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Beyond the clouds and watches: the idea of science David Bohm and Ilya Prigogine

Rodrigo França Carvalho

Published Oct 27, 2015• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Our thesis consists in analyzing, based on theories of the American quantum physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) and the Russian physical chemist, naturalized Belgian, Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003), the science ideas of these two scientists, how they represent authentic scientific views, quite deviating from the prevailing view of science, and also how their concepts contribute to overcoming long dichotomies that have been present in the history of science since a long time, such as determinism-indeterminism antithesis. Through a critical biographical analysis, we present the main aspects of scientific research work of Bohm, his formulation of an alternative interpretation of quantum theory, which has ignited debates and controversies within the world of quanta, his several theoretical contributions, including the theory of plasma, the development of an innovative theory called implicit and explicit order and also his philosophical investigations. We also present and analyze the scientific way of Prigogine and his theoretical interest in non-equilibrium thermodynamics. We show the fundamentals of his theory of dissipative structures, his unique insight into the irreversible phenomena and the most significant implications of this new view of nature and science that led him to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977. Although several important differences between theoretical perspectives and Bohm and Prigogine approach, we noted some similar points that were quite significant, as a concept of science radically different from the prevailing idealized view. Among these similarities we have the search for a unity between man and nature, the importance given to the conception of science without dissociating it from the deepest philosophical questions and the concern about establishing more fruitful dialogues among areas of knowledge.

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Our thesis consists in analyzing, based on theories of the American quantum physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) and the Russian physical chemist, naturalized Belgian, Ilya Prigogine (1917-2003), the science ideas of these two scientists, how they represent authentic scientific views, quite deviating from the prevailing view of science, and also how their concepts contribute to overcoming long dichotomies that have been present in the history of science since a long time, such as determinism-indeterminism antithesis. Through a critical biographical analysis, we present the main aspects of scientific research work of Bohm, his formulation of an alternative interpretation of quantum theory, which has ignited debates and controversies within the world of quanta, his several theoretical contributions, including the theory of plasma, the development of an innovative theory called implicit and explicit order and also his philosophical investigations. We also present and analyze the scientific way of Prigogine and his theoretical interest in non-equilibrium thermodynamics. We show the fundamentals of his theory of dissipative structures, his unique insight into the irreversible phenomena and the most significant implications of this new view of nature and science that led him to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1977. Although several important differences between theoretical perspectives and Bohm and Prigogine approach, we noted some similar points that were quite significant, as a concept of science radically different from the prevailing idealized view. Among these similarities we have the search for a unity between man and nature, the importance given to the conception of science without dissociating it from the deepest philosophical questions and the concern about establishing more fruitful dialogues among areas of knowledge.
This thesis aims to explore the relationship between the science, the philosophy and the esoteric imagination of the American physicist David Bohm (1917-1992). Bohm is recognized as one of the most brilliant physicists of his generation. He is famous for his ‘hidden variables’ interpretation of quantum mechanics. Bohm wrote extensively on philosophical and psychological subjects. In his celebrated book Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1882) he introduced the influential ideas of the Explicate and the Implicate orders that are at the core of his process philosophy. Bohm was also a very close disciple of the Indian teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), whom he recognized to have had an important influence on his thought. Chapter 1 is a general explanation of what I intend to do, why my research is filling an important gap, introduce the field of Western esotericism as a scholarly subject and suggesting that it offers a fruitful way of approaching the thought of David Bohm. I also explain my research principles and a brief description of the philosophical standpoint from which I am approaching the material. Chapter 2 gives a description of the textual sources I used in my research. This is followed by a comprehensive literature review. Chapter 3 is a biographical essay where I give an account of Bohm’s life, career, works, major ideas and their development, stressing their significance for the development of Bohm’s holistic philosophy and his interactions with the esoteric. This chapter is an introduction to the main ideas of the dissertation. Chapter 4 revisits the genesis of the Causal Interpretation, Bohm’s first attempt to deal with the interpretation of quantum mechanics. I make emphasis on the philosophical developments that gave rise to it. I introduce all the relevant physics and give a detailed explanation of the problem of interpretation and Bohm’s first proposal. Chapter 5 is about the philosophical developments in Bohm’s thought brought by the Causal Interpretation. In particular I examine the influence that G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) had on Bohm’s thought and explain why I take the view that this is an esoteric influence. Chapter 6 reviews the developments in Bohm’s thought during the 1960’s. I describe Bohm’s search for radically new concepts in physics and his exchanges with several thinkers ending with his encounter with Jiddu Krishnamurti. Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to the study of Bohm’s philosophy as he elaborated it after 1960. Chapter 7 concentrates on the idea of the Implicate Order and it also studies the Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Bohm’s last version of his interpretation effort, which is based on the Implicate Order. In chapter 8 I examine Bohm’s theory of how the mind and the body are connected through a ladder of consciousness formed by a series of Explicate and Implicate Orders, and finishes with an exposition of Bohm’s dialogue technique. In the last chapter I summarize my conclusions. An appendix is included with a brief overview of Bohm’s legacy. All the relevant details about the esoteric currents that Bohm encountered during his life and that are required to understand our argument are introduced as they are needed throughout the main body of the text.
David Bohm was a major twentieth-century theoretical physicist. His scientific work concerned plasma and the foundations of quantum mechanics and, connected to his scientific work, Bohm was deeply interested in the philosophy of science and psychological studies. Bohm’s influence on psychology derived more from his philosophical writings than from his scientific works. This paper considers both of Bohm’s works while distinguishing them. This is further necessary because anyone intending to work on Bohm’s legacy needs to develop his un-consensual ideas further. This paper makes a brief and non-technical description of Bohm’s works in physics and his philosophical views, related to the idea of wholeness and the implicate order, which includes his incursions in psychology. It ends with some caveats about the better extension of his reflections.
This paper explores the theme “quantum approaches to consciousness” by considering the work of one of the pioneers in the field. The physicist David Bohm (1917-1992) not only made important contributions to quantum physics, but also had a long-term interest in interpreting the results of quantum physics and relativity in order to develop a general world view. His idea was further that living and mental processes could be understood in a new, scientifically and philosophically more coherent way in the context of such a new world view. This paper gives a brief overview of different – and sometimes contradictory - aspects of Bohm’s research programme, and evaluates how they can be used to give an account of topics of interest in contemporary consciousness studies, such as analogies between thought and quantum processes, the problem of mental causation, the mind-body problem and the problem of time consciousness.
It is a privilege to contribute to this volume honouring David Bohm. There is no need to enumerate his basic contributions to modern theoretical physics; these are well known to the scientific community. What IS however unique about David Bohm is his deep involvement in epistemological problems. In this perspective, there is probably no single concept more fundamental than time in its connection with cosmology. As Karl Popper beautifully writes 1: 'There is at least one philosophic problem in which all thinking men are interested. It is the problem of cosmology: the problem of understanding the world - including ourselves, and our knowledge, as part of the world.'
The radical redefinition of the landscape of physics that followed the contributions of Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg at the start of the 20th century led to plethora [of] new perspectives on age-old metaphysical questions on determinism and the nature of reality. The main contention of this article is that the work of Gilbert Simondon - whose magnum opus possesses a scope uniting the most basic philosophical concerns with the (then) most recent breakthroughs in natural sciences - is highly relevant for an adequate understanding of the split between determinism and indeterminism, as well as the underlying presuppositions which have driven some influential contributions to this topic. To this end, the article shows that the more deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics offered by David Bohm and Louis de Broglie proves to be a valuable reference point for a more precise use and understanding of Simondon?s transductive logic - especially when its philosophical lapses are considered closely. Finally, following the considerations of both thinkers, we aim at a more precise reconsideration of the stakes of indeterminism in modern physics, as well as a restructuration of what is often understood as a polarization.
Although David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics is sometimes thought to be a kind of regression towards classical thinking, it is in fact an extremely radical metaphysics of nature. The view goes far beyond the familiar but perennially peculiar non-locality and entanglement of quantum systems. In this paper, a philosophical exploration, I examine three core features of Bohm's metaphysical views, which have been both supported by features of quantum mechanics and integrated into a comprehensive system. These are the holistic nature of the world, the role of a unique kind of information as the ontological basis of the world, and the integration of mentality into this basis as an essential and irreducible aspect of it.