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A dissolução da realidade: da física clássica à física quântica e o papel fundamental da probabilidade nas ciências sociais de acordo com Giorgio Agamben

Sally Barcelos Melo

Published Nov 26, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This essay aims to present the philosophical and investigative path followed by Giorgio Agamben regarding the question What is Real? (2016) in the eponymous work. The essay examines the paradigmatic dissolution of reality, from the deterministic perception of classical physics to the probabilistic conception of quantum physics, in light of the analogy proposed by the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana between the statistical laws of physics and the statistical laws of the social sciences, as well as the foundational critiques of Simone Weil on quantum physics. Agamben then establishes his own reflections on the problem of what is real, drawing from Weil’s insights on the intrinsic connection between necessity and probability, which enables decision-making in situations of uncertainty. Agamben further explores probability theory, using the historical example of Pascal’s "interrupted game" to illustrate how probability influences decision-making.

DOI
10.26512/rfmc.v12i1.53178

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This essay aims to present the philosophical and investigative path followed by Giorgio Agamben regarding the question What is Real? (2016) in the eponymous work. The essay examines the paradigmatic dissolution of reality, from the deterministic perception of classical physics to the probabilistic conception of quantum physics, in light of the analogy proposed by the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana between the statistical laws of physics and the statistical laws of the social sciences, as well as the foundational critiques of Simone Weil on quantum physics. Agamben then establishes his own reflections on the problem of what is real, drawing from Weil’s insights on the intrinsic connection between necessity and probability, which enables decision-making in situations of uncertainty. Agamben further explores probability theory, using the historical example of Pascal’s "interrupted game" to illustrate how probability influences decision-making.
This article was found by Majorana’s brother among Ettore Majorana’s files and was published in 1942 after Majorana’s disappearance in the international Italian journal Scientia. It is a rather special article in several respects. It was intended to present the point of view of a physicist about the value of statistical laws in physics and social sciences to scholars of a broad spectrum of different disciplines such as sociology and economics. It also considers philosophical aspects related to the nature and value of deterministic and statistical laws in science. In his article, Majorana considers quantum mechanics as an irreducible statistical theory because the theory is not able to describe the time evolution of a single particle or atom in a controlled environment at a deterministic level. He concludes that quantum mechanics suggests that there is an “essential analogy between physics and the social sciences, between which an identity of value and method has turned out”. By analyzing the messages of this paper we conclude that Majorana deserves a great tribute not only for his exceptional achievements in theoretical physics but also for his fresh and original views on the importance and role of statistical laws in physics and in other disciplines such as the social sciences.
There is one way with which Nature responds to the questions we direct her about the correctness of our understanding of her ways: by means of experiments. In this paper, the pivotal role probability theory plays in experimental physics is presented: it allows us to combine observations that are seemingly analytically incompatible. The main concepts used for such task are introduced and explained. A brief historical sketch of the development of some of such concepts is drawn and it was used as a case-study to defend the position that physics and philosophy are interlinked affairs. Some philosophical consequences of how the intrinsically probabilistic character of experimentation reverberates in our epistemic access of the world are also drawn. ***Probabilidades em Física Experimental: Lições Epistêmicas e Desafios***É por meio de experimentos que a Natureza responde às questões que a ela direcionamos sobre a adequação de nosso entendimento sobre seu funcionamento. O papel central que a teoria de probabilidades desempenha em física experimental é, neste artigo, apresentada: esta nos permite combinar observações que parecem, em uma primeira leitura, incompatíveis. Os conceitos principais utilizados para fazê-lo são introduzidos e explicados. Uma breve discussão histórica do desenvolvimento de alguns dos mencionados conceitos é indicada e utilizada como estudo de caso para dar suporte à posição que defende que física e filosofia são atividades entrelaçadas. Algumas consequências filosóficas acerca das implicações do caráter intrinsecamente probabilístico da experimentação para o nosso acesso epistêmico do mundo são, também, apresentadas.
This article was found by Majorana's brother among Ettore Majorana's files and was published in 1942 after Majorana's disappearance in the international Italian journal Scientia.It is a rather special article in several respects.It was intended to present the point of view of a physicist about the value of statistical laws in physics and social sciences to scholars of a broad spectrum of different disciplines such as sociology and economics.It also considers philosophical aspects related to the nature and value of deterministic and statistical laws in science.In his article, Majorana considers quantum mechanics as an irreducible statistical theory because the theory is not able to describe the time evolution of a single particle or atom in a controlled environment at a deterministic level.He concludes that quantum mechanics suggests that there is an "essential analogy between physics and the social sciences, between which an identity of value and method has turned out".By analyzing the messages of this paper we conclude that Majorana deserves a great tribute not only for his exceptional achievements in theoretical physics but also for his fresh and original views on the importance and role of statistical laws in physics and in other disciplines such as the social sciences.
This essay proposes fundamental ontological clarification within contemporary debates on quantum physics: the rigorous distinction between probability as a regime of prediction and the real as material dynamics. Against the widespread view according to which quantum indeterminacy would imply a vague, unstable, or “merely statistical” reality, the text argues that probability belongs to the epistemic plane of knowledge and anticipation, not to the ontological plane of what exists. Quantum physics does not describe an ontologically fluctuating world, but a world whose symbolic access is structurally limited. On this basis, the essay examines the role of Born’s statistical interpretation, decoherence theory, Bell’s theorems, and the Pusey–Barrett–Rudolph result, showing how these impose formal costs on any ontology that conflates formalism and reality. In critical dialogue with QBist, relational, and agential-realist approaches, the text develops a conception of concretion grounded in the notion of mark: the concrete emerges when a material interaction is irreversibly inscribed in a physical support. Stability, far from meaning fixity, is understood as emergent robustness—movement in regime—sufficient to sustain practices, techniques, and historical continuity. The essay concludes by arguing that quantum physics, rather than dissolving the real, demands a more exacting ontology capable of distinguishing precisely between the real, the concrete, and theory.
This year is the centenary of the birth of Ettore Majorana, one of the major Italian physicists of all times. In this note we briefly sketch a few biographical details about Ettore Majorana and introduce and discuss the main points of Majorana's 10th article. In his article Majorana explicitly considers quantum mechanics as an irreducible statistical theory because the theory is not able to describe the time evolution of a single particle or atom in a precise environment at a deterministic level. This lack of determinism at the level of an elementary physical system motivated him to suggest a formal analogy between statistical laws observed in physics and in the social sciences. We hope the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Ettore Majorana will be useful to remember and to reconsider not only his exceptional achievements in theoretical physics but also his fresh and original views on the role of statistical laws in physics and in other disciplines such as the social sciences.