English

Bohr's Relational Holism and the classical-quantum Interaction

Quantum Physics 2016-08-02 v1 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

In this paper I present and critically discuss the main strategies that Bohr used and could have used to fend off the charge that his interpretation does not provide a clear-cut distinction between the classical and the quantum domain. In particular, in the first part of the paper I reassess the main arguments used by Bohr to advocate the indispensability of a classical framework to refer to quantum phenomena. In this respect, by using a distinction coming from an apparently unrelated philosophical corner, we could say that Bohr is not a revisionist philosopher of physics but rather a descriptivist one in the sense of Strawson. I will then go on discussing the nature of the holistic link between classical measurement apparatuses and observed system that he also advocated. The oft-repeated conclusion that Bohr's interpretation of the quantum formalism is untenable can only be established by giving his arguments as much force as possible, which is what I will try to do in the following by remaining as faithful as possible to his published work.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.00205,
  title  = {Bohr's Relational Holism and the classical-quantum Interaction},
  author = {Mauro Dorato},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.00205},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:08:33.628Z