abstract mathematical meta-languages seems to be inherent in the scientific method itself. The primary objects for scientific examination must necessarily be directly observable and the point of departure must be the description afforded by ordinary language. But the idea of scientific experimentation is precisely to obtain an insight that transcends the mere verbal description of phenomena, and hence ordinary language alone cannot produce an adequate analysis of experimental recordings.
From the preceding exposition it follows that not only physics but natural science as a whole is basically dependent on ordinary language. The complementarity of quantum physics displays the fundamental interdependence of observation and description of natural phenomena, and the very objectivity of natural science relies directly on the differentiation of experiences into external and private phenomena afforded by ordinary language. Because of the extreme smallness of the quantum of action the complementarity of physical phenomena is not experienced either in daily life or in classical physics. But the interdependence of observation and description of phenomena prevails as much in classical science as in quantum physics. The very aim of experimental investigation is to perform observations in those particular ways which make possible the communication of information sufficient for the reproduction of the observed phenomena. Concordantly the elementary physical variables, which are indispensable to any systematic analysis in natural science, are defined through reference to measuring arrangements constructed so as to be unambiguously describable in ordinary language. Thus no scientific formula, law, or result of measurement can be given objective significance independent of ordinary language. Through every hierarchy of descriptions in natural science ordinary language penetrates as the unambiguity of propositions.
Among philosophers in particular the principle of complementarity has been considered an unreasonable limitation of natural science, and Niels Bohr’s exposition of the inevitability of a statistical description when accounting for atomic phenomena has been regarded as a renouncement directly opposed to the very spirit of scientific investigation. Indeed, fundamental limitations in the range of applicability of the causal spacetime description of physical phenomena do exist, but quantum physics is precisely the generalization of the conceptual frame of classical physics which has converted these limitations into a springboard for investigations which are among the most fruitful in the history of science. Far from raising a barrier for scientific investigation, quantum physics has extended the scope of natural science to a degree that was unimaginable before its advent. Natural science now encompasses such different objects as the constituents of atoms, processes in remote galaxies, and psycho-chemical phenomena in man. Biochemistry and psychopharmacology, for instance, both rely on one of the most important results of quantum physics: the periodical system of the elements, which is fundamental to all modern chemistry. Furthermore atomic physics and chemistry are basic sciences for technology and thus contribute to the continuous development of instruments of observation for all branches of natural science.
Language has severally been viewed as a collection of words, phrases, and sentences. For some, it is a habit system, acquired accidentally and extrinsically. It is further regarded as a structure of forms and concepts based on a system of rules that determine their interrelations, arrangement, and organization. Language also has a relationship with the world and how we talk about the world. It is often likened to a tool, perhaps man’s most important one; more useful it seems than fire, the wheel, or atomic energy. However, language like any tool has its limitations. This limitation is very obvious in the discussions of the behavior of sub-atomic quantum particles of reality since the ordinary everyday language of this macro-world does not fit into the picture of the behavior of elementary particles of physics. This paper attempts to highlight the language difficulties inherent in the discussions of quantum reality from a philosophical perspective using such tools as criticism, analysis and speculation to justify the position that ordinary language is not enough to interpret and explain quantum reality.
Quantum theory has created a fundamental change in our ideas as relativity theory had done before. But while relativity theory is essentially classical in its conceptions—it is in fact the culmination of classical physics—quantum mechanics is founded on some new principles. The quantum laws are very different in character from the laws we find in classical theory. In particular, quantum mechanics is a strictly statistical type of theory : from this arises the different conception of causality that marks the new outlook of modern physics. Classical theory describes the so-called macroscopic phenomena, that is, things and events which are more or less of the same size and kind as we find them in ordinary life; and so a description can be given in terms of concepts close to the ones we use in ordinary language. The language of quantum mechanics is based upon a duality principle ; and most of our ordinary language is equally dualistic.
From the preceding exposition it follows that the quantum statistical representation of an individual atomic system does not imply any renunciation regarding further knowledge about the system. On the contrary the statistical character of quantum physics directly reflects the fundamental non-causal appearance of quantal recordings, and through the discovery of the complementarity of quantal phenomena a complete but necessarily statistical description of the atom has been accomplished. Furthermore quantum physics has afforded a statistical description of macroscopic bodies through their representation as assemblies of huge numbers of identical atomic systems, and, apart from accounting in a more fundamental way for the properties already described in classical physics(the correspondence principle, p. 36), quantum statistics explains several macroscopic phenomena which cannot be understood within the conceptual frame of classical physics only. It must be maintained, however, that when observing the properties of individual atomic objects the macroscopic observational apparatus cannot be represented in terms of atomic constituents because this would destroy the unambiguity of the description. The observational apparatus fulfils its basic function of being the spacetime frame of reference for the quantal recordings precisely through its description in classical physics alone. However, when refraining from the analysis of individual quantal processes it is possible to apply quantum statistics to macroscopic phenomena, that is, the causality of classical physical phenomena can be interpreted in the quantum formalism as the statistical result of the interplay of enormous numbers of atomic processes. It is possible, then, to talk of statistical causality as a fundamental aspect of physical reality.