Related papers: The Kantian Framework of Complementarity

In its most orthodox form, Bohr's Complementarity Principle states that a quanton (a quantum system consisting of a Boson or Fermion) can either behave as a particle or as wave, but never simultaneosuly as both. A less orthodox…

I argue that Immanuel Kant's critical philosophy -- in particular the doctrine of transcendental idealism which grounds it -- is best understood as an `epistemic' or `metaphilosophical' doctrine. As such it aims to show how one may engage…

The complementary wave and particle character of quantum objects (or quantons) was pointed out by Niels Bohr. This wave-particle duality, in the context of the two-slit experiment, is now described not just as two extreme cases of wave and…

The Bohr and von Neumann views on the measurement process in quantum mechanics have been interpreted for a long time in somewhat controversial terms, often leading to misconceptions. On the basis of some textual analysis, I would like to…

I distinguish two senses in which one can take a given physical theory to be `complete'. On the first, a complete physical theory is one that, in principle, completely describes physical reality. On the second, a complete physical theory is…

The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, which first took shape in Bohr's landmark 1928 paper on complementarity, remains an enigma. Although many physicists are skeptical about the necessity of Bohr's philosophical conclusions,…

Bohr's principle of complementarity, prohibiting simultaneous access to certain physical properties within a single experimental arrangement, is considered to be a defining feature of quantum mechanics. It is commonly viewed as inducing an…

It is argued that Niels Bohr ultimately arrived at positivistic and antirealist-flavored statements because of weaknesses in his initial objective of accounting for measurement in physical terms. Bohr's investigative approach faced a…

One of the fundamental problems with the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, according to Bohr, is the fact that "our usual description of physical phenomena is based entirely on the idea that the phenomena concerned may be observed…

The spectacular successes of quantum physics have made it a commonplace to assert that we live in a quantum world. This idea seems to imply a kind of "quantum fundamentalism" according to which everything in the universe (if not the…

Einstein's philosophy of physics (as clarified by Fine, Howard, and Held) was predicated on his Trennungsprinzip, a combination of separability and locality, without which he believed objectification, and thereby "physical thought" and…

It is argued that the conclusions obtained by Renninger (Zeitschrift fur Physik 136, 251 (1953)), by means of an interferometer thought experiment, have important implications for a number of still ongoing discussions about quantum…

We propose an operational definition of complementarity, pinning down the concept originally introduced by Bohr. Two properties of a system are considered complementary if they cannot be simultaneously well defined. We further show that,…

I flesh out the sense in which the informational approach to interpreting quantum mechanics, as defended by Pitowsky and Bub and lately by a number of other authors, is (neo-)Bohrian. I argue that on this approach, quantum mechanics…

I outline a neo-Bohrian interpretation of quantum mechanics -- a view of quantum mechanics that accords with the core insights in Bohr's thinking, with a twist that justifies the prefix `neo.' In a second part of the paper, I show how von…

After a summary of Bohr's views and their relation to Kant's theory of science, two fruitless lines of attack on the measurement problem are discussed: the way of the psi-ontologist and the way of the QBist. In the remainder of the paper…

Recent high-precision experimental confirmations of quantum complementarity have revitalized foundational debates about measurement, description, and realism. This article argues that complementarity is most productively interpreted as an…

Niels Bohr's doctrine of the primacy of "classical concepts" is arguably his most criticized and misunderstood view. We present a new, careful historical analysis that makes clear that Bohr's doctrine was primarily an epistemological…

In a recent preprint [1] Jeffrey Bub presents a discussion of neo-Bohrian interpretations of quantum mechanics, and also of von Neumann's work on infinite tensor products [2]. He rightfully writes that this work provides a theoretical…

The field of interpretation of quantum mechanics emerged in an attempt to solve the measurement problem. This turned on the perception that Niels Bohr avoided addressing the measurement problem by taking an instrumentalist view of quantum…