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How Italian Philosophy Reacted to the Advent of Quantum Mechanics in the Thirties

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The Nature of Quantum Paradoxes

Part of the book series: Fundamental Theories of Physics ((FTPH,volume 28))

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Abstract

An overview of the reactions of Italian philosophers to the advent of quantum mechanics in Italy between the two world-wars is presented. The different attitudes of the idealistic, positivist and marxist thinkers are examined. It is shown that, apart from A.Gramsci, M. Losacco and A. Pastore, Italian philosophers adopted an idealistic Kantian disposition toward the new discipline, in line with von Weizsäcker’s interpretation.

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References And Notes

  1. C. F. von Weizsäcker, “Das Verhältnis der Quantenmechanick zur Philosophie Kants”, Die Tatwelt,66–98, (1941).

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  7. Ibidem, author’s italics.

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  8. See also E.Agazzi, ed., “La filosofia della scienza in Italia nel ’900” (Franco Angeli, Milano, 1986). Henceforth referred to as Agazzi (1986).

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  9. G. De Giuli, “Scienza e idealismo”, Riv. di Fil., 53–56 (1931), a review of A.S.Eddington, “La nature du monde physique” (Payot, Paris, 1929) and of J.Parodi, “Du positivisme à 1’idéalisme”. La philosophie d’hier (Vrin, Paris, 1930).

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  10. Ibidem, p. 53.

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  12. See Ref. 9.

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  13. Ibidem, p. 55.

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  14. G. De Giuli, Riv. di Fil., 87–89 (1935), a review of J.Jeans, “I nuovi orizzonti della scienza”, foreword by G. Gentile Junior. (Sansoni, Firenze, 1934) . Both Jeans and Gentile express similar ideas.

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  15. Ibidem, p. 88.

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  17. Ibidem, p.. 108.

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  24. The column written by De Ruggiero from 1927 on was entitled “Note sulla più recente filosofia europea e americana”, and was later collected in the volume, “Filosofi del ’900” (Laterza, Bari, 1934).Our quotations are from the latter edition.

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  31. See also G.Gentile Junior. in the Italian translation of Jeans’s book quoted in Ref. 14.

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  34. A.Pastore, “La logica del potenziamento” (Rondinella,Napoli, 1936). We will talk primarily about the article, “Introduzione alla teoria delle equazioni logiche”, a communication presented to “Classe di scienze morali della R.Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna” on December 27, 1934.

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  35. Ibidem, p. 7.

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  43. See Ref. 34, p. 85. The determinism of the causal explanation of waves has been demonstrated by Ehrenfest.

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  46. See also F.Selleri, “Gespensterfelder”, in “Wave-Particle Dualism”, S.Diner et al., eds. (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1984); G.Tarozzi, “From ghost to real waves: A proposed solution to the wave-particle dilemma”, ibidem. For an excellent review of today’s problems of quantum mechanics see F.Selleri and G.Tarozzi, “Quantum mechanics reality and separability”, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 4, 1–53 (1981).

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  47. A.Aliotta, “La reazione idealistica contro la scienza”, 1912, reprinted by C.Carbonara (Libr. Scient. Ed., Napoli, 1970).

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  48. A. Aliotta, “L’esperimento nella scienza, nella filosofia, nella religione” (Perella, Napoli, 1936) . Reprinted in “Opere complete”, VII (Cremonese, Roma, 1954) .

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  51. See also M.Jammer, “Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics” (Wiley, New York, 1974).

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  53. Ibidem, p. 115.

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  54. See Ref. 16.

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  55. See Ref. 16, p. VII.

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  57. See Ref. 16, p. 45.

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  58. Ibidem, p. 102. We have utilized the excellent summary by E.Garulli, Ref. 33, pp. 224–26.

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  59. M. Losacco, “Preludi al nuovo realismo critico” (Modena, 1938).

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  64. See also P.Rossi, “Immagini della scienza” (Editori Riuniti, Roma, 1977), p. 246.

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  65. Ibidem, pp. 227–47.

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  66. A.Gramsci, “Quaderni dal carcere”, V.Gerratana, ed. (Torino, Einaudi, 1975), p. 1451. Eddington’s work is the same as quoted by De Giuli in Ref. 9.

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  67. Ibidem, p. 1452.

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  68. Ibidem, p. 1451.

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  69. Ibidem, pp. 14512–52.

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  70. Ibidem, p. 1452.

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  71. Ibidem, p. 1452.

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  72. Ibidem, p. 1454.

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  73. Ibidem.

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  74. Ibidem.

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  75. Ibidem.

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  76. E.Agazzi, in Agazzi (1986), p. 30, expresses this judgement with respect to the epistemological debate of scientists, but it is

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  77. possible to extend it to philosophers, as well, with some cautions. However, there have also been physicists who gave a philosophical analysis of quantum mechanics. See, for instance: G.Furlani, “La concezione del mondo fisico nella scienza moderna”, Riv. di Fil. 365–85 (1932); E.Fermi, “La fisica moderna”, Nuova antologia 65, 137–45 (1930); E.Persico, “Aspetti logici di questioni fisiche”, in Atti dell’VIII Congresso Nazionale di filosofia, 1933 (Societa filosoficà romana, Roma, 1936). All these opinions are sympathetic to the new theory. An interesting exception is represented by the criticism of the great mathematician G. Castelnuovo, in “Determinismo e probabilità”, Scientia 53, 1–12 (1933); “Il principio di causalità”, Scientia 60, 61–8 (1936); “Les vues philosophiques d’un grand physicien”, Scientia 59, 40–3 (1936) .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Università di Bologna, Italia

    Vincenzo Fano

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  1. Vincenzo Fano
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Philosophical Sciences and Education, University of Urbino, Italy

    Gino Tarozzi

  2. Department of Physics, University of Denver, USA

    Alwyn van der Merwe

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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Fano, V. (1988). How Italian Philosophy Reacted to the Advent of Quantum Mechanics in the Thirties. In: Tarozzi, G., van der Merwe, A. (eds) The Nature of Quantum Paradoxes. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2947-0_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2947-0_19

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